General Education Program for Students

(For students matriculating fall 2024; pending Board of Governors approval)

All course selections should be made in consultation with an academic advisor

Students who enter FAU without an Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree from a Florida state school must fulfill the University's general education requirements. A course may be used to simultaneously satisfy a general education curriculum requirement and a requirement of the student’s major program. All course selections should be made in consultation with an academic advisor.

Students must complete a minimum of 36 credit hours of general education coursework. This requirement includes a minimum of 15 credit hours mandated by the State of Florida General Education Core and up to 21 credit hours of General Education Institutional requirements, distributed as indicated in the following five subject areas. Click here for more information.

Communication (6 credits required; a grade of "C" or higher is required in each course)

Communication courses afford students the ability to communicate effectively, including the ability to write clearly and engage in public speaking. Students who complete the Communication requirement will be able to:

Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills by exhibiting the control of rhetorical elements that include clarity, coherence, comprehensiveness and mechanical correctness.
Analyze, interpret and evaluate information to formulate critical conclusions and arguments.
Identify and apply standards of academic integrity.

Humanities (6 credits required)

Humanities courses afford students the ability to think critically through the mastering of subjects concerned with human culture, especially literature, history, art, music, and philosophy, including selections from the Western canon. Students fulfilling the humanities requirement will:

Demonstrate understanding of various forms of human expression.
Reflect critically on subjects concerned with human culture.

Social Science (6 credits required)

Social science courses afford students an understanding of the basic social and behavioral science concepts and principles used in the analysis of behavior and past and present social, political, and economic issues. Students who satisfy the Social Science requirement will demonstrate the ability to:

Describe patterns of human behavior.
Describe how institutions influence human behavior and how humans influence these institutions.
Apply appropriate disciplinary methods to the analysis of social, psychological, ethical, political, technological, or economic issues.

Natural Science (6 credits required)

Natural science courses afford students the ability to critically examine and evaluate the principles of the scientific method, model construction, and use the scientific method to explain natural experiences and phenomena. Students who satisfy the Natural Science requirement will be able to:

Explain important scientific concepts, principles and paradigms.
Use the scientific method to explain how principles of scientific inquiry and ethical standards are used to develop and investigate research questions.
Critically evaluate scientific claims, arguments and methodology.
Analyze resulting data and draw appropriate conclusions from such data.

Mathematics (6 credits required; a grade of "C" or higher required in each course)

Mathematics courses afford students a mastery of foundational mathematical and computation models and methods by applying such models and methods in problem solving. The Mathematics requirement is intended to give students an appreciation of mathematics and prepare them to think precisely and critically about quantitative problems. Students who satisfy the Mathematics requirement will be able to:

Identify and explain mathematical theories and their applications.
Determine and apply appropriate mathematical and/or computational models and methods in problem solving.
Display quantitative literacy.

Additional Enrichment (6 credits) (For students matriculating fall 2025 and later; pending Board of Governors approval)

Students can choose 6 credits from the Humanities, Social Science, or Natural Science subject areas.

Foundations of Global Citizenship (Subject area will no longer be available after summer 2025, courses from this area are reassigned to Humanities or Social Science, pending Board of Governors approval)

FAU students live in a region that is increasingly diverse as a consequence of immigration and international connections. They live in a world in which individuals, societies, and governments are becoming more and more interconnected across national boundaries. To succeed in this world, students must have an understanding of diverse national and regional cultures and interests; they must understand the challenges and necessity of being able to communicate across these diverse cultures; they must understand the global forces that shape societies and nations and the relationships between and among them; they must have an awareness of global connectedness and interdependence, understanding how their actions can affect other peoples and places.

Students choose two courses from among the following:

ANT 2410 Culture and Society
EDF 2854 Educated Citizen in Global Context
GEA 2000 World Geography
INR 2002 Introduction to World Politics
JST 2452 Global Jewish Communities
LAS 2000 Intro to Caribbean & Latin American Studies
LIN 2607 Global Perspectives on Language
MAR 2142 Culture, Consumers, and the Global Marketplace
MUH 2121 Music in Global Society
POT 2000 Global Political Theory
SOW 1005 Global Perspectives of Social Services
SYP 2450 Global Society
WOH 2012 History of Civilization I (WAC)
WOH 2022 History of Civilization II

All course selections should be made in consultation with an academic advisor.

CLICK HERE: CURRICULUM SHEETS BY MAJOR

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