About GenEd

The General Education (GenEd) Program constitutes Temple University's liberal education requirements for all undergraduate students. GenEds provide a foundation that helps students succeed academically and professionally. A recent survey of business executives and hiring managers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that the best preparation for long-term career success includes a broad base of skills and abilities that cuts across disciplinary boundaries. College outcomes which employers ranked most important for graduates include communication skills, critical thinking skills, the ability to apply abstract theories and ideas to concrete experiences and practices, and ethical judgment.

GenEd is focused on making connections both locally and globally.

Courses are designed to connect academic knowledge to students’ experiences. A course on the religions of Philadelphia takes students into places of worship. A course on sustainability challenges them to design a solution for storm-water run-off. A course in creativity assigns them to go to First Friday to interview an artist.

The Philadelphia Experience (PEX) is a hallmark of the GenEd curriculum. Many courses take students into the city for direct encounters connected to their studies. The city is an extension of the university classroom.

These and other modes of stretching and contextualizing traditional disciplinary content prepare our students to deal with a rapidly globalizing world, in which the resolution of complicated issues increasingly calls upon the ability to see a problem from many angles and to synthesize divergent perspectives.

Ultimately, GenEd is about equipping our students to make connections between what they learn, their lives and their communities.