Uniform Certificate of General Studies

The Uniform Certificate of General Studies (UCGS) is a two-year college program in which all courses are transferable and satisfy lower-division general education requirements at any Virginia public institution of higher education.  The Passport is is a component of the UCGS and is therefore a subset of courses in the UCGS.  The UCGS consists of seven course blocks.  To satisfy the UCGS students are required to complete the appropriate number of courses in each block as described below.  Student course selection should be carefully considered since the UCGS program is not designed to capture the complexities of individual programs of study at the four-year institutions.  Students should be advised to take the UCGS course that best suits their intended program of study at the four-year institution.  

Block I - Written Communication (6 credit hours)

• ENG 111 College Composition I   
• ENG 112 College Composition II  , ENG 113 Technical-Professional Writing   

Block II - Humanities and Arts (6 credit hours from two different categories)

• ART 101 History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic ,  ART 102 History of Art: Renaissance to Modern  
• CST 151 Film Appreciation  
• ENG 225 Reading Literature: Culture and Ideas, ENG 245 British Literature , ENG 246 American Literature , ENG 250 Children’s Literature , ENG 255 World Literature , ENG 258 African American Literature , ENG 275 Women’s Literature  
• HUM 201 Early Humanities , HUM 202 Modern Humanities , HUM 216 Introduction to Non-Western Cultures ,  HUM 256 Comparative Mythology , HUM 259 The Greek and Roman Tradition  
• MUS 121 Music in Society  
• PHI 100 Introduction to Philosophy , PHI 111 Logic I , PHI 220 Ethics  
• REL 100 Introduction to the Study of Religion   

Block III - Social/Behavioral Sciences (3 credit hours, does not include history)

• ECO 150 Economic Essentials: Theory and Application , ECO 201 Principles of Macroeconomics , ECO 202 Principles of Microeconomics  
• GEO 210 People & the Land: Introduction to Cultural Geography , GEO 220 World Regional Geography  
• PLS 135 U.S. Government and Politics , PLS 241 Introduction to International Relations I  
• PSY 200 Principles of Psychology  
• SOC 200 Introduction to Sociology ,  SOC 268 Social Problems   

Block IV - Natural Sciences (4 credit hours)

• BIO 101 General Biology I , BIO 102 General Biology II  
• CHM 111 General Chemistry I , CHM 112 General Chemistry II  
• ENV 121 General Environmental Science I , ENV 122 General Environmental Science II  
• GOL 105 Physical Geology , GOL 106 Historical Geology , GOL 110 Earth Systems: An Environmental Geology Perspective  
• PHY 201 General College Physics I , PHY 202 General College Physics II , PHY 241 University Physics I , PHY 242 University Physics II  

Block V - Mathematics (3 credit hours) - contains a quantitative/statistical track as well as a calculus track

• MTH 154 Quantitative Reasoning , MTH 155 Statistical Reasoning  (Quantitative/Statistical track)
• MTH 161 Precalculus I , MTH 167 Precalculus with Trigonometry , MTH 245 Statistics I , MTH 261 Applied Calculus I , MTH 263 Calculus I , MTH 264 Calculus II  (Calculus track)

Block VI - History (3 credit hours)

• HIS 111 World Civilizations Pre-1500 CE , HIS 112 World Civilizations Post-1500 CE , HIS 121 United States History to 1877 , HIS 122 United States History Since 1865  

Block VII - Specialized General Education Requirements (6 credit hours) - students may choose from Blocks I - VI above or any of the additional courses listed below.  Choices should align with a particular program of study and/or the 4-year institution’s requirement for a major.

• ART 121 Foundations of Drawing , ART 131 Two-Dimensional Design , ART 132 Three-Dimensional Design  
• CSC 110 Principles of Computer Science  
• CST 100 Principles of Public Speaking , CST 110 Introduction to Speech Communication  
• Foreign Language (includes ASL)
• ITE 152 Introduction to Digital Literacy and Computer Applications