In 1998, the State University of New York Board of Trustees established a 30-credit SUNY General Education Requirement (SUNY-GER) that required recipients of baccalaureate degrees to have demonstrated knowledge and skills in ten areas (American History, Arts, Basic Communication, Foreign Language, Humanities, Math, Natural Sciences, Other World Civilizations, Social Sciences, and Western Civilization) and competency in two areas (Information Management and Critical Thinking). Faculty agreed on a set of University-wide student learning outcomes for each area that guides the development of SUNY-GER courses and enables those courses to transfer seamlessly within the University. In 2010, the Board approved a revised SUNY-GER that offers students greater flexibility (30 credits in seven of ten areas plus the two competency areas) while continuing to promote academic excellence, student mobility and degree attainment – important goals in The Power of SUNY: Strategic Plan 2010 and Beyond. The Office of Academic Programs, Planning and Assessment provides guidance and coordination for campuses’ implementation of the SUNY-GER, reviews campus-approved proposals for SUNY-GER courses and campus requests for programmatic waivers, and maintains a database of SUNY-GER courses that supports seamless transfer.
Memorandum to Presidents 2010-01
Guidelines for the Approval of SUNY-GER Courses
Recently, we have moved the GER course approval process to an online application. The Course Submission and Evaluation System (CourSES) is designed to allow campuses to look up SUNY-Approved GER courses, submit GER courses for approval, check on the status of pending approvals, and communicate with reviewers in the Office of the Provost. Approved courses are automatically integrated with the SUNY warehouse data submitted through SIRIS. CourSES updates and replaces all previous methods of general education course approval, and is the only accepted method of submitting courses.
Access CourSES here: https://suny.edu/courses/
SUNY-GER Course Addition Template
Course No Longer Eligible Template
SUNY-GER Approved Course Listing, by Campus
Model Guide to General Education for Students Seeking a SUNY Bachelor's Degree
For more information contact General Education