General Education Competencies

Completion of the General Education curriculum at UGA encourages students to develop and strengthen skills aligned with our six Institutional Competencies: Critical Thinking, Analytical Thinking, Communication, Social Awareness and Responsibility, Creativity and Innovation, and Leadership and Collaboration.  

Competency 

Associated Learning Outcomes 

 

Students will …  

Critical Thinking 

The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.

  • Consider, engage, and analyze opposing viewpoints or arguments
  • Evaluate the credibility of information
  • Support one's own conclusion, decision, or action with sound reasoning and judgment
  • Interpret inferences and develop subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse

Analytical Thinking

The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.

  • Express and manipulate quantitative information, concepts, and thoughts in verbal, numeric, graphical, computational, and symbolic forms
  • Identify and apply appropriate methodology or theoretical frameworks to inquiry
  • Organize and synthesize evidence to reveal insightful patterns, differences, or similarities
  • Support, evaluate, and communicate conclusions based on quantitative or qualitative data

Communication 

The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, or visual form.

Written Communication

  • Develop, support, and effectively express ideas in written form using language with clarity and precision
  • Tailor communication strategy, style, and convention appropriately for various audiences and/or contexts

Oral Communication

  • Develop, support, and effectively express ideas in oral form using language with clarity and precision
  • Tailor communication strategy, style, and convention appropriately for various audiences and/or contexts

Interpersonal Communication

  • Navigate interpersonal communication with respect, maturity, and/or awareness of cultural differences
  • Tailor communication strategy, style, and convention appropriately for various audiences and/or contexts

Social Awareness & Responsibility

The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.

  • Recognize ethical issues and apply different ethical perspectives to ethical dilemmas in a variety of settings
  • Analyze the impact of human behavior(s) on the physical, organizational, and/or social environment
  • Reflect upon how one's social identities and roles shape one's worldview and interactions
  • Develop an awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of cultures and communities beyond one's own

Creativity & Innovation

The capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.

  • Experiment and take appropriate risks to creatively solve problems and advance knowledge
  • Synthesize and/or transform ideas in original ways
  • Consider and incorporate alternative or contradictory perspectives in designing solutions
  • Develop imaginative or original response(s) to a need or inspiration

Leadership & Collaboration

The capacity to engage in the relational process of optimizing personal and collective strengths toward a common goal.

  • Engage and motivate others toward a shared vision through encouragement and trust
  • Plan, initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate a project or process individually or as a group
  • Address conflict directly and constructively to strengthen team cohesion and effectiveness
  • Consider and incorporate perspectives and feedback from community members to inform equity-minded, sustainable solutions