Academic Affairs

General Education Program

Aerial view of Michigan Tech's campus.

Current Requirements are effective for students enrolling Fall 2015 or later.

For students enrolled prior to Fall 2015, please refer to the registrar's page for historical requirements and see equivalency chart below.

Current Requirements

The General Education curriculum consists of the following general requirements. Detailed requirements are in the table below.

  • Core courses (12 credits)
  • HASS Electives (12 credits) |Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
  • STEM (15 credits) | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
  • Co-curricular activities (3 semester units)

Required Courses and Goals

For each requirement, there are lists of approved courses. 

  • Please note that only courses on the approved HASS lists will count for General Education. This means, for example, that all HU courses are not eligible for the HU component of the HASS requirement. Students should verify that they are taking approved courses to complete their General Education requirements -- some courses not approved for HASS may have similar titles.
  • Some courses appear on more than one list (multiple HASS lists, HASS and Core lists, or on the HASS and STEM lists). Each course can only be used to satisfy a single requirement.
    • For example, courses that appear on both HASS and STEM lists can count toward either HASS or STEM requirements on a student's degree audit, but not both.

Each General Education course is selected to help build student competencies towards the Undergraduate Student-Learning Goals. The "Target Goals" identified for each main general education requirement are outlined in the table below.

Identifying General Education Courses for Registration

General Education courses offered during a specific semester that meet these requirements can be identified using the "Attribute Type" when searching the Schedule of Classes. The "Attribute Type" associated with each main requirement is noted in the table below.

Transfer Credits.

Students will be permitted to transfer courses from other institutions to satisfy these requirements. Students must check with the Michigan Tech Transfer Services Office to find out which courses qualify before a class is taken off-campus.

General Education Requirements Summary Table

(please see here for the specific lists of courses)

Requirement Credits Courses USLG Goals Attribute Type Notes
CORE 3 Composition: UN1015 5 & 6 (none)
  • Both are required prerequisites for 3000-4000 level HASS electives.
3 Global Issues: UN1025 or Modern Language Option 3 & 6 (none)
3 Critical and Creative Thinking
 4 Critical/Creative Thinking CORE
  • Courses on these lists may be used as HASS electives.
3 Social Responsibility and Ethical Reasoning
 8 Soc Resp/Ethical Reason CORE
HASS
 3 Communication and Composition 5 Composition or Communication
  • Course must be on HASS or HASS Restricted lists. 
  • Only 3 credits from the HASS Restricted list can be used for credit.
  • 6 credits must be upper division 3000-4000 level - UN1015 and UN1025 are prerequisites for all upper division HASS courses.
3 Humanities/Fine Arts 3, 4, 5, 8 Humanities & Fine Arts
3 Social/Behavioral Science 3, 4, 5, 8

Social & Behavioral Science
3 Can be taken from any HASS List or HASS Restricted List 3, 4, 5, 8

HASS Restricted

or

any other HASS code
STEM 4 Mathematics List 2 STEM Mathematics
  • No more than 4 credits can be from the Restricted STEM list.
  • Programs may specify STEM Gen Ed courses as part of their major requirements.
7

Science List

  • must come from at least two different disciplines
  • at least one must include or be taken with an accompanying laboratory
 2

STEM Science

or

STEM  Lab Science
4 Can be taken from the Mathematics, Science, or Restricted STEM lists. 2 any of the STEM codes
Co-curricular  

3 semester units required.

  • Includes PE courses, Army/Air Force ROTC, band, and music lessons.
  

Co-Curricular FA Activity

or

Co-Curricular Phys Activity
  • 3 semester units = equivalent of 3 credits
  • These credits are not included in the GPA calculation or in the overall credits required for the degree
  • Most PE classes are 0.5 units and last for 7 weeks. Six such classes would fulfill the requirement.
Total 39  

Prior Requirements

Students who enrolled prior to the 2015-2016 academic year will follow the former General Education program. Information on the previous program requirements are available from the registrar. Substitutions for the General Education courses are as follows:

Course Equivalency Chart

Students enrolled before the 2015-16 academic year may make the substitutions noted below to meet the General Education requirements.

Current Requirements Credits Prior Requirements (allowed substitutions)
Composition: UN1015 3 UN2001 Revisions*
Global Issues: UN1025 3 Modern Language Option or UN1002 World Cultures*
Critical and Creative Thinking 3 UN1001 Perspectives on Inquiry*
HUFA List (2013-14, 2014-15)
Social Responsibility and Ethical Reasoning 3 UN2002 Institutions*
SBS List (2013-14, 2014-15)
HASS 12 Any 12 credits from any current HASS list, or HASS list from enrollment year
  • 6 Credits must be upper division 3000-4000 level courses
  • No more than 3 credits from any of the following HASS lists, for a maximum of 6 credits total:
    • HASS Restricted (current)
    • HASS Creative Endeavors (prior to 2015-16)
    • HASS Supplemental (prior to 2015-16)
STEM 15

Mathematics: 4 credits (minimum)

Science:

  • 1 course with an associated laboratory (as part of the course or as a separate course)
  • No more than 4 credits from the STEM Restricted (current)

*These courses are no longer offered at Michigan Tech

Related Senate Policies

The current General Education program was adopted for students enrolling in Fall 2015.