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I. Scope and Purpose
II. Campus Responsibility
III. Objectives of
CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements
IV. Entry-Level Learning
Skills
V. Distribution
of General Education-Breadth Units
Area A: Communication in
the English Language and Critical Thinking
Area B: Physical Universe
and Its Life Forms
Area C: Arts, Literature,
Philosophy and Foreign Languages
Area D: Social, Political,
and Economic Institutions and Behavior; Historical Background
Area E: Lifelong Understanding
and Self-Development
VI. Exceptions
VII. General Education
Advisory Committee
VIII. Certification
by Non-CSU Regionally Accredited Institutions
IX. Lower-Division
General Education Reciprocity Among CSU Campuses
Designations for
Subject Areas and Objectives
THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Office of the Chancellor
400 Golden Shore
Long Beach, California 90802 4275
Executive Order No.: 595
Title: General Education-Breadth Requirements
Effective Date: January 1, 1993
Supersedes: Executive Order No.338,342
This Executive Order is issued pursuant to Title 5,
California Code of Regulations, Sections 40402.1, 40405, 40405.1,
and 40405.4, and Sections I and 2 of Chapter III of the Standing
Orders of the Board of Trustees of the California State University.
The requirements, policies, and procedures adopted
pursuant to this Executive Order shall apply to students enrolling
in fall 1981 and subsequent terms who have not previously been enrolled
continuously at a campus of the CSU or the California Community
Colleges and who have not satisfied lower-division general education
requirements according to the provisions of Sections 40405.2 or
40405.3 of Title 5.
I. Scope and Purpose
This Executive Order is intended to establish a common understanding
about CSU General Education Breadth Requirements (pathway A below)
and to provide for certification by regionally accredited institutions
of the extent to which transfer students have met these requirements.
Reciprocity among the CSU campuses for full and subject-area completion
of lower-division General Education-Breadth Requirements is also
addressed in this Executive Order.
Policies adopted by the Board of Trustees in July 1991 provide for
three ways for undergraduate students to fulfill general education
requirements of the CSU:
A. Fulfillment of CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements (Title
5, Section 40405.1), including a minimum of nine semester units
or twelve quarter units at the CSU campus granting the baccalaureate
degree.
B. Completion of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
(Title 5, Section 40405.2), as certified by a California community
college, plus a minimum of nine upper-division semester units or
twelve upper-division quarter units at the CSU campus granting the
baccalaureate degree.
C. Completion of lower-division general education requirements of
a University of California campus (Title 5, Section 40405.3), as
certified by that campus, plus a minimum of nine upper-division
semester units or twelve upper-division quarter units at the CSU
campus granting the baccalaureate degree. Implementation of this
alternative is contingent on development of a formal agreement between
the California State University and the University of California.
II. Campus Responsibility
A. The faculty of a CSU campus has primary responsibility for developing
and revising the institution ' s particular General Education-Breadth
program. Trustee policy describes broad areas of inquiry, which
may be viewed from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Within the framework provided, each CSU campus is to establish its
own requirements and exercise its creativity in identifying courses
and disciplines to be included within its General Education-Breadth
program. In undertaking this task, participants should give careful
attention to the following:
1. Assuring that General Education-Breadth Requirements
are planned and organized so that their objectives are perceived
as interrelated elements, not as isolated fragments.
2. Considering the organization of approved courses into a variety
of "cores" or "themes," each with an underlying
unifying rationale, among which students may choose.
3. Evaluating all courses approved as meeting current General Education-Breadth
Requirements to determine which continue to meet the objectives
and particular requirements contained herein.
4. Considering development of new courses as they may be necessary
to meet the objectives and particular requirements contained herein.
5. Considering the possibility of incorporating integrative courses,
especially at the upper division level, which feature the interrelationships
among disciplines within and across traditional general education
categories.
6. Providing for reasonable ordering of requirements so that, for
example, courses focusing on learning skills will be completed relatively
early and integrative experiences, relatively later.
7. Developing programs that are responsive to educational
goals and student needs, rather than programs based on traditional
titles of academic disciplines and organizational units.
