To create more consistency to the General Education program across campus and make it easier for students, advisors, and others to navigate our Academic Catalog Programs of Study pages, we have developed a CIM-P Gen Ed template (key 1240) to be used by units when updating or creating new undergraduate major programs. This template follows the campus General Education requirements and includes headings and language for Graduation Requirements, University Requirements, and General Education Requirements to copy and paste into your programs. Please discuss the Gen Ed Template with the “CIM Colleague” representative from your College/School as they will provide additional information and assistance updating the template.

CIM P General Education Template: General Format 

(see example formats for ways to list major courses counting towards Gen Eds) 

Graduation Requirements 

Minimum hours required for graduation: (#) hours. 

[Optional to include any information about major hour requirements, supporting coursework, hours inside/outside college limitations, minimum GPA, etc.] 

University Requirements 

Minimum of 40 hours of upper-division coursework, generally at the 300- or 400-level. These hours can be drawn from all elements of the degree. Students should consult their academic advisor for additional guidance in fulfilling this requirement. 

The university and residency requirements can be found in the Student Code (§ 3-801) and in the Academic Catalog. 

General Education Requirements 

Follows the campus General Education (Gen Ed) requirements. Some Gen Ed requirements may be met by courses required and/or electives in the program. 

 
Major Requirements 

Additional Information & Exemplary Language for Gen Ed Table

Tips for Tables

Click ‘edit’ 
Select ‘effective catalog term’ 
Enter the Proposal Title 
Under ‘Program Justification Brief description’ enter: “The formatting of the POS and additional text (e.g., graduation requirements, university requirements, and general education requirements) has been modified to adhere to the campus General Education Template.” 
Under ‘Program Justification Why are these changes necessary’, enter: “Per Office of the Provost General Education initiative for transparency and accessibility.” 
Copy/Paste empty Gen Ed Template into CIM-P (from key 1240)
Very top of program, so first text is “Graduation Requirements”
Do not change anything other than items listed as optional
Make any changes to major requirements first
If you have RHET 101, 102, and/or 105 listed in your previous requirements, in the ‘Instructional Resources’ (3^rd prompt) select ‘Yes’ and attach the letter of acknowledgment (Provost’s Office provided this letter to units who have courses listed) 
In Program of Study: 
In a separate tab or window, go to Key 1240 and click ‘edit’ 
Copy the text starting with “Graduation Requirements…” through “…electives in the program.” (the text above the Gen Ed table) 
Note: you are unable to copy text and a table at the same time 
Go back to Your Program tab that you need to edit, and Paste this text at the top of your program of study table 
Go back to the tab with Key 1240 template and copy the table 
Go back to Your Program tab and paste the table 
Close out of Key 1240 tab (do not save!!!) 
In Your Program tab add in your program specific Gen Ed information following the directions above and the examples below 
Go through all courses listed in major requirements and identify those fulfilling Gen Ed(s)
Add all Gen Ed courses to the Gen Ed Template above, using the proper format “fulfilled by…”
Only include courses for ‘select from’ or ‘may substitute’ if all courses listed fulfill the same Gen Ed category, or they must take at least one of the courses fulfilling that category (if the student could complete the major requirement without gaining Gen Ed credit, do not list)
Major electives not specifically required in the major should not be included in the Gen Ed table (such as “18 hours of IS Electives”) even if some of the courses are Gen Eds (this may be included on advising plans or discussed with students)
All required courses that meet the Gen Ed category should be listed (even if they exceed the number or hours of courses required in that category), but do not change the number of hours or courses required in that category 
Example: fulfilled by CHEM 102, CHEM 104, MCB 150, PHYS 211, PHYS 212 
Do not make any changes to the Gen Ed Template hours listed (such as “6-10”) or the number of courses required (such as “(1 course)”)
Exception: Language Requirement for those requiring 4^th level

Additional Notes:

