General Education/CAS at UMass Boston

General Education Resources and Information in CAS

The General Education Program at UMass Boston has a long and complex history. Most recently, it was mandated that, rather than separate college requirements, the entire University should use one set of requirements (which then would be interpreted and implemented by the various colleges). This set of pages focuses on the General Education Requirements as interpreted and implemented by the College of Arts and Sciences.

The first goal of the General Education Program is to give students, at the beginning of their college careers, a strong foundation for success in courses they will take later on. More specifically, it will help students: engage in critical reading and analysis; understand and respect human diversity; explore the principal approaches to knowledge; learn in depth; speak, listen, and write effectively; reason logically and quantitatively; use technology to further education; and work independently and collaboratively. The program also aims to strengthen students' capacity for learning -- and for making their way successfully in the world -- throughout their lives.

Many of the details of the new Program are still being debated, reworked, modified, and implemented. Therefore this site may not contain all of the information that the reader is hoping to find -- but it will be updated on a regular basis and will eventually contain a reasonably complete set of data.

If you need information that is not currently available on these pages, or if you have questions on the information that you have read, please contact the CAS Deans' Office.