Uniform Certificate of General Studies

The Uniform Certificate of General Studies (UCGS) is a one-year college program in which all courses are transferable and satisfy lower-division general education requirements at any Virginia public institution of higher education.

The Passport is a component of the UCGS and is therefore a subset of its courses. The UCGS consists of seven course blocks. To satisfy the UCGS, students must complete the required number of courses in each block, as described below.  Student course selection should be carefully considered since the UCGS program is not designed to capture the complexities of individual programs of study at four-year institutions. Students should be advised to take the UCGS course that best suits their intended program of study at the four-year institution. The UCGS Course Roster for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is provided below. Only classes completed after May 2020 apply toward UCGS completion.