WASHINGTON, DC—The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) today announced that San Diego-based St. Katherine College has earned an “A” rating in the nationwide What Will They Learn? (WWTL)™ survey. The college, which opened in 2011, graduated its first class last year.
Each year, WWTL examines the general education, or core curriculum, requirements at more than 1,100 colleges and universities. It assigns grades to schools on what is arguably the most important quality indicator in higher education: the arts and sciences courses that all students are required to take. These seven fundamental courses: Composition, Literature, intermediate level Foreign Language, American History or Government, Economics, Mathematics, and Natural Science represent essential preparation for career and citizenship. WWTL grading standards are rigorous, and to date, only 24 schools across the nation have earned an “A” rating. Young St. Katherine College is the most recent to join those ranks.
“It is clear that the faculty and leadership of St. Katherine College came together and determined the skills and knowledge that all its graduates must have in common, whatever their majors might be. This is a sign of true academic excellence and commitment to student success,” said ACTA’s Vice President of Policy, Dr. Michael Poliakoff.
St. Katherine College now joins two other prestigious California institutions, Pepperdine University and Thomas Aquinas College, in achieving an “A” rating. “We hope that these three institutions will serve as an example for other colleges and universities, in California and the nation, to strengthen their core requirements and better prepare students for the challenges ahead,” added Program Officer Eric Bledsoe.
St. Katherine Founder and President Dr. Frank Papatheofanis noted the difference: “Every student completes a four-year integrated, interdisciplinary sequence in core subjects as well as studies in their degree-specific discipline, as well as a senior thesis. All of this is done in the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences.”
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In this episode of Higher Ed Now, the second of two conversations devoted to core texts, ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant speaks in Spanish with Clemente Cox, classics and philosophy scholar and the Academic Director of the Center of General Studies at the Universidad de los Andes.
ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by two distinguished educators and advocates for core texts in liberal education: Dr. Charlotte Thomas, Executive Director of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, or ACTC, and Dr. José María Torralba, board member of ACTC.
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