General Education Requirements

Learning, Knowing, Doing, Leading

NUpath is Northeastern University’s set of institutionwide general education requirements for all students in all majors. The goal of NUpath is to develop in our students the knowledge and skills to be lifelong learners with success in many careers, to be thoughtful global citizens, and to be fulfilled human beings. It offers students the flexibility to integrate general education learning into their individual educational journeys while maintaining the rigor of high standards through defined learning outcomes, making NUpath a unique tool for personalized enrichment. NUpath is competency based rather than course based. It is built around essential, broad-based knowledge and skills—such as understanding societies and using and analyzing data—integrated with specific content areas and disciplines.

NUpath requirements are met throughout a student’s program of study. NUpath requirements are not restricted to specific colleges or departments and can be fulfilled through major, minor, or concentration requirements as well as through general electives. NUpath courses may not be taken pass/fail. NUpath is required for all freshmen who entered in fall 2016 and later. It does not apply to students already admitted with a different set of core requirements or to transfer students whose entry year was earlier than the fall of 2016.

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NUpath Requirements

NUpath requirements are a set of 11 competencies designed to prepare students for personal success in an ever-evolving global society regardless of their chosen field of study. NUpath requirements are as follows:

• Engaging with the Natural and Designed World

• Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation

• Interpreting Culture

• Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning

• Understanding Societies and Institutions

• Analyzing and Using Data

• Engaging Differences and Diversity

• Employing Ethical Reasoning

• Writing Across Audiences and Genres

• Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience

• Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Capstone

Because NUpath is competency based rather than course based, students have many options of courses to fulfill the requirements. Students can use the Self-Service Banner "Browse Classes" tool to find class sections both in and beyond their major requirements that satisfy NUpath. Courses that meet major, minor, or concentration requirements can also meet NUpath requirements. There are no level restrictions or semester-hour restrictions. No course completed on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading basis can be used to satisfy a NUpath requirement. A single course can count for up to two of the following requirements:

• Engaging with the Natural and Designed World

• Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation

• Interpreting Culture

• Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning

• Understanding Societies and Institutions

• Analyzing and Using Data

• Engaging Differences and Diversity

• Employing Ethical Reasoning

The three additional requirements (writing-intensive in the major, capstone, and experiential) are not limited. So, for example, a course may have two out of the first list (such as Differences and Diversity and Societies and Institutions) and also fulfill writing-intensive in the major and capstone.

Transfer credit and placement tests can also be used to meet the NUpath attributes of the Northeastern University course equivalents. Up to five of the following eight requirements can be met by transferred or placement test credits:

• Engaging with the Natural and Designed World

• Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation

• Interpreting Culture

• Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning

• Understanding Societies and Institutions

• Analyzing and Using Data

• Engaging Differences and Diversity

• Employing Ethical Reasoning

Transfer credits cannot be used to fulfill the capstone or experiential requirements. Of the writing requirements, only the first-year writing requirement can be met by transferred or placement test credits.

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NUpath Learning Goals

Established and assessed learning goals ensure rigorous opportunities for students to achieve the essential skills and competencies of NUpath regardless of the context or course within which the learning occurs. Any course that meets a NUpath requirement incorporates the learning goals of that requirement. The requirement short name and/or user code is what will appear in course descriptions and student audits. 

Engaging with the Natural and Designed World

Short Name: Natural and Designed World
User Code: ND

Students study and practice scientific investigation and/or engineering design in order to understand the natural world and to effect changes in it to meet human and societal needs and wants. They learn critical thinking and analytical problem solving; the biological, chemical, and/or physical principles that govern the natural world; and the efforts that underlie the origins, development, acceptance, and applications of those principles.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Formulate a question that can be answered through investigation or a challenge that can be addressed through research or design.

B. Develop and use models based on evidence to predict and show relationships among variables between systems or components of systems in the natural and/or designed world.

C. Use and question scientific principles and practices to evaluate issues raised by the interplay of science, technology, and society.

Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation

Short Name: Creative Expression/Innovation
User Code: EI

Students study and practice creative expression and innovation. They learn about traditions of creative expression and innovation in any of a number of modes (texts, images, sounds, design, etc.) and products (poems, paintings, prototypes, business plans, games, apps, medical devices and procedures, etc.) and develop their own creative processes and products as a means of seeing and experiencing the world in new ways and communicating those experiences to others.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Describe creative processes in one or more disciplines (e.g., art, business, writing, science, engineering).

B. Generate an artifact (e.g., design, poem/essay, application, visualization, musical composition, product, prototype) through a creative process.

