General Education Requirements

General Education: Philosophy of General Education

The purpose of the general education core is to ensure that college students have the broad knowledge and skills to become lifelong learners in a global community that will continue to change.

General education provides critical thinking skills for people to continue to seek truths, to discover answers to questions, and to solve problems. Specifically, educated people are literate in and practice the various methods of communication. They recognize their place in the history, culture, and diverse heritages of Tennessee, the United States and the world. They appreciate the web of commonality of all humans in a multicultural world and are prepared for the responsibilities of an engaged citizenship. They recognize the ethical demands of our common lives. They demonstrate the skills and knowledge of the social and behavioral sciences to analyze their contemporary world. They are familiar with the history and aesthetics of the fine arts. They understand the scientific and mathematical views of the world, and they put those disciplines into practice.

Finally, the general education core provides for its citizens the means to make a better living. Above all, perhaps, it enables its citizens to make a better life.

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Common Catalog Statement Regarding General Education

Effective fall semester 2004, each institution in the State University and Community College System of Tennessee (the Tennessee Board of Regents System) will share a common lower-division general education core curriculum of fortyone (41) semester hours for baccalaureate degrees and the Associate of Arts and the Associate of Science degrees. Lower-division means freshman and sophomore courses. The courses comprising the general education curriculum are contained within the following subject categories:

Foreign language courses are an additional requirement for the Associate of Arts (A.A.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees. Six hours of foreign language are required for the A.A. degree and twelve hours are required for the B.A. degree.

Six hours of English Composition and three hours in English oral presentational communication are required.

Although the courses designated by TBR institutions to fulfill the requirements of the general education subject categories vary, transfer of the courses is assured through the following means:

• Upon completion of an A.A or A.S. degree, the requirements of the lower-division general education core will be complete and accepted by a TBR university in the transfer process.
• If an A.A. or A.S. is not obtained, transfer of general education courses will be based upon fulfillment of complete subject categories. (Example: If all eight hours in the category of Natural Sciences are complete, then this "block" of the general education core is complete.) When a subject category is incomplete, course-bycourse evaluation will be conducted. The provision of block fulfillment pertains also to students who transfer among TBR universities.
• Institutional/departmental requirements of the grade of "C" will be honored. Even if credit is granted for a course, any specific requirements for the grade of "C" by the receiving institution will be enforced.
• In certain majors, specific courses must be taken also in general education. It is important that students and advisors be aware of any major requirements that must be fulfilled under lower-division general education.

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*Specific courses satisfying these requirements must be the same courses that satisfy the general education requirement for the Associate (A.A./A.S.) and Baccalaureate degrees.

Courses designated to fulfill general education by Southwest are published on "Courses That Fulfill Requirements In The Six Subject Categories" of the Web site. A complete listing of the courses fulfilling general education requirements for all system institutions is available on the TBR Web site (www. tbr.state.tn.us) under Transfer and Articulation Information.

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