As a core component of the GE Programme, GEF will supplement the breadth requirement of the current Four Areas of University GE curriculum. It aims to build for students a common intellectual and cultural ground, from which sensitivity to the concerns of human existence may develop, and intellectual dialogues on these concerns may emerge. The GEF will be reading and writing intensive and taught in seminar style. It is designed to help students cultivate knowledge, attitudes and skills that are essential for independent learning, as follows:

• a knowledge of major ideas that shape the world today
• an intellectual inquisitiveness in addressing issues related to their life and society
• the willingness and capacity to examine new and different ideas
• the ability to engage in intensive and close reading
• the readiness to articulate their own ideas clearly and systematically in writing and oral communication.