Center for General Education

1. General Core Curriculum

      Chinese Literature: 

         With the goal of improving the students’ Chinese Language proficiency and cultural accomplishment. Students must obtain at least 3-credits of Chinese Literature to fulfill the requirement.

     Foreign Languages:

        With the goal of training the students’ foreign language skills. Students must obtain 6 credits of Foreign Languages to fulfill the requirement.

2. Liberal Education Curriculum:

      Undergraduate students admitted to the University in or after academic year 2016 must obtain 15 credits of Liberal Education courses.

• Effective from academic year 2007 the Liberal Education curriculum covers 8 core areas, namely “Literature and Arts (A1),” “Historical Thinking (A2),” “World Civilization (A3),” “Philosophy and Moral Reasoning (A4),” “Civil Awareness and Social Analysis (A5),” “Quantitative Analysis and Mathematics (A6),” “Materials Science (A7),” and “Life Sciences (A8).” Students are required to earn at least 15 credits to fulfill their Liberal Education requirement.
• Students must take 3 out of 5 or 6 core areas designated by their departmental affiliation (the designated core areas for each department can be referred to this URL). Once students complete at least one course in each of the 3 designated areas, they are exempted from the restriction of designated areas and can choose any course in any area, as long as this course is not in violation of the proviso below.
• Students are allowed a maximum of 6 credits of Core Competencies to be counted towards their Liberal Education workload. The Core Competencies Curriculum will be planned and offered by the Center for General Education, and will be publicized in NTU’s course curriculum catalog. The Core Competencies Curriculum includes writing/communication, design, and computer programming, to name a few.
• Students can substitute up to 3 credits of Freshman Chinese in fulfillment of the same number of credits in any one core area of the Liberal Education A1 to A4 core areas, and vice versa. In short, the credit sum of Chinese and Liberal Education is 18 credits; students can choose either of the below options to fulfill their requirement of Chinese and Liberal Education:
  • 6-credits of Chinese + 12-credits of Liberal Education (Once they have completed courses in 2 designated core areas, students can take any course of any core area as long as the course doesn’t conflict with the proviso below);
  • 3-credits Chinese + 15-credits of Liberal Education (Once they complete a course in 3 designated core areas, students can take any course of any core area as long as the course doesn’t conflict with the proviso below).
• The departmental courses approved and publicized by the Center for General Education can be counted towards the Liberal Education requirement (the approved ones can be referred to this URL).
• If the course is offered by the student’s major department and/or is counted as a required course for graduation, it is forbidden to be counted towards fulfillment of the student’s Liberal Education requirement.
• If students take more than the aforementioned required 15-credits of Liberal Education courses, the excess will be counted as elective course credits. Whenever a student’s affiliated department sets specific provisions regarding the Liberal Education requirement, that provision shall prevail.