C. Evaluate experimentation, failure, and revision in the creation of innovative projects.

Interpreting Culture

Short Name: Interpreting Culture
User Code: IC

Students study and analyze cultural practices, artifacts, and texts (e.g., visual art, literature, theatrical performances, musical compositions, architectural structures). They learn critical reading and observation strategies and how traditions of theoretical, aesthetic, and/or literary criticism provide different lenses for the interpretation of cultural objects and practices.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Recognize and identify a variety of cultural practices and creations, their forms of production, and development over time.

B. Acquire and assess techniques of interpretation (including critical reading and observation techniques); criticism; and analysis of cultural practices, texts, and/or artifacts.

C. Formulate arguments for and against different theories and interpretations of cultural practices, texts, and/or artifacts.

Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning

Short Name: Formal/Quantitative Reasoning
User Code: FQ

Students study and practice systematic formal reasoning using either the symbolic languages of mathematics and logic or the combinations of text and symbols characteristic of computer software. They learn when and how to apply formal reasoning to particular problems and subject matters.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Recognize when examination of a phenomenon or situation can benefit from problem-solving techniques and analyses that use formal reasoning.

B. Use their expertise in some applications of formal reasoning and know when to call upon domain experts when a problem is beyond their personal expertise.

C. Generate artifacts that require formal reasoning and planning. These artifacts might include logical proofs, mathematical computations, software, simulations, problem solutions, or plans/analyses in a variety of disciplines that require a formal, systematic component.

Understanding Societies and Institutions

Short Name: Societies and Institutions
User Code: SI

Students study and practice social science, historical, and/or literary methods of inquiry and theories in order to understand human behavior and cultural, social, political, and economic institutions, systems, and processes. They learn theories of social behavior as they relate to phenomena such as globalization, social change, and civic sustainability.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Describe current theories of how social, political, or economic institutions, systems, and processes work.

B. Explain the historical and cultural contingency of many descriptions and explanations of human behavior, institutions, systems, and processes.

C. Evaluate social, political, or economic theories by applying them to local and global phenomena.

Analyzing and Using Data

Short Name: Analyzing and Using Data
User Code: AD

Students study and practice methods and tools of data analysis and use. Students learn about the structure and analysis of at least one type of data (e.g., numbers, texts, documents, web data, images, videos, sounds, maps) and acquire the skills to examine, evaluate, and critique such data; extract patterns; summarize features; create visualizations; and provide insight not obvious from the raw data itself. Students also learn to be sensitive to ethical concerns associated with data: security, privacy, confidentiality, and fairness.  

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Describe how data may be acquired, stored, transmitted, and processed.

B. Analyze at least one important type of data and summarize the results of an analysis in ways that provide insight.

C. Use mathematical methods and/or computational tools to perform analysis.

D. Evaluate and critique choices made in selection, analysis, and presentation of data.

Engaging Differences and Diversity

Short Name: Differences and Diversity
User Code: DD

Students study and practice methods for recognizing and understanding human diversity of various kinds in global, local, and organizational contexts. They learn theories and perspectives of human difference; civic sustainability and multiculturalism; how social arrangements shape and are shaped by difference; and the histories, cultures, and interactions of diverse groups.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Describe how notions of human difference have changed over time and across local and global contexts.

B. Discuss the value in recognizing, respecting, and embracing human diversity and how diversity contributes to culture and society, including civic sustainability.

C. Evaluate and compare two or more theories of human difference and approaches to cultivating and leveraging diversity.

D. Connect theories of human difference and approaches to diversity to one’s own experience.

Employing Ethical Reasoning

Short Name: Ethical Reasoning
User Code: ER

Students study and practice methods of analyzing and evaluating the moral dimensions of situations and conduct. They learn ethical theories and frameworks; explore how conceptions of morals and ethics shape interpretation of concepts such as justice, fairness, rights and responsibilities, virtue, and the good life; and apply these to personal, professional, social, political, historical, or economic questions and situations.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Describe the moral and ethical elements of an issue, problem, or situation.

B. Explain at least two key ethical theories.

C. Apply ethical theories to moral dilemmas and personal positions.

Writing Across Audiences and Genres

Short Name: Writing Across Audiences/Genres

User Code: WF/WD/WI

Note: This requirement is met by four courses. See more details under Writing-Intensive Courses.

Students study and practice writing for multiple public, academic, and professional audiences and contexts. They learn to use writing strategies, conventions, genres, technologies, and modalities (e.g., text, sounds, image, video) to communicate effectively.

