CSU Executive Order #595
THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Office of the Chancellor
400 Golden Shore
Long Beach, California 90802
Executive Order: 595
Title: General Education-Breadth Requirements
Effective Date: January 1, 1993
Supersedes: 338, 342
This Executive Order is issued pursuant to Title 5, California Code of
Regulations, Sections 40402.1, 40405, 40405.1, and 40405.4, and Sections
1 and 2 of Chapter III of the Standing Orders of the Board of Trustees of
the California State University.
The requirements, policies, and procedures adopted pursuant to this
Executive Order shall apply to students enrolling in fall 1981 and
subsequent terms who have not previously been enrolled continuously at a
campus of the CSU or the California Community Colleges and who have not
satisfied lower-division general education requirements according to the
provisions of Sections 40405.2 or 40405.3 of Title 5.
I. Scope and Purpose
This Executive Order is intended to establish a common understanding
about CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements (pathway A below) and
to provide for certification by regionally accredited institutions of
the extent to which transfer students have met these requirements.
Reciprocity among the CSU campuses for full and subject-area
completion of lower-division General Education-Breadth Requirements
is also addressed in this Executive Order.
Policies adopted by the Board of Trustees in July 1991 provide for
three ways for undergraduate students to fulfill general education
requirements of the CSU:
A. Fulfillment of CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements (Title
5, Section 40405.1), including a minimum of nine semester units
or twelve quarter units at the CSU campus granting the
baccalaureate degree.
B. Completion of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer
Curriculum (Title 5, Section 40405.2), as certified by a
California community college, plus a minimum of nine upper-
division semester units or twelve upper-division quarter units at
the CSU campus granting the baccalaureate degree.
C. Completion of lower-division general education requirements of a
University of California campus (Title 5, Section 40405.3), as
certified by that campus, plus a minimum of nine upper-division
semester units or twelve upper-division quarter units at the CSU
campus granting the baccalaureate degree. Implementation of this
alternative is contingent on development of a formal agreement
between the California State University and the University of
California.
II. Campus Responsibility
A. The faculty of a CSU campus has primary responsibility for
developing and revising the institution's particular General
Education-Breadth program. Trustee policy describes broad areas
of inquiry, which may be viewed from various disciplinary and
interdisciplinary perspectives. Within the framework provided,
each CSU campus is to establish its own requirements and exercise
its creativity in identifying courses and disciplines to be
included within its General Education-Breadth program. In
undertaking this task, participants should give careful attention
to the following:
1. Assuring that General Education-Breadth Requirements are
planned and organized so that their objectives are perceived
as interrelated elements, not as isolated fragments.
2. Considering the organization of approved courses into a
variety of "cores" or "themes," each with an underlying
unifying rationale, among which students may choose.
3. Evaluating all courses approved as meeting current General
Education-Breadth Requirements to determine which continue to
meet the objectives and particular requirements contained
herein.
4. Considering development of new courses as they may be
necessary to meet the objectives and particular requirements
contained herein.
5. Considering the possibility of incorporating integrative
courses, especially at the upper-division level, which feature
the interrelationships among disciplines within and across
traditional general education categories.
6. Providing for reasonable ordering of requirements so that, for
example, courses focusing on learning skills will be completed
relatively early and integrative experiences, relatively
later.
7. Developing programs that are responsive to educational goals
and student needs, rather than programs based on traditional
titles of academic disciplines and organizational units.
8. Considering possibilities for activity as well as observation
in all program subdivisions.
B. The effectiveness of a General Education-Breadth program is
dependent upon the adequacy of curricular supervision, its
internal integrity and its overall fiscal and academic support.
Toward this end, each campus shall have a broadly representative
standing committee, a majority of which shall be instructional
faculty, and which shall also include student membership, to
provide for appropriate oversight and to make appropriate
recommendations concerning the implementation, conduct and
evaluation of these requirements.
C. Each campus shall provide for systematic, readily available
academic advising specifically oriented to general education as
one means of achieving greater cohesiveness in student choices of
course offerings to fulfill these requirements.