8. Considering possibilities for activity as well as observation
in all program subdivisions.
9. The effectiveness of a General Education-Breadth program is dependent
upon the adequacy of curricular supervision, its internal integrity
and its overall fiscal and academic support. Toward this end, each
campus shall have a broadly representative standing committee, a
majority of which shall be instructional faculty, and which shall
also include student membership, to provide for appropriate oversight
and to make appropriate recommendations concerning the implementation,
conduct and evaluation of these requirements.
C. Each campus shall provide for systematic, readily
available academic advising specifically oriented to general education
as one means of achieving greater cohesiveness in student choices
of course offerings to fulfill these requirements.
D. Each campus shall provide for regular periodic reviews of general
education policies and practices in a manner comparable to those
of major programs. The review should include an off-campus component.
III. Objectives of CSU General Education-Breadth
Requirements
General Education-Breadth Requirements are to be designed so that,
taken with the major depth program and electives presented by each
baccalaureate candidate, they will assure that graduates have made
noteworthy progress toward becoming truly educated persons. Particularly,
the purpose of these requirements is to provide means whereby graduates:
A. will have achieved the ability to think clearly and logically,
to find information and examine it critically, tn communicate orally
and in writing, and to reason quantitatively;
B. will have acquired appreciable knowledge about their own bodies
and minds, about how human society has developed and how it now
functions, about the physical world in which they live, about the
other forms of life with which they share that world, and about
the cultural endeavors and legacies of their civilizations;
C. will have come to an understanding and appreciation of the principles,
methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in
human inquiries.
The intent is that General Education-Breadth Requirements be planned
and organized to enable students to acquire abilities, knowledge,
understanding, and appreciation as interrelated elements, not as
isolated fragments.
IV. Entry-Level Learning Skills
Title S of the California Code of Regulations, Section 40402.1,
provides that each student admitted to the California State University
is expected to possess basic competence in the English language
and mathematical computation to a degree that may reasonably be
expected of entering college students. Students admitted who cannot
demonstrate such basic competence should be identified as quickly
as possible and be required to take steps to overcome their deficiencies.
Any coursework completed primarily for this purpose shall not be
applicable to the baccalaureate degree.
V. Distribution of General Education-Breadth
Units
Every baccalaureate graduate who has not completed the program specified
in Subsection B or C of Section I above shall have completed the
program described in Subsections A through E below, totaling a minimum
of 48 semester units or 72 quarter units. At least nine of these
semester units or twelve of these quarter units must be upper-division
level and shall be taken no sooner than the term in which upper-division
status (completion of 60 semester units or 90 quarter units) is
attained. At least nine of the 48 semester units or 12 of the 72
quarter units shall be earned at the campus granting the degree.
Each campus is authorized to make reasonable adjustments in the
number of units assigned to the five categories in order that the
conjunction of campus course credit unit configuration and these
requirements will not unduly exceed any of the prescribed credit
minima. However, in no case shall the total number of units required
be less than 48 semester units or 72 quarter units. (No campus need
adjust normal course credit configurations for the sole purpose
of meeting the requirements specified herein.)
Instruction approved to fulfill the following requirements should
recognize the contributions to knowledge and civilization that have
been made by members of diverse cultural groups and by women.
A. A minimum of nine semester units or twelve quarter
units in communication in the English language, to include both
oral communication and written communication, and in critical thinking,
to include consideration of common fallacies in reasoning.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of the requirement in communication
is to be designed to emphasize the content of communication as well
as the form and should provide an understanding of the psychological
basis and the social significance of communication, including how
communication operates in various situations. Applicable course(s)
should view communication as the process of human symbolic interaction
focusing on the communicative process from the rhetorical perspective:
reasoning and advocacy, organization, accuracy; the discovery, critical
evaluation and reporting of information; reading and listening effectively
as well as speaking and writing. This must include active participation
and practice in written communication and oral communication.
