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Discussions of undergraduate education at Columbia characteristically lead back to the Core Curriculum as its most distinctive element. The Core exemplifies our objectives in enhancing the integrity and discipline of a Columbia education. And it sets the standard for other dimensions of the undergraduate experience—for example, recent initiatives aimed at upgrading facilities and improving the quality of student life on campus. The Core provides a common intellectual ground on which our undergraduate teaching and learning build; it also helps to counter the centrifugal forces that arise at every great research institution, as advanced students and faculty are pulled toward colleagues in the same disciplines and fields at other universities around the world. Continuing a process begun with the adoption in 1947 of the course now known as Asian Humanities, the Core itself has grown richer and more inclusive, with courses devoted to other cultures serving to complement the study of Western traditions. At the same time, Columbia College offers a system of majors that aim for a comparable degree of quality and coherence. Recent reforms undertaken at the departmental level have included the restructuring and resequencing of courses, the institution of capstone senior projects, and the design of specialized courses intended to introduce students to the approaches and techniques of their major. The School of General Studies has likewise undergone extensive reorganization, with the separation of the B.A. and postbaccalaureate premedical programs from other offerings helping to give the undergraduate program a sharper identity. And at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, undergraduates are gaining crucial early exposure to technical issues in engineering—thanks in large part to the advanced modeling and design capabilities provided by the Botwinick Gateway Laboratory—even as they continue to benefit from the strong science and liberal arts components for which the School is renowned. |