As the pilot classes for the core curriculum enter their third semester this fall, the university is concentrating on a slightly different goal for the immediate future.

Michael Gottfredson, vice provost for undergraduate programs, said a proposal to create a single general education plan for the university is currently under consideration by each of the colleges. The colleges are expected to give Gottfredson feedback on the proposal by the end of the semester. He said he expects to begin a fact-finding process early in the fall semester, when he will ask the colleges for their decisions regarding the plan.

The core curriculum courses being taught, and those in development, are designed to provide students with a broad common base, regardless of their majors.

The courses have been developed for the core curriculum over the past year, Gottfredson said. He said the original proposal, which the provost submitted a year and a half, has undergone "great changes" since then.

He said the main change in the proposal has been to move away from the plan to create a system of entirely new courses.

The new plan is a hybrid of new and existing courses that allows students to choose which classes they want to take.

Another change has been to amend the foreign language requirements, based on students' majors. The original plan didn't have any requirements at all, he said, but now all degrees except for the B.A. will require one year of foreign-language study. Students pursuing a B.A. will need two years proficiency.

The proposal states that a core curriculum is necessary because all the colleges on campus have different general education requirements. This can cause problems for students changing colleges. Also, students transferring with an undeclared major from other schools do not know what general education requirements to take in preparation for the UA.

Gottfredson said the core curriculum makes it easier for students to know what general education courses they are supposed to take. It integrates both existing and new courses designed to fit into the proposed tier program, in which students take classes in certain semesters and therefore rise up the tiers, or levels, of the system until they begin to take courses in their majors.

The structure of the curriculum includes 30 units of coursework separate from the university-wide requirements for math, English and a foreign language. The work will be completed in two tiers composed of four segments; traditions and cultures, individuals and societies, arts and humanities and natural sciences.

"(The classes) seem to be really well received by students and faculty," Gottfredson said.

Richard Poss, senior humanities lecturer, teaches Humanities 102, a course developed with the core curriculum in mind.

"A memo went out asking for new course proposals, and the humanities department is always designing new courses and experimenting with new ways of teaching, so of course we responded," Poss said.

Although Poss does not know if his class will end up as part of the final core curriculum when it is decided, he said he thinks it is good for students to get a broad base in their education, whether through courses like his or by taking a lot of introductory survey classes.

"The course is a broad cultural survey that uses all forms of art and literature to examine different themes in culture. It is not a particularly new idea, it is just a reformulation of things the university does all the time," he said.

Poss' course is a freshman-level tier-one course that satisfies a requirement in the arts and humanities area.

Jack Barnes, undeclared freshman and a student in Poss' class, said "I would be in support of a core curriculum that would enable easier change between colleges. The way it is now is hindering to students. We're here to figure out what we want to do, and this system doesn't let us do that."

The core curriculum courses are being presented to students through orientation and advising, but "we haven't really done much pushing," Gottfredson said.

One of the most difficult things about trying to integrate the core curriculum courses into the university, Gottfredson said, is letting students know that the classes satisfy general education credit for all students, no matter what their years or majors.

Another problem being addressed is the large amount of prerequisite courses and units required for science and engineering majors.

Those majors are afraid of adding units to the already high-load degrees. Gottfredson said the core curriculum has been altered to allow students in science majors to take the current physics, chemistry and other courses as replacements for the tier one Natural Sciences requirement. He said that all of the current 300 general education courses will be evaluated for the core curriculum.