The School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies is home to approximately six-hundred faculty, staff and administrators across four academic departments; Composition, Humanities & Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Science.  Its curriculum contains approximately 60 active courses, the majority of which are undergraduate. At any given time, the school is educating 30,000+ students meaning that over the course of the calendar year, close to 90,000 pass through the doors (note: these are not necessarily unique students: a student taking four courses in the school in a calendar year would be counted four times). The school supports the General Education Program through teaching the core curriculum and overseeing the distributed General Education model.

The Alternative Credit Center (ACC) is housed in and managed by the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies . Meant to provide our students with the opportunity to evaluate their subject knowledge in several formats to receive college credit, the ACC is a centralized repository for all the university Assessments of Skills and Knowledge, open learning courses, and experiential credit-earning opportunities. The ACC also provides information on credit for military training, open course partnerships, credit for professional training and certifications, and external exams and assessments. In essence, the ACC is the central location for all forms of alternative credit opportunities. 

The General Education Program at Purdue University Global has a hybrid approach. Students complete a core curriculum of six courses (housed in the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies ). Additionally, general education skills are reinforced and further developed throughout students’ degree programs.  In fact, nearly every undergraduate course has two General Education Literacy (GELs) course outcomes embedded into it and a Professional Competency (PC) outcome is placed in one-quarter of all major requirement courses. These outcomes are assessed with the same standardized rubric regardless of the course in which they appear, such that students’ progress can be measured throughout their academic career.

The goal with respect to the inclusion of the General Education outcomes (GELs) is stability. While courses may be revised, resulting in one GEL being removed and another one being placed within, the majority of courses have retained their initial GEL make-up (*exceptions are capstones which focus on program-level outcomes, externships, and independent studies).

The General Education Program is overseen by faculty subject-matter experts from across the university sitting on eight independent committees.  Each committee wrote the course outcomes and rubrics tied to its literacy (i.e., the Science GEL Committee wrote the outcomes and rubrics for the core curriculum science course; SC250, as well as the science outcomes and rubrics which are distributed across the university’s curriculum). The committees are also responsible for reviewing and approving the assignments which map to these GELs.  For example, if a social science outcome is being placed into a business course, the Social Science GEL Committee reviews the assignment which maps to that outcome to ensure it maps appropriately, is rigorous, and can be evaluated with the associated rubric. Assignments must be approved by the committee to be used. Finally, the committees provide subject-matter support in terms of training, consulting with faculty course developers, creating sample assignments and the like.

The goal with respect to the inclusion of the Professional Competency (PC) outcomes is career success. We believe that professionalism is the key to career success. Exhibiting professionalism allows students to engage in behaviors that contribute to a positive, productive, and cohesive work environment. In addition to understanding and applying the basic concepts of communication and problem solving and critical thinking, which are part of the General Education program at Purdue Global, students have the opportunity to develop competencies in the areas of teamwork, leadership, personal presentation, and multiculturalism and diversity. Through repeated practice and study throughout their academic programs, students will understand and learn to exhibit professionalism in their chosen careers.