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UMBC’s General Education Program:

A tutor instructing a student in a libraryUMBC’s GEP provides students the opportunity to expand the life of the mind by developing life-long habits of thought and intellectual interests. The course requirements for General Education allow students to explore a variety of academic disciplines and to acquire and apply skills and competencies essential for a well-educated citizen. They also provide the foundation for effective writing, which is necessary for all fields of study.

pdf icon  UMBC General Education Functional Competencies

pdf icon  General Education Program (GEP) Course Review Guidelines

pdf icon  General Education Program (GEP) Distribution Requirements

pdf icon  Public Statement on UMBC’s General Education Program (GEP)

UMBC’s general education requirements vary depending upon when students began or resumed higher education as follows:

pdf icon  General Distribution Requirements (GDR’s): Prior to summer 1989

pdf icon  General Education Requirements (GER’s): summer 1989 to spring 1996

pdf icon  General Foundation Requirements (GFR’s): summer 1996 to spring 2007

pdf icon  General Education Program (GEP): summer 2007 or later

To carry General Education credit a course must be submitted to, and approved by, the General Education Committee (GEC).

Submit a course

  1. Log into myUMBC
  2. Go to Topics
  3. Select Teaching and Learning
  4. Under faculty options, click GEP Review
  5. Locate your course on the list
  6. Click Edit
  7. Complete the form provided and submit

Adding New Courses

If the course is new, i.e., was not in the current catalog, it will not appear on this list. To begin the process of approval for such a course, e-mail Richard Sponaugle, Chair of GEC, or Jill Randles, Writing Board, for assistance. You will need to provide the course number, title, catalog description, number of credits, and any pre or co-requisite courses.

Additional Policies Concerning the General Education Program Requirements:

  1. All courses used to satisfy the general education program requirements must be completed with a “C” or better. Courses taken on a pass/fail basis may not be used toward general education program requirements.
  2. Within the general education program requirements, no one course may be used to satisfy more than one area. Therefore if a course has been approved as “AH” or “C” it may be used to satisfy either one, but not both, of these areas.
  3. A cross-listed course may be considered as any one of its assigned disciplines, no matter under which departmental designation the course is taken.
  4. No more than two courses from the same discipline maybe used to satisfy either the arts/humanities or social science areas. No more than three courses from the same discipline may be used throughout the general education program requirements, except that three English courses may be used in addition to English composition.
  5. Credit earned through AP, IB and CLEP may be used toward general education program requirements when equivalent to a UMBC general education program requirement course. UMBC Administered Departmental Exams are not applicable toward general education program requirements.
  6. Only one First-Year Seminar (FYS) course can be used throughout the general education program. The course must have an approved general education program designation and it can only be utilized in the designated category.

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