CORE offers one of the best opportunities a student will ever have to explore in a different field of study. In addition to the depth of knowledge in a particular academic or professional discipline, program completers should also be broadly educated and well developed in the general intellectual skills needed to continue learning throughout their lives. Leighton University has a defined set of CORE competencies that all its graduates from at the undergraduate level should have attained as the following:
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PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATIONS – A competent communicator can responsibly interact with others using all forms of communication, resulting in understanding and responding. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to understand and interpret complex materials; organize, assimilate, develop, and present an idea formally as well as informally; use standard English; use appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses in personal and interpersonal relations and group discussions; use listening skills, and recognize the role of culture in communication.
- QUANTIATATIVE REASONING - A person who is competent in quantitative reasoning possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to apply logic, numbers, and mathematics processes to effectively reason and solve common problems and issues. A quantitatively literate person can use numerical, geometric, and measurement data and concepts, mathematical skills, and mathematical reasoning principles to draw logical conclusions and make well-reasoned decisions. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to use logical and mathematical reasoning with the context of various disciplines; can draw meaning from, and attach meaning to mathematical models such as graphs, tables, and schematics and draw inferences from them; use graphical, interpret and use mathematical formulas; symbolic and numerical methods to organize, analyze, and interpret data; represent mathematical information numerically, symbolically, and visually using graphs and charts; logically consider answers to a mathematical problem in order to determine reasonableness.
- BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING - A culturally and socially competent person embodies an understanding, awareness of content and modes of discovery, describing, and explaining the behaviors and interactions among individuals, groups, institutions, events and ideas. It includes the ability to conceptualize the chronological development of societies and the political systems they use for governments. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability and awareness to determine the impact that social institutions assert on individuals and culture - past, present, and future; embodies abilities to describe their own as well as others’ ethical systems and values within social institutions; recognize and appreciate the interconnectedness of the social and cultural dimensions within and across various communities (local, regional, state, national, as well as global), and become aware of the interdependence of distinctive worldwide social, economic, geopolitical, and cultural systems; Understands and can identify the impact of the arts and the humanities have upon individuals and cultures and recognize the role of language in social and cultural contexts.
- SCIENTIFIC REASONING – A graduate who is competent in scientific reasoning adheres to a self-correcting systematic inquiry system and relies on empirical evidence to describe, understand, predict, and control natural phenomena. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to generate an empirically evidenced and logical argument; distinguish between causal and correlational relationships; recognize inquiry methods that lead to scientific knowledge; and differentiate a scientific argument from a non-scientific argument; and reason by deduction, induction, and analogy.
- HUMANITIES AND FINE ARTS - As a component of the CORE program, under Humanities and Fine Arts, students learn to explore fundamental human uniqueness. These are expressed in the cultural, artistic, and intellectual traditions of the world’s civilizations. Course requirements under Category 5 of the CORE program offer students the opportunity to orient them to give meaning to the human experience by studying fine arts, interpretations of history, rituals, and the various belief systems of religious and philosophical thought. After completing the coursework under Category 5, students will have the knowledge and skills to respond more knowledgeably to those humanistic and artistic works and traditions created by people of various societies and times.
- TECHNOLOGICALLY LITERACY - A technologically literate graduate recognizes when information is needed and can effectively locate, evaluate, and use it. The graduate will demonstrate the ability to determine the nature and extent of information needed; proficiency in critically evaluating information and its sources and incorporate selected information into his or her knowledge base; access needed information effectively and efficiently; ability to effectively use information individually or with others, to accomplish a specific purpose; and can understand some of the economic, social, and legal issues and ramifications surrounding the use of information and access and use information ethically and legally.
Thus, the CORE requirements complement the undergraduate major by helping the students gain a mastery of critical learning skills, investigate the traditional branches of knowledge, and develop the broad perspective that frees one to appreciate diversity and change across time, culture, and national boundaries.
Critical skills include proficiencies in language, mathematical and quantitative methods to acquire, renew, create, and communicate knowledge. A broad education that includes an understanding of traditional branches of knowledge's methods and concerns—the arts and humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Developing perspective requires historical, global, and cross-cultural examination of knowledge of all kinds. In addition,
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