Instruction in critical thinking is to be designed to achieve an
understanding of the relationship of language to logic, which should
lead to the ability to analyze, criticize, and advocate ideas, to
reason inductively and deductively, and to reach factual or judgmental
conclusions based on sound inferences drawn from unambiguous statements
of knowledge or belief. The minimal competence to be expected at
the successful conclusion of instruction in critical thinking should
be the demonstration of skills in elementary inductive and deductive
processes, including an understanding of the formal and informal
fallacies of language and thought, and the ability to distinguish
matters of fact from issues of judgment or opinion.
B. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen
quarter units to include inquiry into the physical universe and
its life forms, with some immediate participation in laboratory
activity, and into mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning
and their applications.
Instruction approved for the fulfillment of this requirement is
intended to impart knowledge of the facts and principles which form
the foundations of living and non-living systems. Such studies should
promote understanding and appreciation of the methodologies of science
as investigative tools, the limitations of scientific endeavors:
namely, what is the evidence and how was it derived? In addition,
particular attention should be given to the influence which the
acquisition of scientific knowledge has had on the development of
the world's civilizations, not only as expressed in the past but
also in present times. The nature and extent of laboratory experience
is to be determined by each campus through its established curricular
procedures. In specifying inquiry into mathematical concepts and
quantitative reasoning and their application, the intention is not
to imply merely basic computational skills, but to encourage as
well the understanding of basic mathematical concepts.
C. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen
quarter units among the arts, literature, philosophy and foreign
languages.
Instruction approved for the fulfillment of this requirement
should cultivate intellect, imagination, sensibility and sensitivity.
It is meant in part to encourage students to respond subjectively
as well as objectively to experience and to develop a sense of the
integrity of emotional and intellectual response. Students should
be motivated to cultivate and refine their affective as well as
cognitive and physical faculties through studying great works of
the human imagination, which could include active participation
in individual esthetic, creative experience. Equally important is
the intellectual examination of the subjective response, thereby
increasing awareness and appreciation in the traditional humanistic
disciplines such as art, dance, drama, literature and music. The
requirement should result in the student' s better understanding
of the interrelationship between the creative arts, the humanities
and self. Studies in these areas should include exposure to both
Western cultures and non-Western cultures.
Foreign language courses may be included in this requirement because
of their implications for cultures both in their linguistic structures
and in their use in literature; but foreign language courses which
are approved to meet a portion of this requirement are to contain
a cultural component and not be solely skills acquisition courses.
Campus provisions for fulfillment of this requirement must include
a reasonable distribution among the categories specified as opposed
to the completion of the entire number of units required in one
category.
D. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen
quarter units dealing with human social, political, and economic
institutions and behavior and their historical background.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of this requirement
should reflect the fact that human social, political and economic
institutions and behavior are inextricably interwoven. Problems
and issues in these areas should be examined in their contemporary
as well as historical setting, including both Western and non Western
contexts. Campus provisions for fulfillment of this requirement
must include a reasonable distribution among the categories specified
as opposed to completion of the entire number of units required
in one category.
E. A minimum of three semester units or four quarter
units in study designed to equip human beings for lifelong understanding
and development of themselves as integrated physiological and psychological
entities.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of this requirement
should facilitate understanding of the human being as an integrated
physiological, social, and psychological organism. Courses developed
to meet this requirement are intended to include selective consideration
of such matters as human behavior, sexuality, nutrition, health,
stress, key relationships of humankind to the social and physical
environment, and implications of death and dying. Physical activity
could be included, provided that it is an integral part of the study
described herein.
Campuses may permit "double counting" of courses for General
Education-Breadth and major requirements and prerequisites only
after giving careful consideration to the impact of such actions
on General Education-Breadth programs. Decisions to permit double
counting in General Education-Breadth and a degree major may be
made only after an approval is provided through campus wide curricular
processes.
Up to six semester units taken to meet the United States History,
Constitution, and American Ideals Requirement (Title S of the California
Code of Regulations, Section 40404) may be credited toward satisfying
General Education- Breadth Requirements at the option of the campus.
VI. Exceptions
Exceptions to the foregoing requirements may be authorized only
under the following circumstances:
A. In the case of an individual student, the campus may grant a
partial waiver of one or more of the particular requirements of
Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 40405.1,
to avoid demonstrable hardship, such as the need to extend the time
required for completion of the degree in the case of a senior level
transfer student.