D. Each campus shall provide for regular periodic reviews of general
education policies and practices in a manner comparable to those
of major programs. The review should include an off-campus
component.
III. Objectives of CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements
General Education-Breadth Requirements are to be designed so that,
taken with the major depth program and electives presented by each
baccalaureate candidate, they will assure that graduates have made
noteworthy progress toward becoming truly educated persons.
Particularly, the purpose of these requirements is to provide means
whereby graduates:
A. will have achieved the ability to think clearly and logically, to
find information and examine it critically, to communicate orally
and in writing, and to reason quantitatively;
B. will have acquired appreciable knowledge about their own bodies
and minds, about how human society has developed and how it now
functions, about the physical world in which they live, about the
other forms of life with which they share that world, and about
the cultural endeavors and legacies of their civilizations;
C. will have come to an understanding and appreciation of the
principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes
employed in human inquiries.
The intent is that General Education-Breadth Requirements be planned
and organized to enable students to acquire abilities, knowledge,
understanding, and appreciation as interrelated elements, not as
isolated fragments.
IV. Entry-Level Learning Skills
Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 40402.1,
provides that each student admitted to the California State University
is expected to possess basic competence in the English language and
mathematical computation to a degree that may reasonably be expected
of entering college students. Students admitted who cannot
demonstrate such basic competence should be identified as quickly as
possible and be required to take steps to overcome their deficiencies.
Any coursework completed primarily for this purpose shall not be
applicable to the baccalaureate degree.
V. Distribution of General Education-Breadth Units
Every baccalaureate graduate who has not completed the program
specified in Subsection B or C of Section I above shall have completed
the program described in Subsections A through E below, totaling a
minimum of 48 semester units or 72 quarter units. At least nine of
these semester units or twelve of these quarter units must be upper-
division level and shall be taken no sooner than the term in which
upper-division status (completion of 60 semester units or 90 quarter
units) is attained. At least nine of the 48 semester units or 12 of
the 72 quarter units shall be earned at the campus granting the
degree.
Each campus is authorized to make reasonable adjustments in the number
of units assigned to the five categories in order that the conjunction
of campus course credit unit configuration and these requirements will
not unduly exceed any of the prescribed credit minima. However, in
no case shall the total number of units required be less than 48
semester units or 72 quarter units. (No campus need adjust normal
course credit configurations for the sole purpose of meeting the
requirements specified herein.)
Instruction approved to fulfill the following requirements should
recognize the contributions to knowledge and civilization that have
been made by members of diverse cultural groups and by women.
A. A minimum of nine semester units or twelve quarter units in
communication in the English language, to include both oral
communication and written communication, and in critical thinking,
to include consideration of common fallacies in reasoning.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of the requirement in
communication is to be designed to emphasize the content of
communication as well as the form and should provide an
understanding of the psychological basis and the social
significance of communication, including how communication
operates in various situations. Applicable course(s) should view
communication as the process of human symbolic interaction
focusing on the communicative process from the rhetorical
perspective: reasoning and advocacy, organization, accuracy; the
discovery, critical evaluation and reporting of information;
reading and listening effectively as well as speaking and writing.
This must include active participation and practice in written
communication and oral communication.
Instruction in critical thinking is to be designed to achieve an
understanding of the relationship of language to logic, which
should lead to the ability to analyze, criticize, and advocate
ideas, to reason inductively and deductively, and to reach factual
or judgmental conclusions based on sound inferences drawn from
unambiguous statements of knowledge or belief. The minimal
competence to be expected at the successful conclusion of
instruction in critical thinking should be the demonstration of
skills in elementary inductive and deductive processes, including
an understanding of the formal and informal fallacies of language
and thought, and the ability to distinguish matters of fact from
issues of judgment or opinion.
B. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen quarter units to
include inquiry into the physical universe and its life forms,
with some immediate participation in laboratory activity, and into
mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning and their
applications.
