The design and ongoing development of The Department of Liberal Studies courses are guided by five major principles:

• Self-knowledge: To help students develop the ability to critically analyze the forces that shape their values, ideas, and personal circumstances so that they can cultivate a thoughtful, realistic, and positive sense of themselves.
• Civic Engagement: To graduate informed and engaged citizens who are ethical, professional, and productive in the workplace and in their communities.
• Global Perspectives: To help students understand the global forces that are shaping the public sphere, through an examination of diverse theories, narratives and histories relative to the environment, society, politics, arts, sciences and technology.
• Relevance: To evolve in a manner that is responsive and relevant to students and the changing circumstances in which they live.
• Lifelong Learning: To afford students an opportunity to develop a foundation of knowledge and skills necessary to a life of learning and adaptation.

Humanities, an issues-based, interdisciplinary foundation course, is the first General Education course required of all post-secondary students. Following the common core course, students select the remainder of their courses from at least two of the three discipline categories.

The Department of Liberal Studies courses at Humber College are offered in three categories:

• Arts and Literature
• Social Sciences and Humanities
• Science and Technology

All Liberal Studies courses support the development of essential employability skills. These include

• Communication Skills
• Personal Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Thinking Skills
• Mathematics Skills
• Computer Application Skills