The University of Southern Mississippi will be making several General Education Curriculum changes in the upcoming academic year as the required GEC credit hours will decrease from 35 credit hours to 30 credit hours.
Several GEC requirements will be affected by the upcoming change. Students will now only need to take six credit hours of science classes, down from the previous eight. Students will also no longer be required to take one credit hour of lab courses unless their major requires it.
The humanities requirement has also dropped from the required nine credit hours to what will now be six credit hours. World literature and history classes are no longer required electives, and other humanities electives can be taken in their place. The two humanities courses that students need to take will still need to be from two different course prefixes.
Russ Willis, the associate provost for student success, stated that the changes are made to help students graduate on time.
“We have been looking into making these changes for a few years now because we want to make sure that students stay on the right track to graduation at 120 hours,” Willis said. “We decided to eliminate five hours so it will give students some flexibility, especially in those majors where required classes need more than 120 credit hours.”
Willis also stated that the change will help the students who changed their majors to graduate on time. The changes were made with adherence to the Mississippi Institute of Higher Learning. The credits required to graduate from Southern Miss were more than the credits that the Mississippi Institute of Higher Learning required from universities. So, Southern Miss will be abiding by the rules even after the GEC changes.
Willis also stated that he did not see the changes affecting students’ academic careers.
“Our GECs are still broad,” Willis said. “The students were never really liking the classes they were forced to take, and they can still take those classes if they really want to.”
Willis also added that the one-credit-hour lab requirement was making scheduling harder for students. Making the labs optional will help students who do not require the lab by freeing up their time and the students who need the lab by making more seats available.
Students also seem to approve of the decision.
“My major currently requires 128 credit hours just to graduate,” Gbadeoluwa Adedigba, a student majoring in polymer science, said. “Removing those GEC classes will help students graduate on time without overworking themselves.”
