Objectives of the General Education Program
- The following objectives were approved by the Council of the University in December 1994 and with some minor changes in 2005:
- To provide a learning environment in which students acquire, develop, and deploy skills of rational thought and critical analysis.
- To enable students to evaluate arguments and information.
- To empower students to systematically challenge received traditions of knowledge, beliefs and values.
- To enable students to acquire skills and competencies, including appropriate written and spoken communication skills.
- To ensure that students examine the purposes and consequences of their education and experience at University, and to foster acceptance of professional and ethical action and the social responsibility of graduates.
- To foster among students the competence and the confidence to contribute creatively and responsibly to the development of their society.
- To provide structured opportunities for students from disparate disciplines to interact cooperatively within a learning situation.
- To provide opportunities for students to explore discipline and paradigm bases other than those of their professional or major disciplinary specialisation through non-specialist courses offered in those other areas.
- To provide an environment in which students are able to experience the benefits of moving beyond the knowledge boundaries of a single discipline and explore cross and interdisciplinary connections, and cross-cultural contexts.
- To provide a learning environment and teaching methodology in which students can bring the approaches of a number of disciplines to bear on a complex problem or issue.