The general education program at Northern Illinois University is an all-university program; it represents the common knowledge on which all current curricula are based. Among the advantages of an all-university wide program is the fact that a student who changes from one college to another will not be held to a different general education program (with some specific exceptions related to professional accreditation and teacher certification programs-see catalog for details).

The general education program has two components: core competency requirements and distributive studies. The total hours required in general education (forty-one) represent about a third of the minimum one hundred twenty hours required for the baccalaureate curricula in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Core Competency Requirements
Students must complete 0-12 semester hours of core competency requirements that cover reading, writing, speaking, and mathematical skills. Because these courses are the foundation of all Northern curricula, students are urged to complete these courses early in their academic program, preferably in the first year. Exceptionally well qualified students may address the core competency requirements by examination; this leads to zero credit hours earned, but the core competency examinations may free a student to explore other options within the hours available. Although a student may fulfill all the core competency requirements by examination, State of Illinois teacher certification candidates may be required to earn credit in the competency areas; students who are interested in pursuing teacher certification in the State of Illinois are urged to consult the appropriate discipline coordinator in this regard (see section below on teacher certification general education requirements).

In the areas of reading, writing, and speaking, all students must:
1. Satisfactorily complete the sequence ENGL 103 and ENGL 104 (or ENGL 105 if recommended for placement into ENGL 105) or pass the English Core Competency Examination I and II. If a student earns a grade of D in ENGL 104, the student has not fulfilled the core competency requirement (see the undergraduate catalog for ways to address this issue).
2. Satisfactorily complete COMS 100; or pass the Oral Communication Competency Examination.

In the area of mathematical skills, students must do one of the following:
1. Earn at least a grade of D in MATH 101
   OR
2. Earn at least a C in MATH 155, MATH 201, MATH 206, MATH 210, MATH 211, or MATH 229
   OR
3. Pass the Mathematics Core Competency Examination.

Distributive Studies Area Requirements

Students must complete a minimum of 29 semester hours of course work chosen from courses listed as fulfilling general education requirements in each of the four areas below:
1. humanities and the arts (9-12 hours, at least three of which must be completed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and at least three of which must be completed in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, with no more than six hours taken in any one department)
2. sciences and mathematics (7-11 hours in at least two but not more than three departments)
3. social sciences (6-9 semester hours with no more than six hours in a single department)
4. interdisciplinary studies (3-6 hours).

Focused Interest Groups (FIGS) in General Education  
A FIG is a Focused Interest Group which links general education courses around a common theme. Students who enroll in FIGS have the opportunity to interact with faculty members and their fellow students more readily than they might be able to do so in isolated sections of the same courses. Because the courses are linked around a common theme, FIGS show how different disciplines approach the same topic; students in a FIG may see readily the relationships among seemingly disparate disciplines and may also focus on the unique ways of thinking and knowing that inform the approaches to the shared subject matter. FIGS also lend themselves readily to forming study groups and to establishing formal and informal ties with students and faculty who share a common interest. In the schedule booklet, FIGS are listed together, with a brief comment about the topic covered in each FIG and a listing of the courses, faculty, and times for the FIG offerings. Students can register for a FIG using an umbrella number that will place them in all the courses of the FIG; after the semester begins, however, students will be able to withdraw from the separate courses that comprise the FIG.

General Education Requirements-Compact Admits
Students who are admitted to Northern Illinois University by virtue of their having earned an A.A. or A.S. degree from an Illinois public community college that offers degrees which satisfy the Illinois Community College Board ACCB) model are considered to have met the spirit of our course specific general education program at Northern Illinois University. In some programs, however, the student may still need to take one or more courses included in our core competency or distributive studies program if those courses are also a major requirement. A sociology major, for example, who did not elect STAT 208 as part of the science area of distributive studies at his or her community college will still need to complete STAT 208 to earn a B.A. degree in Sociology for Northern Illinois University; a psychology major who did not have MATH 210 at the community college will need MATH 210 as a requirement for the B.A. in Psychology here.

