Global Honors Basics
The Global Honors Program is a customizable, high-impact experience-based program designed with individual student interests in mind.
Global Honors is ideal for incoming, first-year students at UNCG and transfer students with one year or less at another institution. To learn more about Global Honors eligibility requirements, application, and deadlines explore our Global Honors Admissions page.
Designed for flexibility, the program allows students to choose honors seminar courses that best match their interests while also fulfilling Minerva’s Academic Curriculum (MAC) requirements for their degree. Coursework emphasizes critical reading, thinking, and communication skills, all within supportive, development-focused learning environments. Smaller course sizes help students to cultivate personal relationships with classmates and professors.
As part of the program, students also work toward beginning-level proficiency in a second language.
Finally, Global Honors students create a personalized plan to engage in high-impact opportunities at UNCG, including study abroad through one of the university’s 100+ global exchange partners.
Learn more about these opportunities on the Global Honors Experiences page.
Program Requirements
To complete Global Honors, you must have a UNCG GPA of 3.30 or higher at graduation, and meet the following requirements:
- Have taken seven (7) semester hours of Honors coursework with grades of B (3.0) or higher as follows:
- HSS 198: Honors Colloquium (1 s.h.). To be taken in the student’s first academic semester after being admitted to Lloyd International Honors College.
- Two (2) courses (3 s.h. each) from the following options: Honors seminar, Honors embedded section, Honors section
- 100 points of approved Global Honors Experiences
- Proficiency in a language other than the student’s native language at a level associated with 102-level language courses taught at UNCG. Ancient languages and American Sign Language are currently permitted. Coursework completed abroad is allowed to satisfy this requirement.
- For languages taught at UNCG, this requirement may be fulfilled by any combination of coursework or placement test administered by UNCG.
- Students are responsible for setting up their own placement test through UNCG and submitting their proof of proficiency to satisfy this requirement.
- Student may find out more information regarding language placement testing by visiting this link: Lanugage, Literatures and Cultures FAQs
- For languages NOT taught at UNCG, coursework completed at another university, including coursework completed abroad, equivalent to a level associate with 102-level language courses taught at UNCG is permitted.
- For those students with a College of Arts and Sciences major only who have not completed university level coursework, but who wish to demonstrate proficiency in a language NOT taught at UNCG may do so by:
- Begin the process by filling out this form: Foreign Language Proficiency Request Form.
- You may be directed to a contact that may test your proficiency. This contact must submit a signed record of your proficiency in order to be verified.
- Please note: proficiency testing may not be available for all languages.
- If UNCG is unable to provide a contact to test your proficiency via this request form, you will need to select a different language to satisfy this requirement for Honors.
- This process must be completed the semester prior to graduation. For example, students graduating in Spring or Summer, must complete this process in Fall. Students graduating in Fall must complete this process in Spring.
- Students with majors not in the College of Arts and Science may not undergo this language evaluation process.
- For languages taught at UNCG, this requirement may be fulfilled by any combination of coursework or placement test administered by UNCG.
If you are completing both Global Honors and Disciplinary Honors, please note the following:
- Courses used to satisfy requirements in the Disciplinary Honors Program cannot be used to satisfy requirements in the Global Honors Program.
- HSS 490 and XXX 493 or its equivalent cannot be used to satisfy both Disciplinary Honors and Global Honors requirements