The General Education Program
Students who graduate from Oakland University have demonstrated success in two programs of study: Their major degree program and OU’s innovative General Education program. Alongside the in-depth study for professional success, the General Education program provides students opportunities to cultivate the skills valued by employers and essential to successful engagement as citizens and members of local and global communities.
The core skills of critical thinking, effective communication, information literacy, and social awareness shape all of the courses offered in our General Education program. Because they are essential to our students’ educational and future success, these core skills are recognized as University Learning Outcomes.
- Critical thinkers are capable of comprehensively exploring issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion. They analyze, evaluate, and synthesize relevant information, alternative points of view, inferences, and/or assumptions, in order to arrive at substantiated conclusions.
- Effective communicators analyze rhetorical situations, adapt their discourse to diverse genres and media, treat their sources and source material ethically, and meet the expectations of a variety of discourse communities in the academy and beyond. They convey ideas, arguments, or analyses clearly and cogently in oral, written, or visual form, and they apply effective communication skills as appropriate to the context and intended audiences.
- OU graduates are information literate citizens who reflectively find and evaluate information, understand how that information is produced and valued, and use information responsibly and ethically to create new knowledge and participate as lifelong learners in society. They effectively integrate relevant information sources to build new, or add to existing, public or professional understandings.
- Socially aware citizens demonstrate their intercultural competence and consider the ethical implications of their words, actions, and engagement with or indifference to other communities. They apply principles, methods, value systems, or ethics to social issues confronting local and global communities.
Create Your Own Program of Study
OU’s general education program permits students to design their own program of study, choosing from an impressive array of course offerings. Some of the general education requirements aim to complement the student’s major or minor; others help students venture beyond the confines of their discipline to explore ideas, methods, and skills in other disciplines.
Students should meet regularly with their advisors to develop a plan of study that meets their interests, goals, and aspirations and satisfies the graduation requirements.
The program of study in general education at OU consists of courses in three areas: Foundations, Explorations, and Integration.
- Writing Foundations (WRT 1060 - Composition II) and Formal Reasoning constitute the FOUNDATIONS area of General Education. These courses help students develop the processes, skills, and knowledge essential for success in their studies.
- Approved courses in the EXPLORATIONS area provide the fundamental abilities that a well-educated person should have, including a critical appreciation of the ways we gain and create knowledge and an understanding of the universe, of society, and of humankind. In their General Education studies at OU, students may choose from a variety of courses in the areas of the Arts, Language and Culture, Literature, Global Perspective, Natural Science and Technology, Social Science and Western Civilization. In their advanced years in the general education program, students are given an opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills they have already developed through Knowledge Applications and Capstone courses.
- The INTEGRATION area helps students synthesize what they have learned in both the general education program and in their major, to identify and make use of the connections among the various disciplines and to apply their knowledge to addressing real world problems. This integrated knowledge forms the basis for students’ lifelong learning, preparing them for successful careers and for productive personal and civic lives.
Oakland University’s general education program also helps students develop advanced writing skills and engages students in a study of U.S. Diversity.
- Through two WRITING INTENSIVE courses, students gain a depth in both general and discipline-specific writing skills. Writing Intensive in General Education and Writing Intensive in the Major courses may also satisfy other areas within the General Education program.
- Because Oakland University is committed to ensuring that students develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, the history, advantages and challenges of the diversity of the United States, the general education program offers a range of courses that fulfill the U.S. DIVERSITY area, including courses in art history, anthropology, cinema, communication, dance, economics, literature, history, music, nursing, political [LG1] science, theatre, and writing and rhetoric. U.S. diversity courses may also satisfy other areas within the general education program.
General Education Requirements
Each candidate for an Oakland University baccalaureate will need to satisfactorily complete approved courses in each of the following areas: Foundations, Explorations, Integration, Writing, and U.S. Diversity.
1. Foundations Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
Notes
For alternative ways of meeting the Writing Foundations requirement, see the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the catalog.
Students must earn at least a C in WRT 1060 to meet the Writing Foundations requirement.
Students must satisfactorily complete an approved Formal Reasoning course prior to their junior standing.
2. Explorations Areas
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following seven areas:
Notes
Language and Culture courses do not satisfy the Global Perspective area.
Students may meet the Language and Culture requirement through the satisfactory completion of a course having a prerequisite of an 1140 language course, or an American Sign Language course having COM 1500 as a prerequisite. The course can not be used to satisfy any other general education area requirement.
For international undergraduate students whose native language is not English, the Language and Culture requirement may be waived when the student record includes one of the following:
- A TOEFL, MELAB, IELTS or Duolingo English Test score that satisfies the admissions criteria
- ESL courses from another regionally accredited institution
- A transcript indicating graduation from a high school instructed in a language other than English
3. Integration Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
Notes
Knowledge Applications courses must be outside the rubric of the student’s major.
Students must complete the Capstone requirement at Oakland University.
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Two courses from the Writing Intensive Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
Notes
Writing Intensive in the Major and Writing Intensive in General Education courses may also satisfy other areas within the general education program.
Writing Intensive requirements cannot be met with WRT 1050 or WRT 1060 .
Students must have earned a grade of C in the Writing Foundations course to enroll in a Writing Intensive course.
Students must complete the Writing intensive in the Major requirement at Oakland University.
Students may not apply non-classroom experience (course competency, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and/or CLEP credits) to satisfy general education requirements for Writing Intensive courses.
Criteria for WIM and WIG courses can be accessed here.
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One course of at least three credits from the U.S. Diversity Area
Note
U.S. Diversity may be fulfilled through courses that also satisfy the Explorations areas.
Notes
Students using this catalog to meet general education requirements may also use any course subsequently approved by the General Education Committee and published in a later catalog to satisfy requirements in a particular area. If a course listed below is removed from lists of approved courses in later catalogs, it may still be used to meet a general education requirement by students following the current catalog until the catalog expires (six years).
Transfer students should refer to the Transfer Student Information .
Some of the approved courses below may not be offered every semester. Students should check with their advisers to ensure that their preferred courses will be offered.
Note that courses in these knowledge areas may not double count with each other: Writing Foundations, Formal Reasoning, Arts, Language and Culture, Global Perspective, Literature, Natural Science and Technology, Social Science, Western Civilization, and Knowledge Applications. Additional general education requirements include U.S. Diversity, Writing Intensive in General Education, Writing Intensive in the Major, and a Capstone, all of which may be met by double counting approved general education courses. It is possible for a course to be triple counted if, in addition to meeting the requirements for Explorations, Knowledge Applications or Capstone, it also meets the requirements for U.S. Diversity and Writing Intensive in General Education or Writing Intensive in the major.
General Education Course Listing
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