在1994年大學法修正後，臺灣地區各大學獲得了課程自主權。過去數十年由教育部訂定之大學共同必修科目已經廢止，通識教育課程改由大學自主規劃。大學法修正迄今已有七年，有必要對各大學通識教育的發展進行檢視，以發掘其中問題所在，期能有所澄清與改善。本文在闡述大學「通識教育」的目的與意義，並回顧占戰後迄今臺灣地區大學通識教育的發展後，提出對現行通識教育之檢討，認為許多大學校院對通識教育與大學課程的基本認知偏差或不足，因而在實行上產生混亂的現象，再加上大學專業導向過強等整體環境的問題，在在影響通識教育實施的成效。文末提出四項改進之建議，包括訂立通識教育課程的指標、全校每一專業學系皆應參與通識教育、設置專責通識教育之行政單位（但非教學研究單位）、大學延緩分流或限制主修科系學分占畢業總學分之比率。

Universities in Taiwan were granter autonomy over curriculum based on the revised University Act in 1994. The so-called “common courses” requirement was then abolished and universities had to design their new curriculum, including general education courses. This paper aims to examine some difficulties encountered by the universities in designing and exercising the new courses. It was found that the concept of general education was not correctly established and its purpose was misused. Some professors, students, and administrators looked upon general education with disfavor due to the tendency of specialization of high education. This led to a paradoxical curriculum design at the beginning and a poor exercise followed in many universities. Four suggestions of remedy are presented at the end of this paper.