Urbana Univerisity News: Core Curriculum Changes

Core Curriculum Changes to Start in Spring Semester

October 2015
By Shane Black

General education credits, the residency rule, and concurrent enrollment for undergraduates were changed by a majority vote during the September 16 faculty meeting in an effort to ostensibly make Urbana University a more competitive and transfer friendly university. Students are still required to have a total of 120 credit hours to graduate.

  

The general education credit change will reduce the previous 47 required credit hours to 36 required credit hours starting in January 2016. Dr. Sylvia Wirsing-Bryant, Dean of College of Arts & Sciences, explained that current students follow the academic checklist that they enrolled into but always have the option to declare to follow a new checklist. Should students choose that later option, they would be obligated to fulfill all requirements included in the new checklist. Advisors should have the new academic catalog before the start of the spring semester.

  

The change to the residency rule now requires an undergraduate to take a minimum of 30 credit hours at U.U.  Students may transfer in up to 90 credit hour from other universities, as long as the university accepts those credits, and the last 15 credit hours of a degree program are not required to be taken at U.U.

  

The faculty vote also brought about concurrent enrollment. Concurrent enrollment allows a student to take classes at multiple schools at the same time to fulfill credits, and students no longer need to be enroll at U.U. during their last semester in order to graduate. This may be useful for students who have a long commute to and from U.U. or need to take a class that isn’t available at U.U. during their last semester. 

  

With these three changes, students have more flexibility in completing their degree programs, but they will also have to choose what classes to take in order to make up for the 11 fewer required credit hours. Professors, including Dr. Wirsing-Bryant, encourage students to consider the value of a broader education when selecting courses under the new change.

  

Faculty advisors will be able to assist students plan out the best course of action for their particular situation, as the change might benefit students who still have a majority of their core education credits left to take and those who are double majors.

  

The honors program is not expected to be impacted by this change.