General Education helps students to better understand themselves and
their place in the world; their Tohono O’odham history and culture;
the diverse cultures and histories of humanity; the principles and
impact of mathematics, science and technology; and the principles of
effective communication and artistic expression. Through general
education coursework, students come to realize the
interrelationships between their program of study and other areas of
human endeavor.
General Education is designed to develop the following thinking
skills: comparing; interpreting; summarizing; suggesting and testing
hypotheses; imagining and creating; criticizing and evaluating;
designing projects and investigations; gathering and organizing
data; as well as reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making.
Prerequisite for
General Education: Ability To Benefit Academically
In order to receive transferable credit toward a program of study, a
student must demonstrate an ability to benefit not only personally,
but also academically. For this reason, students seeking General
Education credit for a class must first meet Pre-Program
Requirements and course prerequisites.
Grades and Standards
in General Education
Once a student enrolls in a transferable class, the student must
earn a grade of “C” or better in order for the class to count toward
his or her General Education requirements. Arizona universities have
set the standard of an overall G.P.A. of 2.0 (on a 4.0 scale) for
transfer students.
Students seeking to enter a specific university program should
strive to maintain a high G.P.A in order to gain access to
competitive grant programs, selective university programs, and
merit-based scholarships. AGEC certificates for transfer do not
guarantee admission to specific programs.
Statewide Agreement
on General Education
Arizona community colleges and public universities participate in
the Arizona General Education Curriculum, one of the strongest
transfer and articulation systems in the United States. Students
enrolling in General Education coursework benefit from reciprocal
transferability between Arizona community colleges. TOCC students
seeking to attend the University of Arizona, Arizona State
University, or Northern Arizona University are guaranteed admission
to a bachelor’s program upon completion of an AGEC certificate or an
associate degree for transfer.
As part of the statewide system, TOCC supports the following
statement on General Education:
Valuing General Education commits students and faculty to the
pursuit of wholeness in learning—to seeing the relationship of our
special interests to the larger academic and cultural contexts,
which we share. The search for an integrated understanding requires
a general desire to learn, an energetic interest in the world, and a
willingness to put ourselves in the place of those whose beliefs and
outlooks are different from our own.
A General Education program, pursued by curious and empathetic
faculty and students, provides a structure in which the accumulation
of knowledge and the practice of disciplined, independent thinking
can grow into comprehensive understanding and reasoned value.
For more information, visit the Arizona Statewide Transfer System
website at
http://www.aztransfer.com/home. |
