New for Fall 2026: Updates to the Undergraduate General Education Requirement Policies

Approved in the spring 2022 term, the General Education curriculum, consisting of Exploring Perspectives & Building Connections, modernized and enhanced the undergraduate experience. As part of this broader initiative, it was recognized that the General Education Foundations coursework needed a comprehensive review. Guiding principles for the review of general education foundations and supporting policy amendments were established and include:

1. General Education requirements should be the same across all undergraduate degrees
2. A change of major should not lead to the "uncompletion" of a previously completed degree requirement
3. Reduce the complexity of curriculum to better support students navigating their degree programs

Updates to policies related to Undergraduate General Education Requirements were approved by the University-Wide General Education Committee, the Undergraduate Council, the Undergraduate College Academic Administrators Council, the Faculty Senate, and the Provost during the spring of 2025. This is the first set of policies that have been approved, with an additional set of policies to receive additional review/approval in fall 2025 for fall 2026 implementation. Amendments to the policies include: 

General Education Attributes

• Removes attributes as a graduation requirement while strengthening their importance to the curriculum
• Codifies the 32-unit requirement for General Education
• Consolidates policies to assist students and others in understanding requirements

Foundations Writing

• Updates the subject area from English to Writing to support students by request of the English Department and Writing Program.
• Provides more options for transfer students with the inclusion of WRIT 305
• Reduces administrative burden by eliminating the transfer portfolio option while ensuring students earn academic credit for academic work. 
• Eliminates MCWA in support of Writing Across the Curriculum and to reduce non-course requirements for students.

Foundations Math

• Streamline math foundations policy to create a single general education (GE) math requirement,
  regardless of the major discipline.
• Retains major-specific guidance on math requirements by having the specific math courses
  needed listed in the major, and broadens the multiple use policy to allow the math course to
  satisfy in the major and general education.
• The requirement must be satisfied with a minimum of 3 earned hours.

While these updated policies are not in effect until the 2026-2027 catalog year, the amendments will be included as reference pages in the 2025-26 catalog as a planning resource. View the amended policy text.

Questions about the updates to this policy should be addressed to the Office of the Registrar at catalog@arizona.edu.