Instruction approved for the fulfillment of this requirement is
intended to impart knowledge of the facts and principles which
form the foundations of living and non-living systems. Such
studies should promote understanding and appreciation of the
methodologies of science as investigative tools, the limitations
of scientific endeavors: namely, what is the evidence and how was
it derived? In addition, particular attention should be given to
the influence which the acquisition of scientific knowledge has
had on the development of the world's civilizations, not only as
expressed in the past but also in present times. The nature and
extent of laboratory experience is to be determined by each campus
through its established curricular procedures. In specifying
inquiry into mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning and
their application, the intention is not to imply merely basic
computational skills, but to encourage as well the understanding
of basic mathematical concepts.
C. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen quarter units among
the arts, literature, philosophy and foreign languages.
Instruction approved for the fulfillment of this requirement
should cultivate intellect, imagination, sensibility and
sensitivity. It is meant in part to encourage students to respond
subjectively as well as objectively to experience and to develop
a sense of the integrity of emotional and intellectual response.
Students should be motivated to cultivate and refine their
affective as well as cognitive and physical faculties through
studying great works of the human imagination, which could include
active participation in individual esthetic, creative experience.
Equally important is the intellectual examination of the
subjective response, thereby increasing awareness and appreciation
in the traditional humanistic disciplines such as art, dance,
drama, literature and music. The requirement should result in the
student's better understanding of the interrelationship between
the creative arts, the humanities and self. Studies in these
areas should include exposure to both Western cultures and non-
Western cultures.
Foreign language courses may be included in this requirement
because of their implications for cultures both in their
linguistic structures and in their use in literature; but foreign
language courses which are approved to meet a portion of this
requirement are to contain a cultural component and not be solely
skills acquisition courses. Campus provisions for fulfillment of
this requirement must include a reasonable distribution among the
categories specified as opposed to the completion of the entire
number of units required in one category.
D. A minimum of twelve semester units or eighteen quarter units
dealing with human social, political, and economic institutions
and behavior and their historical background.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of this requirement should
reflect the fact that human social, political and economic
institutions and behavior are inextricably interwoven. Problems
and issues in these areas should be examined in their contemporary
as well as historical setting, including both Western and non-
Western contexts. Campus provisions for fulfillment of this
requirement must include a reasonable distribution among the
categories specified as opposed to completion of the entire number
of units required in one category.
E. A minimum of three semester units or four quarter units in study
designed to equip human beings for lifelong understanding and
development of themselves as integrated physiological and
psychological entities.
Instruction approved for fulfillment of this requirement should
facilitate understanding of the human being as an integrated
physiological, social, and psychological organism. Courses
developed to meet this requirement are intended to include
selective consideration of such matters as human behavior,
sexuality, nutrition, health, stress, key relationships of
humankind to the social and physical environment, and implications
of death and dying. Physical activity could be included, provided
that it is an integral part of the study described herein.
Campuses may permit "double counting" of courses for General
Education-Breadth and major requirements and prerequisites only after
giving careful consideration to the impact of such actions on General
Education-Breadth programs. Decisions to permit double counting in
General Education-Breadth and a degree major may be made only after
an approval is provided through campuswide curricular processes.
Up to six semester units taken to meet the United States History,
Constitution, and American Ideals Requirement (Title 5 of the
California Code of Regulations, Section 40404) may be credited toward
satisfying General Education-Breadth Requirements at the option of the
campus.
VI. Exceptions
Exceptions to the foregoing requirements may be authorized only under
the following circumstances:
A. In the case of an individual student, the campus may grant a
partial waiver of one or more of the particular requirements of
Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 40405.1,
to avoid demonstrable hardship, such as the need to extend the
time required for completion of the degree in the case of a
senior-level transfer student.
B. In the case of high-unit professional major degree programs, the
Chancellor may grant exceptions to one or more requirements for
students completing the particular program. Such exception must
be considered at the campus level prior to initiating the request.
A full academic justification shall be submitted to the Senior
Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, who shall submit his or her
recommendation and that submitted by the campus president, along
with all relevant documents, to the Chancellor.
