| During the past two decades, colleges and universities have gone through a period of revival and restructure of their general education programs. Despite these changes, the echoes of continued disinterest among particular stakeholders seem to still be heard. This study reviews the overall interest in the general education curriculum and benefits of the liberal studies among students and academic professional at career-focused institutions. The primary research questions focused on possible negative attitudes and perceptions associated with the interest and completion of general education requirements among students and academic members of the institution. Developed as a qualitative approach, the research studied individual stakeholder experiences and perceptions of general education requirements, including rationale, purpose and benefits of general educational themes. The survey instruments employed in this study used an attitudinal scale to measure views and perceptions of general education courses and outcomes; perception of intellectual growth and development; and overall opinions and attitudes toward the institution's general education program. A random sampling was used to invite potential participants for the study as identified by their institutional accreditation status (regional, national or organizational) and their institutional geographic location (state and region). There were a total of 188 institutions purposefully identified for this study. A total of 1,293 electronic invitations (faculty 852 and students 441) were emailed to potential participants and a 20% response rate was used for the purpose of the study. |
