Murray State Receives B for its General Studies Program Murray, Ky.- Murray State University is once again one of only two public universities in Kentucky receiving a “B” for its general studies program. Nationally, only 23 public and private schools scored an “A.” The University of Kentucky tied with Murray State on this rating by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). Asbury University and Georgetown College were the only private schools in Kentucky to rate a “B.” The other public universities earned a “C” or “D” grade. The 2014-15 edition of What Will They Learn? compiled by ACTA peels away reputation to assess what value students are actually getting from college. “Too many college rating systems rely on largely extraneous measures like alumni giving or selectivity to determine which colleges top their lists,” said Anne D. Neal, ACTA president. “What Will They Learn? looks at the most important data — the strength of a college’s education — to find out which institutions are delivering the tools students will need to succeed in career and community.” The study graded 1,098 four-year colleges and universities on the basis of, simply put, what students will learn by attending those schools. Questions researchers asked themselves included whether or not students would find a coherent core curriculum that guides them through the fundamentals for success in career and community, and could employers be confident that newly-hired college graduates have postsecondary training in writing, math, scientific reasoning, economics, foreign language, literature, and American history and government? According to the survey, schools earning lower grades are sending their graduates out without exposure to those fundamental courses in American history, basic economics or literature. Among public institutions, only 28 percent require American history, eight percent include foreign language as a must and just three percent insist upon study in economics. Murray State University has a robust University Studies component in its undergraduate program that provides students with a broad-based, liberal arts and sciences education as a foundation for their academic specialty. These courses actively develop many of the fundamentals outlined in ACTA’s What Will They Learn? ratings. Not only does Murray State have one of the strongest general studies program in the country, our program is also unique in that it has a more global and cultural focus than that of most universities. Our goal is to give students a strong core liberal arts education, while at the same time exposing them to the world as a whole,” Dr. Renae Duncan, associate provost for undergraduate education at Murray State, said. “We are very proud of our general studies program and I am glad to see that its strength is reflected in the high rating it received from ACTA.”
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:30:59 +0000
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