B. In the case of high-unit professional major degree programs,
the Chancellor may grant exceptions to one or more requirements
for students completing the particular program. Such exception must
be considered at the campus level prior to initiating the request.
A full academic justification shall be submitted to the
Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, who shall submit his or
her recommendation and that submitted by the campus president, along
with all relevant documents, to the Chancellor.
VII. General Education Advisory Committee
A system wide Advisory Committee on General Education is hereby
established. While it is important that the membership of this committee
be broadly based, the membership will in largest part be drawn from
the instructional faculty of the California State University. Liaison
membership from the instructional faculty of the California Community
Colleges may be included as well.
The responsibilities of this committee will be as
follows:
A. To review and propose any necessary revisions in the objectives,
requirements, and implementation of CSU General Education-Breadth
policy to ensure high quality general education.
B. To continue to study general education policies and practices
inside and outside the system and, as appropriate, to stimulate
intersegmental discussion of the development of general education
curricula.
C. To review the implications of CSU General Education-Breadth
policy for students transferring to the CSU and for the institutions
from which they transfer, and to propose any necessary adjustments
to pertinent policies and practices.
D. To report as appropriate to the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees.
The Chancellor or the Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs,
may from time to time request the committee to address and provide
advice on other issues related to development and well-being of
General Education Breadth policy and programs in the California
State University.
VIII. Certification by Non-CSU Regionally
Accredited Institutions of Transfer Students ' Fulfillment of CSU
General Education-Breadth Requirements
A. Premises
1. It is the joint responsibility of the public segments of higher
education to ensure that students are able to transfer without unreasonable
loss of credit or time.
2. The faculty of an institution granting the baccalaureate degree
have primary responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the
degree program and determining when requirements have been met.
3. There shall ordinarily be a high degree of reciprocity among
regionally accredited institutions in the absence of specific indications
that such reciprocity is not appropriate.
B. Conditions for Participation
Any institution that is accredited by a recognized regional accrediting
association and that offers the BA or BS degree or the first two
years of such degree programs may participate in General Education-Breadth
certification if it agrees to the following provisions:
1. The participating institution shall designate a
liaison representative who shall participate in various orientation
activities and provide other institutional staff with pertinent
information.
2. The participating institution shall identify for
certification purposes those courses or examinations that fulfill
the objectives set forth in Section m of this Executive Order and
such additional objectives as may be promulgated by the Chancellor
of the California State University.
a. The courses and examinations identified should be planned and
organized to enable students to acquire abilities, knowledge, understanding,
and appreciation as interrelated elements, not as isolated fragments.
b. Interdisciplinary courses or integrated sets of
courses that meet multiple objectives of the CSU General Education-Breadth
Requirements may be appropriate components of general education
(c.f. Subsections A-5 and A-7 of Section 1).
c. Credit units of an interdisciplinary course or integrated set
of courses may be distributed among different areas of general education,
as appropriate.
3. The CSU Office of the Chancellor, Division of Academic Affairs,
shall maintain a list of participating institutions' courses and
examinations that have been identified and accepted for certification
purposes.
a. Each entry in the list shall include specification
of the area or areas and objectives to which the course or examination
relates and the number of units associated with each area or objective.
(See Attachment A.)
b. The list shall be updated annually. Each participating institution
shall transmit annually to the CSU Office of the Chancellor, Division
of Academic Affairs, any proposed changes to its portion of the
list. If a course is to be added or if the specification of areas
and objectives for a course is to be modified, the participating
institution shall include in its submission the approved course
outline. If a course is part of an integrated set of courses, the
submission shall identify the set and describe how the course complements
the others in the set.
c. As of the effective date of this executive order, the list will
include all entries that were submitted by participating institutions
and not identified for challenge under the provisions of Executive
Order 342. Recognizing the integrity of faculty curricular review
processes in participating institutions, the CSU expects that proposed
updates will generally be accept able. However, after the effective
date of this executive order, additions or modifications of entries
shall be reviewed by a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on
General Education for congruence with the areas and objectives specified.