Learning goals for first-year writing

A. Adapt writing for multiple academic, professional, and public occasions and audiences. 

B. Identify and practice writing conventions of various genres.

C. Identify credible, relevant sources and engage and cite them appropriately in their written work.

D. Draft, revise, and edit their writing using feedback from readers. 

Learning goals for Advanced Writing in the Disciplines

A. Adapt writing for multiple academic, professional, and public occasions and audiences. 

B. Display familiarity with the writing conventions of genres in an academic field or profession. 

C. Identify credible, relevant sources and engage and cite them appropriately in their written work. 

D. Draft, revise, and edit their writing using feedback from readers. 

Learning goals for writing-intensive courses in the major

A. Demonstrate facility with the writing conventions of genres in the academic field or profession. 

B. Identify credible, relevant sources and engage and cite them appropriately in their writing work. 

C. Draft, revise, and edit their writing using feedback from readers.

Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience

Short Name: Integration of Experience
User Code: EX

Students study and practice the principles and strategies of experiential learning. Through direct experience and reflection on that experience, they learn to recognize and articulate their knowledge and skills, to apply the knowledge and skills they learn in one context to another context, and to determine what knowledge and skills they need to develop to meet their goals.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

A. Apply knowledge and skills in new, authentic contexts.

B. Gain new knowledge and develop new skills to successfully engage in unfamiliar tasks and activities.

C. Integrate and use the deepened knowledge and skills as well as the newly gained knowledge and skills to continue to learn in their academic programs.

D. Articulate how and what one learns across a range of contexts.

Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Capstone

Short Name: Capstone Experience
User Code: CE

Each student must take at least one course designated as a capstone experience. Capstone courses may be designed for a specific degree program, for a department, or for a college. The learning goals for a capstone will be developed by the unit that is designing the capstone. Students must complete a capstone in their major. In cases where a student has multiple majors (such as in a combined or double major), the units may specify in which major to take the capstone or may leave the choice to the student.

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Writing-Intensive Courses

The faculty expects all students to become effective writers and achieve the learning goals of the Writing across Audiences and Genres NUpath attribute. To this end, students are given opportunities to improve their writing throughout their curriculum.

First-Year Writing Requirement

All first-year students must satisfy a first-year writing requirement by earning a grade of C or better in one of the courses in the following list or with qualifying advanced placement scores (such as AP or IB) or appropriate transfer credit. (See the Northeastern University Undergraduate Admissions Transferring Credit page for details.)

The First-Year Writing Program uses “guided self-placement” to facilitate course choice and requires students bring an essay to the first class meeting; see the Guided Self-Placement page for details.

For more information about the Writing Program, visit the Writing Program webpage.

Advanced Writing Requirement

Advanced Writing in the Disciplines is the second course of the universitywide requirement. Students are eligible to enroll in AWD once they satisfy the first-year requirement, earn a minimum of 64 semester hours of academic credit (this number includes the semester in which students enroll in AWD), and have at least junior or senior standing. Students are strongly encouraged to take AWD before they have accrued 96 semester hours. A variety of AWD sections are offered, including Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions, Advanced Writing in the Sciences, and Advanced Writing in the Health Professions, among others. A small number of online sections and sections for non-native speakers of English are also offered. Students should consult with their advisors to choose the section that best suits their needs. Transfer credit cannot be used to satisfy this requirement. Students must earn a C or better to satisfy the advanced writing requirement.

For more information about the Writing Program, visit the Writing Program webpage. 

Writing-Intensive Courses in the Major

Each major includes at least two additional writing-intensive courses. These courses are characterized by: 

• A significant amount of writing, as appropriate to the discipline
• Multiple opportunities to write, including informal writing-to-learn activities and formal learning-to-write projects
• Opportunities for students to move through all phases of the writing process, from drafting through final editing
• Instruction in writing, including feedback from the instructor (and perhaps others) that students can use to draft, revise, and edit their written work

Per New York State Education Department (NYSED) regulations governing degree programs registered in New York State, students pursuing a degree through Northeastern's NYC campus must complete a minimum number of credits or courses in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) as a condition of degree conferral, not as a matter of University discretion. The specific threshold is determined by degree type: a minimum of 90 LAS credits/courses for the Bachelor of Arts, 60 for the Bachelor of Science, and 30 for specialized degrees such as a BFA. These minimums are set by NYSED and apply to any institution conferring these degree types within New York State; they are not a Northeastern policy choice and cannot be waived or modified at the institutional level.

In addition to fulfilling Northeastern University's NUpath requirements, candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree must complete the BA core requirements, which include meeting specific language proficiency standards.

All BA students are required to demonstrate elementary-level language proficiency and must satisfy an intermediate-level language requirement as outlined below.

Elementary-Level Proficiency

To satisfy the elementary-level language proficiency requirement, students must meet one of the following criteria:

1. Coursework

Complete elementary-level language courses (course numbers 1101 and 1102) with grades of C– or better in all coursework. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory grades cannot be used to satisfy this proficiency requirement. 

2. Credit by Examination or Transfer

• Obtain a score of 4 or 5 on an Advanced Placement language exam. 
• Receive International Baccalaureate credit only for higher-level language courses (HL) with a grade of 5, 6, or 7.
• Earn transfer credit for the equivalent of elementary-level 2 (course number 1102) from another institution.

