Dec 12, 2024  
2024 - 2025 Catalog 
  
2024 - 2025 Catalog

General Education Competencies


General education is that portion of the collegiate experience that addresses the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values characteristic of college-educated individuals. It is unbound by disciplines and honors the connections among bodies of knowledge. Collectively, general education competencies distinguish graduates of Tidewater Community College as individuals with a breadth of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to pursue further education, build careers, continue to develop as learners, and contribute to the well-being of their communities.

Upon completion of the associate degree, graduates of Tidewater Community College will demonstrate competencies in the following areas:

  1. Civic Engagement: Civic engagement is the ability to contribute to the civic life and well-being of local, national, and global communities as both a social responsibility and a life-long learning process. Degree graduates will demonstrate the knowledge and civic values necessary to become informed and contributing participants in a democratic society.
  2. Critical Thinking: Critical thinking is the ability to use information, ideas and arguments from relevant perspectives to make sense of complex issues and solve problems. Degree graduates will locate, evaluate, interpret, and combine information to reach well-reasoned conclusions or solutions.
  3. Professional Readiness: Professional readiness is the ability to work well with others and display situationally and culturally appropriate demeanor and behavior. Degree graduates will demonstrate skills important for successful transition into the workplace and pursuit of further education.
  4. Quantitative Literacy: Quantitative literacy is the ability to perform accurate calculations, interpret quantitative information, apply and analyze relevant numerical data, and use results to support conclusions. Degree graduates will calculate, interpret, and use numerical and quantitative information in a variety of settings.
  5. Scientific Literacy: Scientific literacy is the ability to apply the scientific method and related concepts and principles to make informed decisions and engage with issues related to the natural, physical, and social world. Degree graduates will recognize and know how to use the scientific method, and to evaluate empirical information.
  6. Written Communication: Written communication is the ability to develop, convey, and exchange ideas in writing, as appropriate to a given context and audience. Degree graduates will express themselves effectively in a variety of written forms.