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General Education was established in 2004. At present it plays
a coordinating role, and hopes to serve as a catalyst to bring
all the Faculties, Schools, and Departments at EMU together in
relationships of cooperation and mutual support. It offers
Language, Arguments and Knowledge, Basic Computing, Mathematics,
History, University Elective and SPIKE seminar courses to the
whole university. General Education currently has 68 academic
staff for language courses, 9 academic staff for GEED courses
and 5 administrative staff. In addition, staff from other
faculties also involve in offering the General Education
courses.
Vision
General Education has a wide frame of reference and not only
provides a variety of service and elective courses, but also
organizes a wide range of educational and cultural events across
the university. Through these offerings it actively seeks to
develop in EMU students the skills, knowledge and attitudes
described in the European Framework for Key Competences:
o
Communication in the mother tongue;
o
Communication in foreign languages;
o
Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and
technology;
o
Digital competence;
o
Learning to learn;
o
Social and civic competences;
o
Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship;
o
Cultural awareness and expression.
Mission
In pursuit of this vision, General Education is engaged in the
active pursuit of enabling students to:
o Broaden intellectual horizons through participation in the SPIKE
programme, which provides a wide variety of cultural and
educational events throughout the duration of their studies.
o
Develop general knowledge, awareness and skills through the
University Elective programme.
o
Develop and broaden critical thinking skills, study skills, and
communication skills and further develop knowledge and
awareness, and study skills through the Arguments and Knowledge
(GEED) programme.
o Develop English language skills for both general and specific
academic purposes through the English language courses offered,
and acquire the basics of a second foreign language through
second foreign language electives.
In these regards, the following operational principles are
central to departmental policy:
o Providing students with a wide range of choice as regards
courses offered.
o
Ensuring quality communication by keeping class size down,
encouraging full and active student participation in lessons,
and providing comprehensive support services.
o
Empowering teachers to operate their classes on
the basis of a needs-driven and student-centred approach as
regards course content and methodology.
o Enhancing awareness on the part of students and teachers alike
of developments in the European higher educational arena both
through professional development of teachers and active
reflection on the part of students.
o Exploiting current technology to full effect in both the
teaching and learning processes.
Quality of Graduates
Graduates of top universities of the world are able to bring
different perspectives, have effective problem solving skills,
can speak foreign languages and have good communication skills,
can adapt easily to other cultures and have strong leadership
skills. The graduates owe these skills and abilities to a series
of interdisciplinary general education courses that they take
during their study at university. Those students’ who do not
undergo a series of interdisciplinary courses but only focus on
and specialize on certain disciplinary areas, face difficulties
in adapting to real business environments. In order to give our
graduates a solid foundation for their future and also to meet
the expectations of the employer, it has become a must to
incorporate a deep rooted general education program into the
educational system of EMU.
Job opportunities
In today’s business world, there is a need for graduates who
have taken general education courses. These courses help
students to gain a critical approach to events and develop their
creativity. Once these students graduate from university they
are aware of alternative solutions to real life situations and
can go beyond those taught in course books. A graduate can get
a job after s/he has gained a diploma which shows that s/he has
specialized in a specific field however, those students who have
taken general education courses on professional, job, industrial
and cultural issues will be in a better position to reach higher
managerial positions in the work place due to their ability to
work effectively in groups, find creative solutions to problems
and their ability in looking at issues from different
perspectives.
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