General Education Requirements - CUNY Common Core: Pathways

General Education for All Degree Programs

General Education Learning Outcomes:

A student will:

1. Gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view
2. Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically
3. Produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions
4. Apply quantitative reasoning skills to solve problems
5. Demonstrate Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World through the study of:

• World Cultures and Global Issues
• U.S. Experience in its Diversity
• Creative Expression
• Individual and Society
• Scientific World

6. Describe civic engagement and its importance in a global society

Readiness for Academic Success

The City University of New York (CUNY) requires that all incoming degree-seeking students, as well as students entering the upper division, demonstrate proficiency in English (reading and writing) and Math in order to enroll in credit-bearing courses in the associated subject.  Students may establish proficiency in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, meeting benchmark scores on the SAT, ACT, and New York State Regents exams, or demonstrating proficiency through Exemption. 

Beginning Spring 2020, students who do not meet benchmark scores will no longer be administered a placement test; rather, CUNY will use a Proficiency Index to determine developmental education assignment. The Proficiency Index combines overall high school grade point average with SAT and/or Regents exam scores.  There are separate Proficiency Indexes for English and Math. Information is available on the CUNY Website concerning CUNY’s Proficiency Index and Exemptions, https://www.cuny.edu/academics/testing/testing-faqs/

Beginning Fall 2022, CUNY eliminated standalone developmental courses and replaced them with a corequisite model that incorporates the college-credit course with the built-in supports that were typically found in the standalone developmental course. This approach provides students with the necessary contextualized developmental information in order to be successful in the college-level course while ensuring students maintain academic momentum.  Students who fail to meet the minimal proficiency level in English and/or Math based on the CUNY Proficiency Index are placed in a corequisite model course, examples include ENG 12A0 , MAT 500 , and MAT 9010 .   

CUNY Pathways Initiative

Approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees in June 2011, the Pathways Initiative, which went into effect September 2013, assures that all three parts of an undergraduate curriculum – general education, major, and elective courses – will count toward graduation requirements among all CUNY colleges. This initiative allows students to experience a broad range of liberal arts courses while assuring the many students who transfer from one CUNY college to another that their credits will transfer, therefore helping them graduate on time.

Pathways will apply to:

• new freshmen
• transfer students starting in September 2013 and thereafter

Students changing majors should meet with their advisors to see how liberal arts credits already earned apply to the new CUNY Common Core.

Current students who continue in the same major can choose to stay with the requirements in place when they entered CUNY, as listed in the college catalog for their start date, or to opt into the new Pathways curriculum.

All CUNY undergraduates will be required to complete the 30-credit CUNY Common Core except students in Associate in Applied Science Programs.

Pathways Components

CUNY’s Pathways initiative offers a new framework for general education. It consists of two parts: (1) the Common Core for all CUNY colleges, requiring 30 general education credits and (2) the College Option, requiring students who transfer to a four-year CUNY college to take six (6) to 12 additional credits at the four-year college, as specified by the student’s status when they enter the four-year CUNY College.

CUNY Common Core at Kingsborough

The new CUNY Common Core consists of two parts: a “Required Core” portion and a “Flexible Core” portion. Courses that have been approved for the CUNY Common Core at the time of publication of this catalog are identified in the Course Descriptions  Section of this catalog.

Required Core

In the Required Core, depending on the major, students must take:

• Six (6) credits in English Composition I and II (ENG 1200 /ENG 12A0   and ENG 2400 )
• Three (3) credits in Life and Physical Sciences
• Three (3) credits in Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning

Flexible Core

Depending on the major, students take between three (3) and six (6) three-credit liberal arts and sciences courses from the following five (5) areas, with no more than two (2) courses in any discipline or interdisciplinary field (e.g., no more than two psychology courses):

1. World Cultures and Global Issues
2. U.S. Experience in its Diversity
3. Creative Expression
4. Individual and Society
5. Scientific World

Pathways Approved Courses