Curriculum Changes

Students admitted to Furman for any term prior to fall 2008 will be required to complete the general education course requirements (GERs) described in the 2007-2008 edition of the university catalog: ENG-11, HST-11, REL-11 or 12, upper level humanities, etc. and the Asian-African course requirement. All the regulations and caveats associated with meeting the current general education requirements still apply, except when specifically stated otherwise, including the validity of former course numbers.

Returning students may also fulfill their GERs through substitute courses meeting related requirements in the new curriculum consistent with the table below. For instance, students required to complete HST-11 in the current GER will now also be able to meet this need with any course that fulfills the Historical Analysis of Human Interactions requirement. Only courses completed in fall 2008 or later may be applied to the current GER on a substitute basis; this provision cannot be applied retroactively.

Requirements will also change in many major fields of study during the “transition” period. Departments will approach these changes in two ways. Departments employing “parallel” standards will establish a certain date when all majors declared at that point would meet requirements as stated prior to that date, while all majors declared after the date would be subject to revised major requirements. This method will be used when changes are drastic and the department can support offering two unique curricula. However, many departments will “merge” their major requirements, moving all declared majors to the new standards and allowing liberal substitutions so that no students who have “progressed satisfactorily” and “planned responsibly” will be disadvantaged. Check with your advisor for more information about how changes in major requirements may impact your plans.

A normal course load each semester will be 16 credits; a typical student course load will consist of 4 four-credit courses. The minimum number of credits required for the award of a bachelor’s degree will still be 128 credits, eight semesters earning 16 credits each semester. After all students have had their first opportunity to register for the next semester, students in good academic standing are permitted to increase their course load up to 18 credits. Students with a grade point average of 3.30 or greater in their past 32 credits will be able to enroll for up to 20 credits at this point.

Finally, all courses will be referred to for advising, registration, and record-keeping purposes by a three-character subject prefix, a course number of three or more characters, and a two-character section suffix (for instance ECN-111-01 instead of ECN-11-A). GER designations, for both the current and new curricula, as well as the current two-digit course number will be posted alongside new course numbers in all advising and registration materials to limit confusion throughout the entire transition period.

Want to know the whole story about all the changes to the calendar and curriculum? Check out the Calendar and Curriculum Change Summary.