University Studies (USTUDIES), under the auspices of the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, is the heart of the liberal arts curriculum at Brandeis. The general requirements incorporate a variety of interconnected elements to build a strong, general education foundation, The fundamental goals of the program are to improve students' abilities to integrate knowledge from different fields; to provide more extensive opportunities for the acquisition and development of writing, linguistic, and quantitative skills; to introduce greater flexibility in the scheduling of degree requirements throughout the undergraduate career; and to expand students' opportunities to interact with faculty in small class settings in the first year of instruction.
The University Studies consists of programs in five areas:
- Foreign Language (FL)
- Non-Western and Comparative Studies (NW)
- Oral Communication (OC)
- Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
- University Seminars (USEM)
- University Writing (UWS and WI)
For the General University Requirements and course offering information please consult the most recent Brandeis University Bulletin and Course Schedule available on the website of the Office of the University Registrar.
University Studies Curriculum Oversight Committees are responsible for establishing criteria for course approval and for collecting data on a regular schedule appropriate for assessing the extent to which the program is meeting its explicit educational goals. Members of each committee will be appointed by Dean of Arts and Sciences.