The following learning outcomes, based on the Degree Qualifications Profile, are integrated throughout the student’s academic experience in the university and as a part of their General education coursework:
Specialized Knowledge
Students identify core practices and terminology related to general education studies. Students investigate trends, analyze facts and form interpretations to generate cohesive arguments. Students utilize technology to deliver written and oral communications.
Broad, Integrative Knowledge
Students consolidate learning from the five fields of study and to discover and explore concepts and questions that bridge these essential areas of learning.
Intellectual Skills
Students develop both traditional and nontraditional cognitive skills: analytic inquiry, use of information resources, engagement with diverse perspectives, ethical reasoning, quantitative fluency and communicative fluency, emphasizing the importance of making, confronting and interpreting ideas and arguments from different points of reference (e.g., cultural, technological, political).
Applied and Collaborative
Students demonstrate their learning by addressing unscripted problems in scholarly inquiry, at work and in other settings outside the classroom, including research and creative activities involving both individual and group effort and may include practical skills crucial to the application of expertise.
Civic and Global Learning
Students demonstrate integration of their knowledge and skills by engaging with and responding to civic, social, environmental and economic challenges at local, national and global levels.
Professional Practice
Students cultivate skills necessary for a career readiness, including: decision making, change management, negotiation, organization and prioritization, leadership, teamwork, and emotional intelligence.
The above competencies will be documented by students and assessed by the University on the basis of the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired prior to admission to NLU, during coursework at NLU and as part of field experiences.
NLU requires all students to have a minimum of 12 courses in general education for a total of 48 to 60 quarter hours; each course requires a minimum of 4 quarter hours. The specific requirements within each field are detailed in the chart below.
First-time freshmen will fulfill all general education fields of knowledge by completing the full Illinois Articulation Initiative General Education Core Curriculum (IAI GECC) package as recommended by IAI, GECC guidelines. Upon completion, students will receive a designation on their transcript that they have completed the IAI GECC course requirements.
Transfer students who fulfilled all general education fields of knowledge and required disciplines by completing 12 general education courses meet the University general education core requirement.
Transfer students who have previously completed a Bachelor’s degree, Associate’s of Arts or Science at an accredited 2 or 4-year institution, or the IAI general education core at another Illinois college or university are not required to take required core general education courses.
Certain general education courses are specifically required by different programs and will need to be completed in addition to the general education core. Department or program alerts should be consulted for specific requirements regarding:
- Specific courses required for degree completion
- Minimum grades accepted for credit
- Additional NLU requirements that must be met