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 component of the UCGS and is therefore a subset of courses in the UCGS. The UCGS consists of seven course blocks. To satisfy the UCGS students are required to complete the appropriate number of courses in each course block. Student course selection should be carefully considered since the UCGS program is not designed to capture the complexities of individual programs of study at Virginia four-year public institutions. Students should be advised to take the UCGS course that best suits their intended program of study at the four-year institution. UCGS courses taken at other VCCS colleges will apply toward completion of the certificate at MECC. Only classes completed on or after May 2020 apply toward UCGS completion.