The subcommittee is to be drawn from the instructional faculty of
the California State University. The subcommittee may ask the participating
institution for additional materials and is encouraged to consult
faculty from the California State University or California Community
Colleges who have relevant expertise. The subcommittee may refer
decision on acceptance of the course to the Advisory Committee on
General Education. A course that is reviewed and determined to be
inconsistent with the objectives with which it has been associated
will not be added to the list.
d. A copy of the list shall be made available in printed
or electronic form to any CSU campus or participating institution.
Participating institutions are free to share their course outlines
and communications from the CSU about those course outlines with
other participating institutions.
e. The participating institution shall be responsible
for reviewing periodically its portion of the list to assure that
entries continue to be appropriate and to reflect current knowledge
in the field. It is also responsible for reapproving entries that
are found to have remained appropriate and for directing to the
subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on General Education any
questions such updating of the courses may have raised as to their
congruence with CSU General Education-Breadth areas and objectives.
4. The participating institution shall report certification for
individual students in a format to be specified.
C. Acceptance of Certification
CSU campuses shall accept full certification or subject-area
certification, as defined below, by participating institutions.
Students admitted to a CSU campus with full certification may not
be held to any additional lower- division general education requirements;
students admitted to a CSU campus with subject-area certification
may not be held to any additional lower-division general education
coursework in the subject areas certified . Neither full certification
nor subject-area certification exempts students from unmet lower-division
graduation requirements that may exist outside of the general education
program of the campus awarding the degree.
1. To qualify for full certification, a student must satisfactorily
complete no fewer than 39 lower division semester units or 58 lower-division
quarter units of instruction appropriate to meet the objectives
of Sections m and V. The units must be distributed as follows, except
as specified in Subsection 3 below:
a. In Area A, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter units),
including instruction in oral communication, written communication
and critical thinking.
b. In Area B, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter units),
including instruction in physical science and life science at least
one part of which must include a laboratory component -and mathematics/quantitative
reasoning.
c. In Area C, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter units),
with at least one course in the arts and one in the humanities (see
Attachment A).
d. In Area D, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter units),
with courses taken in at least two disciplines (see Attachment A).
e. ln Area E, no fewer than three semester units (65 quarter units).
2. To qualify for subject-area certification, a student must satisfactorily
complete instruction appropriate to meet the objectives of one or
more subsections of Section V. The units must be distributed as
follows, except as specified in Subsection 3 below:
a. For Area A, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), including instruction in oral communication, written communication,
and critical thinking. A single course may not he certified as meeting
more than one subarea for any given student.
b. For Area B, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), including instruction in physical science and life science
at least one part of which must include a laboratory component-and
mathematics/quantitative reasoning . A single course may not be
certified as meeting more than one subarea for any given student,
except for laboratory components incorporated into a physical or
life science course.
c. For Area C, no fewer than nine semester units ( 12-15 quarter
units), with at least one course in the arts and one in the humanities
(see Attachment A).
d. For Area D, no fewer than nine semester units ( 12-15 quarter
units), with courses taken in at least two disciplines (see Attachment
A).
e. For Area E, no fewer than three semester units (4 5 quarter units).
3. Exceptions to restrictions above may be made for programs in
which instruction is integrated into a set of courses or into interdisciplinary
courses designed to meet multiple objectives. Interdisciplinary
courses in this case would be expected to be offered at an appropriately
greater number of units.
D. Limitations on Certification of Students
1. A participating institution may not certify a student for more
than 39 semester units or equivalent. If more than one participating
institution certifies a student, the CSU campus granting the degree
need not accept certification for more than 39 semester units or
equivalent.
2. A CSU campus need accept as certified for a given subject area
no more than the minimum numbers of units specified in Subsections
A through E in Section V above.
3. A participating institution may certify a student for no more
than 30 semester units (45 quarter units) total in subject areas
B through D combined. If more than one participating institution
certifies a student, the CSU campus granting the degree need not
accept certification for more than 30 semester units (45 quarter
units) total in subject areas B through D combined.
