WHAT IS GENERAL EDUCATION?
General Education (GE) is your academic introduction to the university. It exposes you to the fundamental ideas and intellectual activities that scholars across campus – scholars in the arts, the humanities, the social sciences and natural sciences – draw on in their work. The courses offered in the GE curriculum provide diverse perspectives on how human beings think and feel, solve problems, express ideas, and create and discover new knowledge. These courses also help you acquire the skills essential to university-level learning: they challenge you to assess information critically, frame and deliver reasoned and persuasive arguments both orally and in writing, and identify, acquire and use the knowledge necessary to solve problems. GE is the foundation of a UCLA education.
WHY ARE YOU REQUIRED TO TAKE GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES?
UCLA requires its undergraduates to take a number of General Education courses out of the deep conviction that living a successful and satisfying life demands a wide range of skills and knowledge. Whatever your area of specialization or career plan, you will need the ability to reason logically and quantitatively, and to communicate effectively. Further, as a consumer and citizen you will need to have an understanding of the ideas and cultural movements that shape our values, the ways in which humans organize and govern their societies, and the sciences that explain and increasingly shape our environment.