The intellectual range of a BYU education is the result of an ambitious commitment to pursue truth. Members of the BYU community rigorously study academic subjects in the light of divine truth. An eternal perspective shapes not only how students are taught but what they are taught. In preparing for the bachelor's degree, students should enlarge their intellects by developing skills, breadth, and depth: (1) skills in the basic tools of learning, (2) an understanding of the broad areas of human knowledge, and (3) real competence in at least one area of concentration. Further graduate studies build on this foundation.

Undergraduate

1. Skills. BYU undergraduates should acquire the basic tools needed to learn. The essential academic learning skills are the abilities to think soundly, to communicate effectively, and to reason proficiently in quantitative terms. To these ends, a BYU bachelor's degree should lead to:

• Sound thinking--reasoning abilities that prepare students to understand and solve a wide variety of problems, both theoretical and practical. Such skills include the ability to keep a proper perspective when comparing the things that matter most with things of lesser import. They also include the ability to engage successfully in logical reasoning, critical analysis, moral discrimination, creative imagination, and independent thought.
• Effective communication--language abilities that enable students to listen, speak, read, and write well; to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences in one's area of expertise as well as on general subjects. For many students this includes communicating in a second language.
• Quantitative reasoning--numerical abilities that equip students with the capacity to understand and explain the world in quantitative terms; to interpret numerical data; and to evaluate arguments that rely on quantitative information and approaches.

2. Breadth. BYU undergraduates should also understand the most important developments in human thought as represented by the broad domains of knowledge. The gospel provides the chief source of such breadth because it encompasses the most comprehensive explanation of life and the cosmos, supplying the perspective from which all other knowledge is best understood and measured. The Lord has asked his children to "become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people" (D&C 90:15); to understand "things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations . . . ; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms" (D&C 88:79).

"Because the gospel encourages the pursuit of all truth, students at BYU should receive a broad university education [that will help them] understand important ideas in their own cultural tradition as well as that of others" (Mission Statement). Specifically, BYU undergraduate students should be educated in the following broad areas of human knowledge:

• Religion--the doctrines, the covenants, the ordinances, the standard works, and the history of the restored gospel, as well as an awareness of other religious traditions.
• Historical perspective--the development of human civilization, appreciation for the unique contributions of America to modern civilization, and a general historical perspective, including perspective on one's own discipline.
• Science--the basic concepts of the physical, biological, and social sciences, and a recognition of the power and limitations of the scientific method- preferably through laboratory or field experience.
• Arts and Letters--lively appreciation of the artistic, literary, and intellectual achievements of human cultures--including Western culture and, ideally, non-Western as well.
• Global awareness--informed awareness of the peoples, cultures, languages, and nations of the world.

3. Depth. BYU undergraduates should develop competence in at least one area of concentration. Competence generally demands study in depth. Such in-depth study helps prepare students for their life's work; it also teaches them that genuine understanding of any subject requires exploring it fully. Students normally acquire such depth from their major and minor fields. BYU's religion requirement also asks all students to develop depth in scriptural studies and religion.

Depth does not result merely from taking many courses in a field. Indeed, excessive course coverage requirements may discourage rather than enhance depth. Depth comes when students realize "the effect of rigorous, coherent, and progressively more sophisticated study." Depth helps students distinguish between what is fundamental and what is only peripheral; it requires focus, provides intense concentration, and encourages a "lean and taut" degree that has a "meaningful core" and a purposefully designed structure (Memorandum to the Faculty No. 13). In addition to describing carefully structured academic majors, this description applies to well-designed BYU courses of all kinds.

The chief result of depth is competence. BYU's students should be "capable of competing with the best students in their field" (Mission Statement). Even so, undergraduate study should be targeted at entrance-level, not expert-level, abilities. The desire for depth should not lead to bachelor's degrees that try to teach students everything they will need to know after graduation. Students should be able to complete their degrees within about four years.

Undergraduate programs should prepare students to enter the world of work or to pursue further study. Often this requires educational activities that help upperclassmen culminate their studies by integrating them in a capstone project, honors thesis, senior seminar, or internship. By the time they graduate, students should grasp their discipline's essential knowledge and skills (such as mathematical reasoning, statistical analysis, computer literacy, foreign language fluency, laboratory techniques, library research, and teaching methods), and many should have participated in scholarly or creative activities that let them demonstrate their mastery.

Graduate

Building on the foundation of a strong bachelor's degree, graduate education at BYU asks for even greater competency. Graduate studies may be either academic or professional and at either the master's or doctoral level. In all cases, BYU graduate programs, like undergraduate programs, should be spiritually strengthening as well as intellectually enlarging.

Graduate programs should help students achieve excellence in the discipline by engaging its primary sources; mastering its literature, techniques, and methodologies; and undertaking advanced systematic study - all at a depth that clearly exceeds the undergraduate level. In addition, graduate programs should prepare students to contribute to their disciplines through their own original insights, designs, applications, expressions, and discoveries. Graduate study should thereby enable a variety of contributions - such as teaching complex knowledge and skills, conducting original research, producing creative work that applies advanced learning in the everyday world, and extending professional service to the discipline and to society.

These intellectual aims of a BYU education are intended to give students understanding, perspective, motivation, and interpersonal abilities--not just information and academic skills. BYU should furnish students with the practical advantage of an education that integrates academic skills with abstract theories, real-world applications, and gospel perspectives. Such an education prepares students who can make a difference in the world, who can draw on their academic preparation to participate more effectively in the arenas of daily life. They are parents, Church leaders, citizens, and compassionate human beings who are able to improve the moral, social, and ecological environment in which they and their families live. They are scientists and engineers who can work effectively in teams and whose work reflects intellectual and moral integrity; historians who write well and whose profound understanding of human nature and of divine influences informs their interpretation of human events; teachers whose love for their students as children of God is enriched by global awareness and foreign language skill; artists whose performances seek to be flawless in both technique and inspiration; business leaders whose economic judgments and management styles see financial reward not as an end but as a means to higher ends. BYU graduates thus draw on an educated intellect to enhance not only what they know but also what they do and, ultimately, what they are.