Early in its history, The Johns Hopkins University was dedicated to the idea of a broad liberal arts education without requiring too many courses outside the undergraduate student's area of interest. This paradoxical problem was solved with the development of the group system; the name at first denoted courses of study rather than a committee of faculty members. In 1882, President Daniel C. Gilman created seven groups: Classical, Mathematical-Physical, Chemical-Biological, Physical-Chemical, Latin-Mathematical, Historical- Political, and Modern Languages. The specific curricula required by these groups is published in the Johns Hopkins University Register. By 1906 the groups were consolidated into five areas: Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, History and Political Economy, Mathematics and Physics, and Chemistry, Biology and Geology.

By 1931, after the evolution of academic departments, and in the wake of the Goodnow Plan, the faculty formed the "new" group system to prevent the undergraduate course of study from becoming too narrowly-focused. The groups thus formed were Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Each faculty member was con-sidered a member of a particular group and for each group a chairman was elected. Each group set core requirements for graduation, while allowing individual departments within the group to add additional requirements.

In 1951, with the adoption of the Bronk Plan and the creation of the Group Council, the group system was expanded to include graduate education as well. The Group Council consisted of the chairmen of the four groups, the vice chairman of the General Assembly, the Dean of the Homewood Schools and a secretary appointed by the group chairmen. The Council examined the requirements proposed by the groups and made recommendations to the General Assembly, confirmed the affiliation of departments and members with the groups, and made proposals to the General Assembly and the Academic Council on matters of academic policy.

The Group Council, however, soon became superfluous. By the mid-1950s, responsibility for undergraduate degree requirements was assumed by the dean, while graduate degree requirements fell under the jurisdiction of the group chairmen in conjunction with their groups. In 1962, the Group Council was superseded by the Graduate Board. The demise of the Group Council can be attributed to a decline in interest on the part of the faculty in the group system as a whole, based on the belief that students should have more freedom to choose their own academic programs. The group structure, however, remained intact and was even enlarged in 1966 by the addition of two more groups, Earth Sciences and Engineering Sciences. The group structure continued to exist into the 1970s.