Global Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (GLACC)
Please note that AUP's GLACC Degree Requirements replaces the former General Education Requirements and were fully introduced in Fall 2020.
A pillar of the American model of education is the core curriculum program that exposes students to a broad range of academic disciplines. In the American system, this fundamental stream of courses is balanced by concentrated or specialized study in a single discipline or major. AUP's Global Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (GLACC) has been designed to complement work in the major by running parallel to it over the course of a student's academic trajectory. Students must fulfill Core Curriculum requirements in the following areas:
- Integrative Inquiry
- Critical Inquiry and Expression
- Quantitative and Experimental Reasoning
- Expression Française (Course type CCF)
- AUP Capstone (Course type CCC)
Students must have a minimum passing grade of "C-" or above for all GLACC courses.
First-year students begin their Core Curriculum studies with a FirstBridge during their first semester at AUP. This program is a set of two creatively joined courses linked by a Reflective Seminar. Each set of FirstBridge courses will bridge multiple academic disciplines, with a team of two AUP professors, and with Paris itself. Once a week, FirstBridge classes meet for a Reflective Seminar led by the professors. Throughout FirstBridge, students explore a range of interdisciplinary issues and questions, complete individual and team projects, and enjoy occasional field trips in Paris, France, or other European countries, while improving skills in writing, public speaking, and information literacy. The FirstBridge program carries eight credits. FirstBridge courses are coded CCI and count towards the Integrative Inquiry requirement of AUP’s Core Curriculum. FirstBridge courses may not apply to the major.
The Integrative Inquiry requirement encourages students to engage with questions and acquire skills that enable them to communicate effectively and act responsibly in a world of diverse languages and cultures. These courses will require students to participate in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary inquiry on problems related to aesthetic and creative expression, difference and cultural boundaries, and civic and ethical problems at both the local and global level. This requirement is fulfilled by the completion of four courses coded CCI. Freshmen are required to take four CCI courses: FirstBridge and two CCI courses outside of the major disciplinary base. Transfer students are required to take four CCI courses outside of the major disciplinary base. At least one of the four courses must be completed at AUP. In cases of double majors in different disciplinary bases or pluridisciplinary majors, AUP does allow exceptions to the CCI overlap with the disciplinary major base rule.
Experiential courses provide opportunities for students to engage in activities that link them directly and concretely to the world outside the classroom. These experiences allow students to construct personal narratives about and the meaningfulness of that experience. Through this, their learning deepens and possibilities for personal growth are made manifold. Experiential learning courses are coded CCX and include non-credit bearing options, such as internships. All internships registered with AUP fulfill the CCX requirement, as well as successful completion of the Global Professional Skills (GPS) Program.
RESEARCH, INTERPRETATION AND WRITING
This requirement consists of up to eight credits (two courses) in English writing. EN courses require substantial reading, analysis, writing and revision in the context of important works of world literature in a range of genres. Students fulfill this requirement, in most cases, with one semester of EN 1010 (College Writing) and one semester of EN 2020 (Writing and Criticism). Depending on placement test results, students may have to complete additional English courses before embarking on this requirement. Entering first-year students take the AUP English Placement Test before Orientation. The test determines whether a student will need to take prerequisites before following the Critical Inquiry and Expression requirement. Students may also be exempt from the requirement if they place above EN 2020. Since writing in English forms the basis for success in most other courses, Transfer students may be awarded transfer credits for the equivalent of English Composition I and II from an Anglophone university. However, students who are unable to demonstrate English writing proficiency sufficient for upper-level coursework will, on the advice of their professors and advisor, be placed in an appropriate EN class. All advanced standing credits in English, regardless of exams taken, will transfer in as “free elective” credits if the exam results were the equivalent of “C” or above. These qualifications do not contribute to fulfilling the Critical Inquiry and Expression English core curriculum requirement. EN 2020, which fulfills the Critical Inquiry and Expression core curriculum requirement, is coded CCE.
DIGITAL LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION
Digital Literacy courses teach skills in digital collaboration, writing and publishing, data management and preservation, data analysis and presentation, and research – as well as the ethics and implications of these practices. Students will enhance their ability to use a range of digital tools and technology-enabled methodologies. This requirement helps students develop a 21st century skillset required in all fields; for students to progress in their chosen field they need to understand how their discipline manages digital information and uses digital tools to communicate. As such, this requirement is fulfilled through a specific course within the student’s major, which is relevant to that industry/field of study. Students must take this course, identified with a course type of CCD, to fulfil both their GLACC and major requirements.
DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH METHODS/WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINE
Discipline specific research and writing methods build upon the skills acquired in the two writing requirements completed during the Research, Interpretation and Writing courses. These courses, identified with a course type of CCR, help students to create a disciplinary voice, preparing them for their capstone. This requirement is fulfilled through a specific course within the student’s major, which is relevant to that industry/field of study. Students must take this course to fulfill both their GLACC and major requirements.
Quantitative and experimental reasoning are essential to analyzing, understanding, and solving both local and global problems in the 21st-century. These courses enhance a student’s ability to analyze data, understand the scientific method, and learn to differentiate between evidence and anecdote. AUP students must take one Quantitative Reasoning course (MA1005, MA1020, MA1025, MA1030 depending on placement). Prior to starting at AUP, all entering students are required to take one or more math placements tests, depending on their major. Based on placement test results and any potential transfer equivalencies, students may have to complete additional Math courses before embarking on this requirement. Conversely, students may also be exempt from the requirement if they receive a placement score that indicates “CCM Waived”. Courses in this category are coded with the course type CCM.
AUP students must complete one Experimental Reasoning course (laboratory science class), in which they’ll gain knowledge of core concepts in a scientific field, interpret scientific data from a variety of sources, apply the scientific method to solve problems, and demonstrate written and oral presentation skills to communicate scientific knowledge. Courses in this category are coded CCS, and include a required lab component.
AUP students are required to complete up to two courses in French language to facilitate their integration in Paris (FR1100: French & Culture I and FR1200: French & Culture II). All new students must take a French placement test (unless exempt, for example students holding the French Baccalauréat diploma). Either by means of exemption or completion of the necessary French language sequence, students must demonstrate a proficiency level equivalent to that obtained in FR1200 (French and Culture II). A minimum grade of “C” is required in French courses in order to fulfill the requirement. FR1200, which fulfills the Expression Française core curriculum requirement, is coded CCF.
Every student at AUP must complete a capstone project: Honors Thesis, Senior Seminar, Senior Project, Portfolio, etc., the options of which are specified uniquely for each major. In completing the capstone, students will put to use the knowledge and skills acquired through both the core curriculum and their major requirements to a disciplinary or interdisciplinary, cumulative, or project-based experience to express their growth and the totality of their learning while at AUP. A key feature of the capstone, students will engage in the self-assessment, reflection and analysis of this process that prepares them for future success and be able to articulate this to future educational and professional interlocutors. Capstone courses are coded with a course type of CCC, and are typically completed in the student’s senior year, often the last semester.