Students who have earned AP, IB, or transfer credit must also receive a satisfactory score in a language-specific placement assessment conducted by the Department of World Languages and Cultures upon matriculation to confirm elementary-level proficiency.

3. Placement Assessment

Receive a satisfactory score on a standardized placement assessment upon matriculation, as determined by WLAC. This option is available to students who have prior study of the language or who are heritage speakers.

Intermediate-Level Requirement

To meet the intermediate-level requirement, students must achieve one of the following outcomes:

1. Intermediate-Level Language Course

Complete a course at the intermediate level (course number 2101 or equivalent) in the same language used to fulfill the elementary-level proficiency requirement.

Note: Some majors require additional coursework beyond the minimum requirements for the BA (e.g., through course number 2102 or higher). Consult your major's specific requirements in addition to this page.

2. Approved Culture Course

Complete a course that focuses on the culture, history, or society of the region where the language studied at the elementary level is spoken or widely used. See the list of approved culture courses in the course lists below.

Note: Students who have satisfied the elementary-level proficiency requirement through transfer credit (equivalent to course number 1102) or through a placement assessment that placed them directly into course number 2101 must also complete a satisfactory oral proficiency interview conducted by WLAC if they wish for the culture course to count as their third course to satisfy the language requirement.

3. Proficiency

Complete a satisfactory oral proficiency interview (waiver interview) conducted by WLAC to confirm proficiency if students have placed above course number 2101 (2000-level or higher), whether through the WLAC standardized placement assessment or through transfer credit, without having completed that coursework at Northeastern. A satisfactory score on this interview is required before the intermediate-level language requirement can be waived.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Intermediate-level culture, history, or society courses may have prerequisites. Click on the course number for details.
American Sign Language
DEAF 1500	Deaf People in Society
DEAF 1550	Dynamics of the Deaf/Blind Community: Culture, History, and Communication
DEAF 2500	Deaf History and Culture
DEAF 2700	ASL Linguistics
Arabic
ARAB 1502	Introduction to Arab Culture
HIST 1185	Introduction to Middle Eastern History
HIST 1290	Modern Middle East
PHIL 1280	Islam: Rituals, Traditions, and Debates
Chinese
HIST 1500	Modern China
HIST 2308	Law, Justice, and Society in Modern China
PHIL 1290	Chinese Philosophy and Religion
French
FRNH 1280	French Film and Culture
FRNH 1501	Introduction to French Culture
Hebrew
HIST 1294	History of the Jews in the Modern World
INTL 2100	Modern Israel
JWSS 1285	Jewish Religion and Culture
or PHIL 1285	Jewish Religion and Culture
JWSS 1294	History of the Jews in the Modern World
Italian
ITLN 1251	Dante’s "Inferno" and Medieval Italian Culture
ITLN 1290	Realism and Modernism in Italian Film
ITLN 1503	Introduction to Italian Culture
Japanese
HIST 1252	Japanese Literature and Culture
HIST 2351	Modern Japan
JPNS 1260	Japanese Film
JPNS 1700	Introduction to Japanese Pop Culture
PHIL 2395	Japanese Buddhism
Korean
KORE 1800	Introduction to Korean Pop Culture
Portuguese
PORT 1240	Brazilian and Lusophone Film
Russian
HIST 1286	History of the Soviet Union
HIST 1390	History of Espionage 2: Cold War Spies
Spanish
ANTH 4500	Latin American Society and Development
CLTR 3805	Culture, Politics, and Media in Spain
HIST 1187	Introduction to Latin American History
LACS 1220	Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies
SPNS 1240	Latin American Film
SPNS 1504	Cultural History of Spain
SPNS 1505	Latin American Culture, History, and Politics
SPNS 3240	Social Justice in Latin American Film
SPNS 3715	New Narratives: Latin America after 1989
SPNS 3720	Literature, Arts, and Poverty in Latin America

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BSN Nursing—Transfer Track 

BSN Nursing—Transfer Track students are not subject to NUpath requirements and instead follow the BSN Nursing—Transfer Track Core for general education. The core follows the New England Commission of Higher Education General Education Requirements (Standards for Accreditation, 2.6-2.7):

• Undergraduate degree programs must include a “coherent and substantive” general education requirement
• At least 40 semester hours in general education
• Requires a balance of three traditional domains:
  • Arts and humanities
  • Sciences (including mathematics)
  • Social sciences
• Course offerings focus on both subject matter and methodologies of the three domains and their relationships to each other

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BSN Nursing—Transfer Track students will need to satisfy the NECHE general education standards indicated above through completion of the transfer track's required prerequisite and supporting coursework, distributed across the subject prefix codes listed below.

Arts and Humanities