History

UNCW's general education curriculum and its assessment have evolved in the years since 1973 when a periodic revision resulted in the first substantial change in the
Basic Studies framework.

The world has changed enormously and our knowledge of the world, our technologies, and our students have changed.

The general education core curriculum at UNCW is called University Studies. Prior to the Fall 2011 semester, the general education curriculum was called the Basic Studies Program, with direct assessment of the Basic Studies Program beginning in Spring 2010.

Prior to that, assessment of Basic Studies learning outcomes was accomplished using one indirect measure--five administrations of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007--and one direct measure, the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) beginning in Fall 2007.

Today, the assessment of general education at UNCW uses student coursework and the AAC&U VALUE rubrics along with two locally-created rubrics.