VII. General Education Advisory Committee
A systemwide Advisory Committee on General Education is hereby
established. While it is important that the membership of this
committee be broadly based, the membership will in largest part be
drawn from the instructional faculty of the California State
University. Liaison membership from the instructional faculty of the
California Community Colleges may be included as well.
The responsibilities of this committee will be as follows:
A. To review and propose any necessary revisions in the objectives,
requirements, and implementation of CSU General Education-Breadth
policy to ensure high-quality general education.
B. To continue to study general education policies and practices
inside and outside the system and, as appropriate, to stimulate
intersegmental discussion of the development of general education
curricula.
C. To review the implications of CSU General Education-Breadth policy
for students transferring to the CSU and for the institutions from
which they transfer, and to propose any necessary adjustments to
pertinent policies and practices.
D. To report as appropriate to the Chancellor and the Board of
Trustees.
The Chancellor or the Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, may
from time to time request the committee to address and provide advice
on other issues related to development and well-being of General
Education-Breadth policy and programs in the California State
University.
VIII. Certification by Non-CSU Regionally Accredited Institutions of
Transfer Students' Fulfillment of CSU General Education-Breadth
Requirements
A. Premises
1. It is the joint responsibility of the public segments of
higher education to ensure that students are able to transfer
without unreasonable loss of credit or time.
2. The faculty of an institution granting the baccalaureate
degree have primary responsibility for maintaining the
integrity of the degree program and determining when
requirements have been met.
3. There shall ordinarily be a high degree of reciprocity among
regionally accredited institutions in the absence of specific
indications that such reciprocity is not appropriate.
B. Conditions for Participation
Any institution that is accredited by a recognized regional
accrediting association and that offers the BA or BS degree or the
first two years of such degree programs may participate in General
Education-Breadth certification if it agrees to the following
provisions:
1. The participating institution shall designate a liaison
representative who shall participate in various orientation
activities and provide other institutional staff with
pertinent information.
2. The participating institution shall identify for certification
purposes those courses or examinations that fulfill the
objectives set forth in Section III of this Executive Order
and such additional objectives as may be promulgated by the
Chancellor of the California State University.
a. The courses and examinations identified should be planned
and organized to enable students to acquire abilities,
knowledge, understanding, and appreciation as interrelated
elements, not as isolated fragments.
b. Interdisciplinary courses or integrated sets of courses
that meet multiple objectives of the CSU General Education-
Breadth Requirements may be appropriate components of
general education (cf. Subsections A-5 and A-7 of Section
II).
c. Credit units of an interdisciplinary course or integrated
set of courses may be distributed among different areas of
general education, as appropriate.
3. The CSU Office of the Chancellor, Division of Academic
Affairs, shall maintain a list of participating institutions'
courses and examinations that have been identified and
accepted for certification purposes.
a. Each entry in the list shall include specification of the
area or areas and objectives to which the course or
examination relates and the number of units associated with
each area or objective. (See Attachment A.)
b. The list shall be updated annually. Each participating
institution shall transmit annually to the CSU Office of
the Chancellor, Division of Academic Affairs, any proposed
changes to its portion of the list. If a course is to be
added or if the specification of areas and objectives for
a course is to be modified, the participating institution
shall include in its submission the approved course
outline. If a course is part of an integrated set of
courses, the submission shall identify the set and describe
how the course complements the others in the set.
c. As of the effective date of this executive order, the list
will include all entries that were submitted by
participating institutions and not identified for challenge
under the provisions of Executive Order 342. Recognizing
the integrity of faculty curricular review processes in
participating institutions, the CSU expects that proposed
updates will generally be acceptable. However, after the
effective date of this executive order, additions or
modifications of entries shall be reviewed by a
subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on General Education
for congruence with the areas and objectives specified.
