The General Education requirements reflect AUK's liberal arts philosophy, and constitute an important component of all the Bachelor Degree programs offered at AUK. Most of the General Education courses should be completed in the first two years of studying toward a Bachelor's Degree. The English General Education requirements should be completed in the first year of the student's course work. Students should consult with their academic advisor before choosing and scheduling their General Education Requirements.
Mission Statement for General Education
General Education at the American University of Kuwait offers students a broad interdisciplinary learning platform for the acquisition, application, integration, evaluation and production of knowledge, combined with intellectual and practical skills that render this knowledge useful. It provides the foundation upon which further academic and professional study is possible, and serves to create a student body that understands the interconnectedness of various academic disciplines. General Education marks the beginning of the student's journey toward civic responsibility, leadership, and propensity for life-long learning
General Education Requirements
To earn a Bachelor's Degree, students are governed by the following minimum requirements including a set of General Education requirements. Each specific degree program has further major and major-related requirements that are detailed in the respective discipline and teaching unit sections of the Catalog
Forty-five (45) General Education credit hours in the following courses:
English Language Requirement (6)
Oral Communication Requirement (3)
Arabic Language and Culture Requirement (6)
Mathematics Requirement (6)
Computer Science and Information Systems Requirement (3)
Essentials of Learning Requirement (2)
Humanities Requirement (6)
Social Sciences Requirement (6)
Sciences Requirement (7)
[E]: English Language Requirement (6 credit hours)
Students can satisfy the English Requirement with a grade of "C" or better by taking the following two courses.
| ENGL 101 : Approaches to Critical Reading and Writing |
(3) [E] |
| This course should be completed by the end of the first year. |
|
AND
|
|
| ENGL 102 : Writing and Information Literacy |
(3) [E] |
| This course should be completed by the end of the first year. |
|
[C]: Oral Communication Requirement (3 credit hours)
Students can satisfy the Oral Communication Requirement by taking the following course:
| ENGL 108 : Public Speaking |
(3) [C] |
| This course should be completed by the end of the first year. |
|
[A], [K]: Arabic Language and Culture Requirement (6 credit hours)
To fulfill the General Education Requirement for Arabic, students must take 1 course (3 credit hours) on Arabic language or literature and 1 course (3 credit hours) on Arab culture or society. These courses must be passed with a grade of "C" or better. The following are guidelines for fulfilling the Arabic Language and Culture Requirement:
[A]: Arabic Language Requirement
Fulfilled by taking one of the following courses:
| ARAB 101 Arabic as a Second Language I |
(3) [A] |
OR
|
|
ARAB 114 Arabic Basic Language Skills
|
(3) [A] |
OR
|
|
| ARAB 215 Arabic Composition I |
(3) [A] |
OR
|
|
| ARAB 220 Readings in Arabic Heritage |
(3) [A] |
Proficiency level is determined by an Arabic Placement Exam. Students may not enroll and will not receive credit for a language-learning course taken below the level of the language-learning course into which they were tested (an exception to this being ARAB 215; students may take ARAB 215 after having passed ARAB 220 to improve their Arabic composition).
[K]: Arab Culture Requirement
May be fulfilled by any course listed as satisfying the General Education Requirement for Arab Culture (see course descriptions).
[M]: Mathematics Requirement (6 credit hours)
For some degree programs, specific MATH courses are required or may be prerequisites for Major courses. If the student knows what s/he wishes to major in, the student is encouraged to refer to his/her degree program in order to satisfy both a General Education requirement as well as a Major prerequisite. Students can take 2 of the following college-level mathematics or statistics courses:
| MATH 100 |
College Algebra |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 101 |
Finite Mathematics
|
(3) [M] |
| MATH 102 |
Introduction to Modern Mathematics |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 103 |
Mathematics for Business |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 110 |
Pre-Calculus |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 201 |
Calculus I
|
(3) [M] |
| MATH 203 |
Calculus II |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 205 |
Linear Algebra |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 206 |
Calculus III |
(3) [M] |
| MATH 210 |
Differential Equations
|
(3) [M] |
| MATH 213 |
Discrete Mathematics |
(3) [M] |
| STAT 201 |
Statistics |
(3) [M] |
[T]: Computer Science and Information Systems Requirement (3 credit hours)
To fulfill the CSIS General Education Requirement, students may take any 100-level CSIS [T] course excluding CSIS 150.
[L]: Essentials of Learning Requirement (2 credit hours)
To fulfill the Essentials of Learning Requirement, students may take:
| EDUC 100 Essentials of Learning |
(2) [L] |
| This course should be completed by the end of the first year. |
|
Students who transfer 24 or more semester credit-hours with a grade of “C” or better from another institution will be allowed to waive the EDUC 100 course. However, the two credits must be made up in another area to satisfy degree credit hour requirements
[H]: Humanities Requirement (6 credit hours)
Students can fulfill the Humanities Requirement by taking a total of six (6) credit hours from among the following areas:
| Arabic (ARAB) (150, 205, 220, 303, 304, 308, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 318) |
[H] |
Art (ART)
|
[H] |
| Drama (DRAM) |
[H] |
| English (ENGL)) (200-level courses or above) |
[H] |
| French (FRNC) |
[H] |
Music (MUSC)
|
[H] |
| Philosophy (PHIL) |
[H] |
| Religion (RELG) |
[H] |
| Spanish (SPAN) |
[H] |
[S]: Social Sciences Requirement (6 credit hours)
Students can fulfill the Social Sciences Requirement by taking a total of six (6) credit hours from the following areas:
| American Studies (AMST) |
[S] |
| Environmental Studies (ENVS)
|
[S] |
| History (HIST) |
[S] |
| International Studies (INST) |
[S] |
| Psychology (PSYC) |
[S] |
| Political Science (PLSC) |
[S] |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBSA) |
[S] |
[P]: Sciences Requirement (7 credit hours)
Students are required to take a total of seven (7) credit hours to fulfill the Science Requirement; one science course with a lab (4 credit hours) as well as one science course without a lab (3 credit hours). Students can take science courses from the following areas:
| Biology (BIOL) |
[P] |
| Chemistry (CHEM) |
[P] |
| Natural Sciences (NSCI) |
[P] |
| Physics (PHYS) |
[P] |
|
