Act 15 – Core General Education Requirements and Transfer

^‡ joined working group in July as part of General Education subcommittee

A: The six proposed categories are based on an examination of the general education and competency requirements at all of the UWs and identifying areas of alignment. The categories are also similar to the seven categories identified as requirements for the AA/AS degree at WTCS. Additional analysis of other statewide and systemwide gen. ed. cores show common inclusion of the following areas or disciplines: Communication/English composition, Humanities/Social or Behavioral Science, Quantitative skills/critical thinking, Physical and Natural Science, with variability in areas of global/cultural/ethnic studies and wellness/wellbeing/fitness.

A: Under the flexible CGER model, students must complete at least 10 courses for 30 credit hours and based on statutory language, universities cannot require students to complete more than 36 credit hours of core general education courses. However, as a student is being advised on what courses to select to fulfill the core general education requirements, they may end up with more than 36 credit hours from courses with the CGER categories. For example, a student may take a foreign language course for 4 credits, thus fulfilling the Civics & Perspectives category requirement by completing 4 instead of 3 credit hours.

A: The Academic Affairs working group will address questions like this and will inform the development of SYS policies and procedures. We anticipate that one course may fulfill both a CGER requirement and a major requirement, however it may not satisfy two different CGER categories. In the scenario above, the History of the Middle East course may be used to fulfill a course requirement in the Humanities & Arts category and may be applied to a History major requirement, but it may not also be used to fulfill the course requirement for the Civics & Perspectives category.

A: No, a university can’t have additional course requirements that are universally applicable to all undergraduates. Universities may have additional College/School, degree type (e.g., B.A., B.S., B.F.A., B.B.A., etc.), and/or major/program requirements that apply to subsets of students.

A: Yes, if a student completes a course that fulfills a Core General Education category at the sending UW university, it must fulfill the same Core General Education category[1] at the receiving UW university. However, the receiving UW university may have additional program/major requirements that are not fulfilled by that course. For example, a student who completes an algebra course at the sending university fulfilling the Mathematics & Quantitative Reasoning category requirement may still have to complete calculus at the receiving university to fill a chemistry major requirement. In this case, the Core General Education Requirement has been fulfilled at the receiving university, but the student still needs to complete calculus to satisfy the program/major requirement.

[1] UW universities may use discretion in applying CGER credit to categories that are in the best interest of the student.

A: Yes. For example, a university can require students to take one Humanities course (e.g., History or Literature) and one Arts course (e.g., Dance) to fulfill the Humanities & Arts category requirement. However, that same university must accept any courses within the category that transfer from another UW university to fulfill that category requirement. So, if the sending UW university allows students to complete the Humanities & Arts category through completion of two Art courses, or an Art and a Music course, the receiving UW university must accept those two courses as fulfilling the Humanities & Arts category requirements.

A: No. Depending on the learning outcomes of the First-Year course it is possible that it could align with a few different categories, such as Communication & Literacy, Social & Behavioral Science, or Humanities & Arts. You may also have different First Year courses that are specific to a particular College/School. In the latter case, since students enrolled in different colleges/schools within the university have different requirements, this would not be considered a Core General Education Requirement, but rather a College/School requirement and therefore outside of the 30-36 credit hour range.

A: No. If one UW university (sending institution) has categorized a course as fulfilling a requirement within a Core General Education category, the receiving university must accept the course as fulfilling the same category. A transfer student cannot be required to take additional courses to meet the learning outcomes or requirements of the receiving university within a particular category, if the completed course fulfilled category requirements at the sending university.

A: No. The general education courses currently offered at your university need to be mapped to the six (6) broad CGER categories. Any courses outside of these categories can’t be a graduation requirement for all students. As indicated above, requirements can be added to specific Schools/Colleges, degree types, or programs (major) that are outside of the six (6) categories but can’t be required universally of all students.

No. In accordance with RPD 7-3 and SYS 135, UW universities should apply academic policies and procedures to continuing and transfer students in a similar manner. In this context that means that a UW should not have different graduation requirements for continuing (first year students) versus transfer students. If the university has a first year experience course requirement, transfer students should be provided with a suitable course substitution.

In this scenario, since the first year experience course is a graduation requirement, even with the appropriate course substitution, this would still be considered a general education requirement and therefore needs to be mapped into one of the six categories to be included in the CGER.

The Universities of Wisconsin through the Board of Regents do not require ethnic studies or cultural diversity courses. Individual universities currently have discretion in this area and that autonomy is not subject to change.

As part of the development of the new Core General Education Requirements framework, universities will map their existing courses into six broad categories.

A. The Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) will work with each university to ensure that notice is provided to HLC as necessary to document the curricular changes associated with the new Core General Education Requirements. OAA will also work with each university to ensure compliance with DOE policies.

Act 15 amended state statute to indicate that the board is responsible for establishing policies related to the transfer and applicability of core general education requirements. To comply with the statute, it is anticipated that the Board will consider the new policy, which we are referring to as Regent Policy Document (RPD) 4-X. This document has been drafted and shared with Board leadership and it is anticipated that the Board will consider RPD 4-X at a special meeting on November 19. Prior to that meeting, the policy will be distributed to all UW universities for comment and feedback.

A: No. Universities will have autonomy to determine how their courses and associated learning outcomes fit into each of the identified categories.

RPD 4-X:

Sept. 24: distributed for public comment (see information below)

Nov. 19: Board discussion and anticipated approval

SYS 105:

Sept./Oct: The Academic Affairs and Operations working groups identified above will draft the System policy.

Nov.: anticipated distribution of policy for public comment

Dec. 31: anticipated approval by President Rothman