The subcommittee is to be drawn from the instructional
faculty of the California State University. The
subcommittee may ask the participating institution for
additional materials and is encouraged to consult faculty
from the California State University or California
Community Colleges who have relevant expertise. The
subcommittee may refer decision on acceptance of the course
to the Advisory Committee on General Education. A course
that is reviewed and determined to be inconsistent with the
objectives with which it has been associated will not be
added to the list.
d. A copy of the list shall be made available in printed or
electronic form to any CSU campus or participating
institution. Participating institutions are free to share
their course outlines and communications from the CSU about
those course outlines with other participating
institutions.
e. The participating institution shall be responsible for
reviewing periodically its portion of the list to assure
that entries continue to be appropriate and to reflect
current knowledge in the field. It is also responsible for
reapproving entries that are found to have remained
appropriate and for directing to the subcommittee of the
Advisory Committee on General Education any questions such
updating of the courses may have raised as to their
congruence with CSU General Education-Breadth areas and
objectives.
4. The participating institution shall report certification for
individual students in a format to be specified.
C. Acceptance of Certification
CSU campuses shall accept full certification or subject-area
certification, as defined below, by participating institutions.
Students admitted to a CSU campus with full certification may not
be held to any additional lower-division general education
requirements; students admitted to a CSU campus with subject-area
certification may not be held to any additional lower-division
general education coursework in the subject areas certified.
Neither full certification nor subject-area certification exempts
students from unmet lower-division graduation requirements that
may exist outside of the general education program of the campus
awarding the degree.
1. To qualify for full certification, a student must
satisfactorily complete no fewer than 39 lower-division
semester units or 58 lower-division quarter units of
instruction appropriate to meet the objectives of Sections III
and V. The units must be distributed as follows, except as
specified in Subsection 3 below:
a. In Area A, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), including instruction in oral communication,
written communication, and critical thinking.
b. In Area B, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), including instruction in physical science and life
scienceŝat least one part of which must include a
laboratory componentŝand mathematics/quantitative
reasoning.
c. In Area C, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), with at least one course in the arts and one in the
humanities (see Attachment A).
d. In Area D, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15 quarter
units), with courses taken in at least two disciplines (see
Attachment A).
e. In Area E, no fewer than three semester units (4-5 quarter
units).
2. To qualify for subject-area certification, a student must
satisfactorily complete instruction appropriate to meet the
objectives of one or more subsections of Section V. The units
must be distributed as follows, except as specified in
Subsection 3 below:
a. For Area A, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15
quarter units), including instruction in oral
communication, written communication, and critical
thinking. A single course may not be certified as meeting
more than one subarea for any given student.
b. For Area B, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15
quarter units), including instruction in physical science
and life scienceŝat least one part of which must include a
laboratory componentŝand mathematics/quantitative
reasoning. A single course may not be certified as meeting
more than one subarea for any given student, except for
laboratory components incorporated into a physical or life
science course.
c. For Area C, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15
quarter units), with at least one course in the arts and
one in the humanities (see Attachment A).
d. For Area D, no fewer than nine semester units (12-15
quarter units), with courses taken in at least two
disciplines (see Attachment A).
e. For Area E, no fewer than three semester units (4-5 quarter
units).
3. Exceptions to restrictions above may be made for programs in
which instruction is integrated into a set of courses or into
interdisciplinary courses designed to meet multiple
objectives. Interdisciplinary courses in this case would be
expected to be offered at an appropriately greater number of
units.
D. Limitations on Certification of Students
1. A participating institution may not certify a student for more
than 39 semester units or equivalent. If more than one
participating institution certifies a student, the CSU campus
granting the degree need not accept certification for more
than 39 semester units or equivalent.
2. A CSU campus need accept as certified for a given subject area
no more than the minimum numbers of units specified in
Subsections A through E in Section V above.
3. A participating institution may certify a student for no more
than 30 semester units (45 quarter units) total in subject
areas B through D combined. If more than one participating
institution certifies a student, the CSU campus granting the
degree need not accept certification for more than 30 semester
units (45 quarter units) total in subject areas B through D
combined.
