UK students spend a year and a half of their college careers taking classes that have nothing to do with their declared major. That means 15 classes with 15 final exams, resulting in 15 grades before students begin checking off the requirements for their area of focus.

The university requires 45 credit hours to be completed in the University Studies Program, which in many majors have to be at least partially completed before they can achieve upper division status.

But earlier this week, a panel of faculty members led students in a discussion of how to revise these requirements to modify and better serve undergraduate education.

The new program would implement a 10-class, 30-credit USP requirement, including four areas of study instead of the current nine, the Kernel reported Wednesday.

It’s about time.

The current program curriculum was set in the 1980s and hasn’t been assessed since, according to the Wednesday article. While it’s hard to believe, the world has changed over the last few decades, and with it economic, social and professional needs have evolved as well. It is nearly impossible that a curriculum set more than 20 years ago provides today’s students with the best preparation for their future.

The new program would require students to complete classes in areas of humanities or social sciences to focus on problem solving, said American studies professor Susan Carvalho, a member of the faculty panel.

The communication requirement would be different than the current program by bringing more of an oral communication component to the studies. A quantitative reasoning section would implement mathematical statistics that can be used in every-day life, but more importantly, the class would teach how to solve real problems like how to pay a mortgage or interpret statistics, said mathematics professor Carl Lee, also a panel member.

In the midst of the current financial malaise, it is much more important for students to know this type of skill than to memorize logic reasoning rules.

A citizenship class would replace the current cross-cultural requirement, according to the Kernel article, and would teach concepts like civic engagement and cross-national comparative issues. This class, while still providing students with knowledge of other cultures, would allow them to learn about the U.S.’s interaction with these countries and how it affects their lives.

These curriculum changes are smart. But more than just smart, they are in the best interest of the students, and the students agree.

In the Wednesday article, Carvalho said students who attended the forum asked questions, brought up good ideas and seemed sincere. Assistant Provost Richard Greissman, a member of the panel, said student input was helpful as the group continues to polish up the new USP proposal.

“We heard new questions from students that we haven’t heard from faculty in 30 meetings,” Greissman said in the article.

These changes are good, but if this new proposal passes and students no longer face a year and a half of university required classes outside of their majors, this doesn’t mean it will work forever. It doesn’t even mean it will work for a couple of decades.

This program is one that should repeatedly be reevaluated to access how well it serves the students and how effectively the curriculum helps prepare them for their future.