General Studies

General Studies are overseen by the Department of Philosophical and Aesthetic Education and comprise two major areas within which students can set their own priorities (depending on their degree program) and generally have freedom of choice. Full-time bachelor’s degree programs can choose from more than 40 course offerings each semester.

Within this framework, General Studies also offer the opportunity for a contemporary and discourse-oriented engagement with Rudolf Steiner’s humanities. This includes both an appropriate philosophical exploration and the critical reflection of its approaches in contrast to other perspectives.

Philosophy and Education

• Knowledge, the human being, and the world (theoretical philosophy)
• Ethics and spirituality (practical philosophy)

Art and Society

• Aesthetics and art theory
• Art and cultural history
• Social science issues

General Studies: The intellectual center of Alanus University
The namesake of our university, Alanus ab Insulis, was called “doctor universalis” and taught the so-called Seven Liberal Arts (artes liberales) in the 12th century. General Studies renew this tradition of holistic education, which extends beyond students’ own specialist studies and provides them with a solid foundation.

Holistic personal development
General Studies are rooted in a humanistic educational tradition that combines art and science. If you study at Alanus University, you should not only be enabled to pursue a specific profession, but also be given the opportunity to actively educate and develop yourself. General Studies support you in expanding your intellectual and cultural, as well as your personal and social, competencies.

Orientational knowledge in cultural studies
In recent decades, many of the inherited horizons of meaning and values have become questionable. General Studies address this situation and encourage a reflective as well as creative approach to questions of meaning and existence. They provide familiarity with cultural and intellectual history, critically analyze our society, and create new perspectives for shaping the present and the future.

Crossing the boundaries of one’s own discipline
The program helps students broaden their perspective beyond their own field. This happens primarily through interdisciplinary content and exchange with students from other degree programs.

This broadening across disciplinary boundaries is complemented by a deepening movement: foundational reflection in key reference disciplines of all degree programs helps uncover, question, and, where appropriate, creatively transform the often implicit assumptions underlying structures (images of the human being and the world).

Independence and critical thinking
In this way, General Studies promote independent, well-founded, critical thinking within the framework of a scholarly, artistic, and social whole. Alongside the development of general cognitive abilities, the focus is especially on finding, justifying, and further developing one’s own aesthetic and social standpoint.

As a rule, General Studies comprise two compulsory modules within each degree program and account for around ten percent of the overall course of study. Students attend about one to two courses per semester. Further information can be found in the documents for the respective degree programs (module handbook, curriculum plan).

Depending on the degree program, our students complete General Studies with one or more module examinations. More detailed information is provided in the module handbook and the examination regulations for the respective degree program. Students are also free to attend additional General Studies courses throughout their specialist studies.