4. Baccalaureate-granting institutions certifying a student for
units earned in upper-division courses or examinations may
provide certification only for those units that were completed
during or after the term in which the student achieved upper-
division status (i.e., earned a total of at least 60 semester
units or 90 quarter units).
5. A participating institution may certify completion of courses
or examinations taken at other eligible institutions, provided
that all such courses and examinations would be identified for
certification purposes by the institution offering them. If
so identified, those courses and examinations shall contribute
to qualification of a student for full certification or
subject-area certification, as appropriate.
6. Upon transfer, no student shall be required to complete more
units in general education-breadth than the difference between
the number certified in accordance with this executive order
and the total units in general education-breadth required by
the campus granting the degree.
IX. Lower-Division General Education Reciprocity Among CSU Campuses
A. Lower-division general education requirements designated by CSU
campuses as having been satisfactorily completed in their
entirety, shall be recognized as fulfilling all lower-division
general education requirements of the CSU campus granting the
baccalaureate degree without regard to differences that may exist
between the two programs. (A course or examination is to be
regarded as satisfactorily completed if the student's performance
meets the minimum standards for full acceptance toward satisfying
a requirement as set by the campus at which the course or
examination was taken.) For the purposes of this section,
completion of lower-division general education requirements is
equivalent to qualification for full certification, as defined in
Subsection C of Section VIII above. Transfer students admitted
with documentation of full lower-division general education
program completion at another CSU campus may not be held to any
additional lower-division general education requirements by the
campus awarding the degree.
B. Lower-division general education subject-area requirements
designated by CSU campuses as having been satisfactorily
completed, shall be recognized as fulfilling the corresponding
subject-area general education requirements of the CSU campus
granting the baccalaureate degree without regard to differences
that may exist in the configuration of the two programs or in the
content of the subject area. For the purposes of this section,
completion of lower-division general education subject-area
requirements is equivalent to qualification for subject-area
certification, as defined in Subsection C of Section VIII above.
Transfer students admitted with documentation of completion of one
or more general education subject areas at another CSU campus may
not be held to any additional lower-division general education
requirements in that subject area by the campus awarding the
degree.
C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this section do not
exempt students from unmet lower-division graduation requirements
of the CSU campus awarding the degree, or from lower-division
courses required by individual baccalaureate majors at the CSU
campus awarding the degree.
D. Students seeking to transfer under the provisions of this section
shall be responsible for requesting verification that lower-
division general education program or subject-area requirements
have been met. Upon the request of a currently or formerly
enrolled student, the CSU campus from which the student seeks to
transfer shall determine the extent to which that student has
satisfactorily completed the lower-division general education
requirements in each subject area, and shall provide official
documentation of such completion.
______________________
November 20, 1992 Barry Munitz, Chancellor
Attachment A
Designations for Subject Areas and Objectives
Area A: Communication in the English Language and Critical Thinking
References: Sections V-A, VIII-C-1-a, VIII-C-2-a
Oral Communication A1
Written Communication A2
Critical Thinking A3
Area B: Physical Universe and Its Life Forms
References: Sections V-B, VIII-C-1-b, VIII-C-2-b
Physical Science B1
Life Science B2
Laboratory Activity B3
Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning B4
Area C: Arts, Literature, Philosophy and Foreign Languages
References: Sections V-C, VIII-C-1-c, VIII-C-2-c
Arts (Art, Dance, Music, Theatre) C1
Humanities (Literature, Philosophy, Foreign Languages) C2
Area D: Social, Political, and Economic Institutions and Behavior;
Historical Background
References: Sections V-D, VIII-C-1-d, VIII-C-2-d
Anthropology and Archeology D1
Economics D2
Ethnic Studies* D3
Gender Studies* D4
Geography D5
History D6
Interdisciplinary Social or Behavioral Science D7
Political Science, Government, and Legal Institutions D8
Psychology D9
Sociology and Criminology D0
Area E: Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development E
References: Sections V-E, VIII-C-1-e, VIII-C-2-e
_________________________
* Ethnic Studies or Gender Studies courses emphasizing artistic or humanistic
perspectives may be categorized in Area C.
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