UT students no longer need to fulfill the flag requirements to graduate, according to emails sent to students and faculty from the Office of the Vice President and Provost on Monday, the first day of course registration for the summer and fall 2025 semesters.
The Skills and Experience Flags refer to a set of graduation requirements students must complete before graduation, which David Vanden Bout, interim vice president and provost, announced would be discontinuing affective immediately. The University had mandated each student complete at least one course within each of the six flags: writing, ethics, cultural diversity in the United States, global cultures, quantitative reasoning and independent inquiry.
The system faced scrutiny from the Texas legislators who said the flag requirements did not give students skills relevant to the workplace today, former UT President Jay Hartzell said in a February Faculty Council meeting. Multiple students also voiced frustrations with the system’s design and limitations it placed on course planning.
However, professors questioned the need for revising the flag system when the Flag Review Committee, a group of faculty members and academic deans tasked with reviewing the flag system by the Executive Vice President and Provost office, presented a preliminary report to the faculty at the end of March.
The preliminary report did not specify whether the Flag Review Committee would recommend amending or removing the flag system, but a document shared with the Daily Texan by Art Markman, senior vice provost for academic affairs, shows a draft of a new “Comprehensive Learner’s Record” system based on six skills “of interest to prospective employers,” to be launched in Fall 2026.
The six “competencies” proposed include categories similar to the current flags like “Quantitative and Empirical Research” and “Leadership, Ethics and Collaboration,” but also contain new categories such as “Communication,” “Creativity and Innovation” and “Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.” The cultural diversity and global cultures flags have been removed from the proposed system and replaced by a “Global Awareness and Social Engagement” competency.
Markman said in an email the committee plans to implement a model “where departments or programs would work with faculty on the competencies associated with classes” and the colleges and University would review the decisions.
Students still must fulfill the core curriculum requirements set by the State of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, such as the U.S. History and Visual and Performing Arts requirements.
“It is our responsibility as an institution of higher education to evaluate our curriculum regularly and revisit the skills, knowledge and experiences we offer our students,” Bout said in an email to the UT faculty. “It is just as important that we grant our colleges and schools the flexibility to showcase their expertise in innovative courses — allowing each major the opportunity to determine what is desired beyond the core curriculum and offering students choices based on their individual goals.”