Any student pursuing teacher certification may need to take additional general education course work in spite of the compact agreement regarding the university-wide general education program. For specifics on this point, see the section below as well as the Undergraduate Catalog.

General Education Requirements-Illinois Articulation Initiative
For students who transfer to Northern Illinois University beginning Fall 1998, the Illinois Articulation Initiative may represent a means by which they can fulfill our general education requirements. Because NIU participates in the IAI Phase I and Phase U, students who transfer to Northern having completed the Illinois transferable General Education Core curriculum (GECC) at a participating Illinois institution will be deemed to have met our general education requirements. Because this program does not apply to native NIU students (except to the extent that they complete NIU's version of the GECC to transfer to another participating institution), students and advisors must choose general education offerings with great care. For further information on this topic, consult the Undergraduate Catalog and the Articulation Handbook.

General Education Requirements-Teacher Certification
In the College of liberal Arts and Sciences, there are a significant number of departments that offer Illinois State Board of Education ASBE) recognized initial teacher certification programs. For a complete listing of these departments, see the section on Teacher Certification Requirements in the Undergraduate Catalog.

Because these requirements are currently undergoing significant revision, the best approach to determining which courses are required for the Standard High School certificate (6-12), which is the initial teacher certification program in which the departments in our college participate, is to contact the discipline coordinator of the subject matter department in which the student wishes to teach (see listing of discipline coordinators below). The earlier the contact with the discipline coordinator, the greater the probability that students can choose general education courses carefully, electing options that fulfill both NIU and teacher certification general education requirements.

General Education Summary

Faculty Role
For faculty advisors, a vital preliminary question to pose in advising students is whether the student will fulfill the course specific general education requirements at Northern Illinois University or whether the student has entered Northern under the auspices of the community college compact agreement. A further crucial question involves the teacher certification program; many departments assign all students pursuing teacher certification to a single advisor, or discipline coordinator, who handles the complicated general education inquiries of this special population.

To assist a student in identifying those courses within the general education program that are most appropriate for their current majors or that might provide a basis for exploring alternative majors, faculty advisors should explore the following issues with their advisees:
1. Are there key courses within the general education program that are particularly apt choices for a student in this field?
2. In this major, is it appropriate to spread course work in distributive studies throughout the baccalaureate career?
3. Are there combinations of courses that are particularly appropriate across disciplines or within the same disciplinary boundaries?
4. How would the student benefit from electing among the distributive studies offerings courses that are part of a Focused Interest Group (FIG)?
5. Are there choices within the distributive studies program well suited for this student this particular semester? For example, would it be wiser for the student not to elect two reading-intensive general education courses in the same semester or is that an apt choice for a student with this person's background?

Faculty advisors should remind students that no student may use a course offered by his or her major department to fulfill a distributive studies requirement. If a student changes major, that student should be alerted to course work which now ceases to fulfill a general education requirement and becomes instead a major elective.

Faculty advisors should also alert students to the possibility of building cognate course groupings within distributive studies into an interdisciplinary minor; students may also elect to take additional course work in a single department whose general education offering piqued a student's interest. Among the most helpful things a faculty advisor can do is to convince students that the general education program is not simply something to get through but rather an opportunity to enrich the curricular choices a Student prefers.

Student Role
Students should use general education courses to test areas of possible major interest, to build skills in fields that support the major, and to explore disparate modes of intellectual inquiry. Where possible, a student may elect from among the general education offerings courses that meet requirements for access to limited admission programs. Among the vital elements of the distributive studies program is the opportunity it offers for a student to share course experiences with students whose major interests are markedly different from one's own. In FIGS, or in other general education courses, a student may get to the heart of the intellectual matter. 'Gen eds' are not merely something to 'get done' but rather a chance to explore one's perspectives, broaden one's scope, and increase one's depth.