The Bachelor of General Studies is designed to be a flexible liberal arts degree that facilitates students in various stages of life and who are at different points of progress towards degree attainment. The program is designed such that students are able to complete the program of study in whatever mode of course delivery meets their particular need, given their current life and work situation. This program will be available to traditional residential undergraduate students, and students who are seeking at a distance degree options. In other words, any College of Charleston student can choose this program.
The mission of the College of Charleston is to serve the growing educational needs and demands of the Lowcountry, the state, and the Southeast. Central to that mission is the offering of a superior quality undergraduate liberal arts education. The Bachelor of General Studies is a liberal arts degree that stands firmly within the College's tradition and values. Studies in the liberal arts is intended to expand horizons, broaden understanding of the wider world, enhance skills in critical thinking and communication and prepare students for life-long learning and adaptability to an ever changing global economic, social, political and cultural landscape. The BGS will also emphasize new skills, including teamwork and collaboration, consistent with the liberal arts tradition of intertemporal adaptation.
By allowing students to choose two minors rather than a major, the program is structured in a way that allows students to explore a wider range of topics, giving students more flexibility to study subjects consistent with their interests and goals. The BGS senior synthesis seminar calls on students to apply their learning from their completed program of study to the consideration of a "big question," informed and guided by the disciplinary perspective of one or both minors.
