FCC Academic Catalog 2016-2017

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• 301.846.2400 201
2016/2017 fcc catalog
(b) Made to provide fair and equal treatment
for native and transfer students.
(3) Courses taken at a public institution as part of a
recommended transfer program leading toward
a baccalaureate degree shall be applicable
to related programs at a receiving public
institution granting the baccalaureate degree.
C. Receiving Institution Program Responsibility.
(1) The faculty of a receiving public institution is
responsible for development and determination
of the program requirements in major fields
of study for a baccalaureate degree, including
courses in the major field of study taken in the
lower division.
(2) A receiving public institution may set program
requirements in major fields of study which
simultaneously fulfill general education
requirements.
(3) A receiving public institution, in developing
lower division course work, shall exchange
information with other public institutions
to facilitate the transfer of credits into its
programs.
.03 General Education Requirements for Public
Institutions.
A. While public institutions have the autonomy to
design their general education program to meet
their unique needs and mission, that program shall
conform to the definitions and common standards
in this chapter. A public institution shall satisfy the
general education requirement by:
(1) Requiring each program leading to the A.A.
or A.S. degree to include not less than 30 and
not more than 36 semester hours, and each
baccalaureate degree program to include not
less than 40 and not more than 46 semester
hours of required core courses, with the core
requiring, at a minimum, course work in each of
the following five areas:
(a) Arts and humanities,
(b) Social and behavioral sciences,
(c) Biological and physical sciences,
(d) Mathematics, and
(e) English composition; or
(2) Conforming with COMAR 13B.02.02.16D(2)
(b)-----(c).
B. Each core course used to satisfy the distribution
requirements of §A(1) of this regulation shall carry
at least 3 semester hours.
C. General education programs of public institutions
shall require at least:
(1) One course in each of two disciplines in arts
and humanities;
(2) One course in each of two disciplines in social
and behavioral sciences;
(3) Two science courses, at least one of which shall
be a laboratory course;
(4) One course in mathematics at or above the
level of college algebra; and
(5) One course in English composition.
D. Interdisciplinary and Emerging Issues.
(1) In addition to the five required areas in §A of
this regulation, a public institution may include
up to 8 semester hours in a sixth category that
addresses emerging issues that institutions
have identified as essential to a full program
of general education for their students. These
courses may:
(a) Be integrated into other general education
courses or may be presented as separate
courses; and
(b) Include courses that:
(i) Provide an interdisciplinary examination of
issues across the five areas, or
(ii) Address other categories of knowledge,
skills, and values that lie outside of the five
areas.
(2) Public institutions may not include the courses
in this section in a general education program
unless they provide academic content and
rigor equivalent to the areas in §A(1) of this
regulation.
E. General education programs leading to the A.A.S.
degree shall include at least 20 semester hours
from the same course list designated by the
sending institution for the A.A. and A.S. degrees.
The A.A.S. degree shall include at least one
3-semester-hour course from each of the five areas
listed in §A(1) of this regulation.
F. A course in a discipline listed in more than one of
the areas of general education may be applied only
to one area of general education.
G. A public institution may allow a speech
communication or foreign language course to be
part of the arts and humanities category.
H. Composition and literature courses may be placed
in the arts and humanities area if literature is
included as part of the content of the course.
I. Public institutions may not include physical
education skills courses as part of the general
education requirements.
J. General education courses shall reflect current
scholarship in the discipline and provide reference
to theoretical frameworks and methods of inquiry
appropriate to academic disciplines.
K. Courses that are theoretical may include
applications, but all applications courses shall
include theoretical components if they are to
be included as meeting general education
requirements.
L. Public institutions may incorporate knowledge
and skills involving the use of quantitative data,
effective writing, information retrieval, and
information literacy when possible in the general
education program.
M. Notwithstanding §A(1) of this regulation, a public
4-year institution may require 48 semester hours
of required core courses if courses upon which the
institution’s curriculum is based carry 4 semester
hours.
N. Public institutions shall develop systems to ensure
that courses approved for inclusion on the list
of general education courses are designed and
assessed to comply with the requirements of this
chapter.
.04 Transfer of General Education Credit.
A. A student transferring to one public institution
from another public institution shall receive
general education credit for work completed at
the student’s sending institution as provided by
this chapter.
B. A completed general education program shall
transfer without further review or approval by the
receiving institution and without the need for a
course-by-course match.
C. Courses that are defined as general education by
one institution shall transfer as general education
even if the receiving institution does not have that
specific course or has not designated that course
as general education.
D. The receiving institution shall give lower-division
general education credits to a transferring student
who has taken any part of the lower-division
general education credits described in Regulation
.03 of this chapter at a public institution for any
general education courses successfully completed
at the sending institution.
E. Except as provided in Regulation .03M of this
chapter, a receiving institution may not require a
transfer student who has completed the requisite
number of general education credits at any
public college or university to take, as a condition
of graduation, more than 10-----16 additional
semester hours of general education and specific
courses required of all students at the receiving
institution, with the total number not to exceed
46 semester hours. This provision does not relieve
students of the obligation to complete specific
academic program requirements or course
prerequisites required by a receiving institution.
F. A sending institution shall designate on or with the
student transcript those courses that have met its
general education requirements, as well as indicate
whether the student has completed the general
education program.
G. A.A.S. Degrees.
(1) While there may be variance in the numbers
of hours of general education required for A.A.,
A.S., and A.A.S. degrees at a given institution,
the courses identified as meeting general
education requirements for all degrees shall
come from the same general education course
list and exclude technical or career courses.