General Education Requirements

The General Education Requirements at Westchester Community College establish a common experience within all degree programs that is designed to empower students with broad foundational knowledge and transferable skills.

The foundational knowledge component of the General Education Requirements aims to promote an intellectual understanding of the world through mathematical and scientific literacy, historical contexts, aesthetic awareness, and exposure to diverse perspectives.

The transferable skills component of the General Education Requirements promotes the critical capacities necessary for academic and life-long success. Emphasis is placed on accessing and evaluating information, thinking critically, and communicating ideas effectively. These skills foster the ability to apply knowledge, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.

In order to encourage students’ civic knowledge and engagement, both locally and globally, General Education courses aim to cultivate ethics, values, and attitudes appropriate for an increasingly interconnected world. Successful completion of the General Education Requirements will position students to be creative, productive, life-long learners.

Effective Fall 2015

The following outlines the general education requirements for students who entered the college or began a new program in the Fall 2015 semester and thereafter. Details may be found on the specific Programs of Study  pages.

Core Requirements

Students must complete at least one course from each of the following SUNY General Education categories:  

Multi-General Education Designated Classes

Certain courses may fulfill more than one SUNY General Education category. In such cases, students may use the course to fulfill the category requirements of each designation (if the curriculum requirements permit); however, the student must still complete the required number of General Education Credits. 

Degree Requirements

The new AAS core requirements, while not required of SUNY, were passed by Westchester Community College faculty to ensure a common experience among all graduates. For AAS programs only, exceptions (i.e., 6 of 7 categories only) will be approved via the campus governance process on an ‘as-needed’ basis.

Alignment with Institutional Learning Outcomes

The following are Westchester Community College’s overarching Institutional Learning Outcomes that align with the State University of New York (SUNY) general education outcomes, Westchester Community College’s General Education Core, the College’s Values Statement, and the Essential Learning Outcomes recommended by the Association of American College and Universities (AAC&U). The General Education coursework at Westchester Community College is connected through the institutional learning outcomes stated below.

Students will demonstrate:

1. The ability to explore, analyze, evaluate, and explain the natural, cultural and historical phenomena of the world around them
2. The ability to formulate ideas and conclusions and communicate them clearly and logically
3. The ability to solve problems by building upon information and skills acquired through coursework across disciplines
4. An awareness of global issues and a knowledge of diverse perspectives
5. The ability to work ethically, responsibly, and collaboratively

Click to learn more  about the alignment between the college’s Institutional Learning Outcomes and those from the State University of New York’s general education learning outcomes.