All courses listed in Gen Ed table must be listed in the Major Requirements
Composition I should not have courses listed in table as students will follow placement: http://catalog.illinois.edu/general-information/degree-general-education-requirements/
If students may ‘select from’ more than one course, or if another course is listed as an option or substitution in the major – all course options must fulfill the same Gen Ed category in order to be listed in the Gen Ed table (listed as ‘or’)
Refrain from naming major requirement headings the same as Gen Ed headings whenever possible to avoid confusion. Instead of “Quantitative Reasoning” in the major requirements, determine if you could omit the heading for that subsection and just listing them all as major requirements or call it something like “Statistics Requirement”. 
Some programs specifically list RHET 105, 101, 102 or other Composition I courses – please make sure these are removed and you only use the main category (students should be directed to the proper placement information on the CITL/PNP website and provided direction from advisors) 
Programs removing any requirements will need to include the letter of support from RHET or CMN  
The Provost’s Office has a letter from RHET we posted in Teams for all programs; find it in Teams or you may reach out to us for a copy when available 
Speech/Communication should not be listed in the Gen Ed requirements, it should only be in the major requirements. If you are removing CMN 101, 111, 112 (or any other course) from the entire curriculum, then you need a letter of support from that department. If you are just moving these courses from the Gen Ed Requirements to the Major Requirements, you do not need a letter. See the last page in this document for an example of how to rearrange these sections. 
The template includes text and links so more information may be found about the different categories rather than listing all options (such as Composition I) in this area 
If a Gen Ed course is decertified, the units with the course listed in their catalog will be contacted to notify them of the change and need for the CIM-P record(s) to be updated. It is very important to update your CIM-P record and double-check all Gen Eds for continual certification. 
Major Requirements should be a new section under the Gen Ed table (not part of the same table), identified as a header and then a new table with all of the requirements (see examples below and also in the CIM-P example of the header and table. 
University 40 hour upper-division statement is required for new programs, but optional for existing programs; Future guidance on the 40 upper-division hours for programs will be provided by the Senate Education Policy Committee (EPC). In Spring 2024, Senate EPC provided Interim Guidance Regarding Implementation of the Illinois Board of Higher Education 40 Upper-Division Hour Criterion. 
Required concentration coursework that fulfills the same general education category across all concentrations within the major but includes different specific courses across the concentrations should be listed as ‘fulfilled by concentration coursework’ in the appropriate gen ed section within the major. In each concentration CIM P record, in the Gen Ed section, instead of ‘concentration coursework’, it should be replaced by the specific coursework. If that category is not fulfilled within all concentrations do not include this under the section in the main major Gen Eds, but this may be noted above the table (just under the ‘General Education Requirements’ header): Follows the campus General Education (Gen Ed) requirements. “Some Gen Ed requirements may be met by courses required in the concentration and/or electives in the program.” 
Example: fulfilled by concentration course and any other course approved as Natural Sciences & Technology 

Subcategories

Some of the Gen Ed categories have subcategories. Courses are listed in the Course Explorer by the subcategory, but with the exception of Quantitative Reasoning I and II, there is no campus requirement for students to take courses in the subcategories. It is recommended that students take one course in each of the subcategories, but this is open for student choice if not designated within the major requirements. Programs may encourage students to select one from each of the subcategories by integrating within the curriculum as required courses or “select from” lists, or through advising.

Humanities & the Arts (HUM): Literature & the Arts (LA); Historical & Philosophical Perspectives (HP)
Only list the main category Humanities & the Arts in the Gen Ed Table
Natural Sciences & Technology (NAT): Physical Sciences (PS); Life Sciences (LS)
Only list the main category Natural Sciences & Technology in the Gen Ed Table
Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS): Behavioral Sciences (BSC); Social Sciences (SS)
Only list the main category Social & Behavioral Sciences in the Gen Ed Table
Quantitative Reasoning (QR): Quantitative Reasoning I (QRI); Quantitative Reasoning II (QRII)
Reference in the table: “at least one course must be Quantitative Reasoning I”

Exemplary Language

Following the CIM-P Gen Ed template (key 1240) and included example tables, we recommend using language that is very clear and ensuring it is consistent across programs (especially for majors and related concentrations). Below are some examples from the tables that provide guidance on how different courses may be listed.

fulfilled by UP 312
fulfilled by ECON 102 or ACE 100; and AAS 100 or AFRO 100 or AIS 102 or GGIS 101 or GGIS 104 or LLS 100 or SOC 100
fulfilled by UP 116 or STAT 100; and UP 316
fulfilled by CHEM 102, CHEM 104, MCB 150, PHYS 211, PHYS 212
fulfilled by MATH 220 or MATH 221; and MATH 231, MATH 241, MATH 285, PHYS 211, PHYS 212; and CS 101 or CS 124
fulfilled by concentration course and any other course approved as Natural Sciences & Technology
fulfilled by MATH 220 or MATH 221; and any other course approved as Quantitative Reasoning I or II