Morehouse College Core Curriculum Effectiveness Ranked #1 Among HBCUs Nationally

By Morehouse College,

Morehouse College has the #1-rated core curriculum of any HBCU nationwide, according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), which annually assesses what college students actually learn at their institutions. ACTA’s What Will They Learn report focuses on core academic effectiveness, as opposed to endowments and other criteria tangential to instruction, and is the only nationally-recognized rating system that examines the course catalogs of each college or university and assesses the program of study that all of its students share. Morehouse was the only HBCU nationally and one of three Georgia institutions among just 2.1% of colleges to earn an “A” evaluation in the report. Other Georgia institutions with an A rating are the University of Georgia and Kennesaw State University.

“Morehouse takes pride in offering a liberal arts education that is responsive to our students’ needs and prepares them for life-long learning,” said Kendrick Brown, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Morehouse College. “This ACTA honor affirms the commitment of our faculty and staff to providing the powerful educational opportunities.”

Employers, graduate schools, and investors strongly value a liberal arts education such as the Morehouse common core curriculum because of the strong focus on multidisciplinary study and the exploration of divergent points of view. Morehouse places heavy emphasis on helping students develop the critical thinking, analysis, and written communication skills needed for leadership in a wide array of fields and job functionalities. Its curriculum provides an intellectual grounding in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, mathematics, literature, foreign languages, and the arts which encourages the kind of adaptive, culturally sensitive, innovative, and interdisciplinary thinking that enables global problem-solving.

ACTA’s research team also collects data on several indicators that predict student success after college, including student-to-faculty ratios, campus-specific student loan default rates, graduation rates, the state of free expression on campus, and cost of attendance. For thirteen years, ACTA has worked with college and university leaders on campuses around the country to strengthen curricula and raise academic standards.

ACTA is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. The organization works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality education at an affordable price.