4. Baccalaureate-granting institutions certifying a student for
units earned in upper-division courses or examinations may provide
certification only for those units that were completed during or
after the term in which the student achieved upper-division status
(i.e., earned a total of at least 60 semester units or 90 quarter
units).
5. A participating institution may certify completion of courses
or examinations taken at other eligible institutions, provided that
all such courses and examinations would be identified for certification
purposes by the institution offering them. If so identified, those
courses and examinations shall contribute to qualification of a
student for full certification or subject-area certification, as
appropriate.
6. Upon transfer, no student shall be required to complete more
units in general education-breadth than the difference between the
number certified in accordance with this executive order and the
total units in general education-breadth required by the campus
granting the degree.
IX. Lower-Division General Education
Reciprocity Among CSU Campuses
A. Lower-division general education requirements designated by CSU
campuses as having been satisfactorily completed in their entirety
shall be recognized as fulfilling all lower division general education
requirements of the CSU campus granting the baccalaureate degree
without regard to differences that may exist between the two programs.
(A course or examination is to be regarded as satisfactorily completed
if the student's performance meets the minimum standards for full
acceptance toward satisfying a requirement as set by the campus
at which the course or examination was taken.) For the purposes
of this section, completion of lower-division general education
requirements is equivalent to qualification for full certification,
as defined in Subsection C of Section VIII above. Transfer students
admitted with documentation of full lower-division general education
program completion at another CSU campus may not be held to any
additional lower-division general education requirements by the
campus awarding the degree.
B. Lower-division general education subject-area requirements designated
by CSU campuses as having been satisfactorily completed, shall be
recognized as fulfilling the corresponding subject-area general
education requirements of the CSU campus granting the baccalaureate
degree without regard to differences that may exist in the configuration
of the two programs or in the content of the subject area. For the
purposes of this section, completion of lower-division general education
subject-area requirements is equivalent to qualification for subject-area
certification, as defined in Subsection C of Section VIII above.
Transfer students admitted with documentation of completion of one
or more general education subject areas at another CSU campus may
not be held to any additional lower-division general education requirements
in that subject area by the campus awarding the degree.
C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this section do not
exempt students from unmet lower-division graduation requirements
of the CSU campus awarding the degree, or from lower-division courses
required by individual baccalaureate majors at the CSU campus awarding
the degree.
D. Students seeking to transfer under the provisions of this section
shall be responsible for requesting verification that lower-division
general education program or subject-area requirements have been
met. Upon the request of a currently or formerly enrolled student,
the CSU campus from which the student seeks to transfer shall determine
the extent to which that student has satisfactorily completed the
lower division general education requirements in each subject area,
and shall provide official documentation of such completion.
November 20, 1992 Barry Munitz, Chancellor
ATTACHMENT A Designations
for Subject Areas and Objectives Executive Order No. 595
Area A: Communication in the English Language and Critical
Thinking
References: Sections V-A, VIII-C-I-a, VIII-C-2-a
A1 Oral Communication
A2 Written Communication
A3 Critical Thinking
Area B: Physical Universe and Its Life Forms
References: Sections V-B, VIII-C-l-b, VIII-C-2-b
B1 Physical Science
B2 Life Science
B3 Laboratory Activity
B4 Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning
Area C: Arts, Literature, Philosophy and Foreign
Languages
References: Sections V-C, VIII-C-l-c, VIII-C-2-c
C1 Arts (Art, Dance, Music, Theater)
C2 Humanities (Literature, Philosophy, Foreign Languages)
Area D: Social, Political, and Economic Institutions
and Behavior; Historical Background
References: Sections V-D, VIII-C-I-d, VIII-C-2-d
D1 Anthropology and Archeology
D2 Economics
D3 Ethnic Studies*
D4 Gender Studies*
D5 Geography
D6 History
D7 Interdisciplinary Social or Behavioral Science
D8 Political Science, Government, and Legal Institutions
D9 Psychology
D0 Sociology and Criminology
Area E: Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development
References: Sections V-E, VIII-C-I-e, VIII-C-2-e
*Ethnic Studies or Gender Studies courses emphasizing artistic or
humanistic perspectives may be categorized in Area C.
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