The University of Maryland Global Campus is redesigning General Education around HUMANS, a capability architecture that defines the durable human skills learners need for long-term academic, professional, and civic success. Rather than treating General Education as a collection of disconnected requirements, UMGC is creating a coherent developmental journey that helps learners build, practice, apply, integrate, and demonstrate critical capabilities throughout their educational experience.
The HUMANS framework focuses on six capability domains: Humane Connection, Understanding Context, Moral Judgment, Adaptive Learning, Novel Creation, and Skeptical Inquiry. Together, these capabilities emphasize communication, problem solving, ethical reasoning, adaptability, innovation, and critical thinking while incorporating AI fluency as a cross-cutting lens.
The framework was developed through a rigorous validation process that incorporates labor market data, employer input, academic frameworks, future workforce signals, accreditation requirements, and external expert review. The resulting architecture is designed to ensure that learners develop capabilities that remain valuable across industries, technologies, and career transitions.
As implementation continues, HUMANS will serve as the foundation for a redesigned General Education experience and a broader skills-based learning ecosystem that enables learners to demonstrate what they know and can do in ways that are meaningful for both higher education and employment.