From the origins of intellectual study to the present, general education has been a key to a fulfilling life of self-knowledge, self-reflection, critical awareness, and lifelong learning. General education has traditionally focused on oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning and mathematics, studies in culture and society, scientific reasoning, and aesthetic appreciation. Today, general education also assists students in their understanding of technology, information literacy, diversity, and global awareness. In meeting all these needs, general education provides college students with their best opportunity to experience the breadth of human knowledge and the ways that knowledge in various disciplines is interrelated. In the University System of Georgia, the general education program is known as the Core Curriculum.
The USG Core Curriculum, Core IMPACTS, is designed to ensure that students acquire essential knowledge in foundational academic areas and develop career-ready competencies. The attainment of Core IMPACTS learning outcomes prepares responsible, reflective citizens who adapt constructively to change. The Core IMPACTS requirements impart knowledge, values, skills, and behaviors related to critical thinking, logical problem-solving, teamwork, time management, informational literacy, inquiry and analysis, intercultural competence, persuasion, and ethical reasoning. Core IMPACTS includes opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and experiences that increase intellectual curiosity, providing the basis for advanced study in the variety of fields offered by today’s colleges and universities.
As an institution of the University System of Georgia, Augusta University’s faculty have carefully designed undergraduate programs which incorporate 60 hours of general education requirements approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The Core Curriculum provides some flexibility in which courses the student takes based on their individual interests; therefore, substitutions of courses from outside core curriculum or from other areas of the core curriculum are generally not permitted except under extraordinary circumstances.
Students should confer with their academic advisor to select the courses best suited for their intended major.
Core IMPACTS
There are seven Core IMPACTS areas: Institutional Priority; Mathematics and Quantitative Skills; Political Science and US History; Arts, Humanities, and Ethics; Communicating in Writing; Technology, Mathematics, and Sciences; and Social Sciences.
