The international branch campus is a relatively new but growing phenomenon that raises many questions of values, pedagogy, and culture and is also receiving increasing scrutiny. What an international branch campus imports unchanged from its home country, in terms of curriculum, student services, and culture, and what it adapts to local populations…

The lingua franca promoted at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar belongs to few as a first language. The implementation of an English-medium curriculum at Qatar's only medical school has proved a double-edged sword. Despite English being deployed out of necessity as part of a strategy geared to improve health care provision and medical…

This essay explores why, despite repeated affirmations of the importance of civic education in undergraduate education, preparing students to understand and play an active role in democratic life is, for the most part, a marginal and episodic part of the undergraduate experience. After describing various factors that have contributed to its…

The purpose of a general education program is to produce generally well-educated adults who can function as informed citizens and engage in the popular intellectual debates of their time. The skills and frames of reference that are necessary for thoughtful, independent opinions are themselves the objects of debate, but there are points of…

Seton Hall University's new core curriculum includes a pair of Signature Courses and a third-year Signature Course developed within departments, two composition classes, a university life course, and five proficiencies. This article describes the process leading to the development of this new curriculum and provides advice on general education…

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has reformed its undergraduate curriculum to create connections across disciplines and advance efforts to internationalize its campus. As a result, global issues, experiential learning, study abroad, and international course clusters have become an integral part of a curriculum that emphasizes…

First-year seminars have become common at liberal arts and other colleges across the United States. An accumulating body of research appears to demonstrate that this curricular element is associated with increased retention of students and is positively correlated with graduation rates, student adjustment and involvement, student satisfaction,…

Coherence is a major focus of general education reform today; however, an examination of the history of higher education shows that interest in maintaining curricular coherence has fluctuated over the past 200 years and is best described as a swinging pendulum that alternates between periods of integration and fragmentation.

This article examines a six-year process of reforming the core curriculum at a midsize public research university, showing how a seminar for first-year students, a lengthy campus-wide dialogue, and a multidisciplinary community of faculty produced a new core curriculum focused on inquiry, communication, and undergraduate research. (Contains 1…

A broadened view of scientific literacy for general education revision is detailed, including the history, philosophy, and sociology of science and science and technology studies. We provide a case study from an interdisciplinary college, argue for the integration of science studies into general education curricula, and discuss barriers to success.

When faculty members think about curriculum, they think about course content. Debates about general education reflect this focus. Drawing on a case study, this article considers, rather, the politics and process of curricular change. It argues that success in this realm depends on the skill of academic administrators. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article examines the process of general education curriculum reform at Western Protestant University (WPU), a pseudonym for a religiously affiliated liberal arts college in the western United States. The theoretical framework for describing the process comes from two areas: institutional culture and a typology of academic change developed by…

Effective listening is fundamental to learning, yet it is seldom taught in a systematic, comprehensive way. The Integrative Listening Model provides a unique and practical framework to address this teaching/learning process. It stresses contextual and personal filters, as well as self assessment and goal-setting, to promote ongoing listening…

This article argues that core curriculum history surveys should promote critical reading and thinking skills, a basic knowledge of history, and a sense of self-awareness. Self-awareness is suggested as an alternative to attempts to promote student civic character by such means as service education. It also outlines the interconnection of teaching…

Outlines the nature and benefits of curricular reforms designed to facilitate the development of students prepared for lifelong learning and responsible citizenship. States that these ends may be achieved via the integration, into existing curricula, of a comprehensive overview of the phenomena of interest to scholars, the types of theory and…