Global Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (GLACC)

Please note that AUP's GLACC Degree Requirements replaces the former General Education Requirements and will be 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: 

• FirstBridge (freshmen only) 
• Integrative Inquiry 
• Critical Inquiry and Expression 
• Quantitative and Experimental Reasoning 
• Expression Française 

FirstBridge 

Freshman 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. 

Integrative Inquiry 

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 engage 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. 

Critical Inquiry and Expression 

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 freshmen take the AUP English Placement Test during 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. A grade of “C” or above must be earned in these courses to meet the Core Curriculum requirement. 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. 

Quantitative & Experimental Reasoning 

To fulfill this requirement students must: 

• Complete one Experimental Reasoning course (laboratory science class). Courses in this category are coded CCS.
• Take one Quantitative Reasoning course (MA1005, MA1020, MA1025, MA1030 depending on placement). Courses in this category are coded CCM. 

Expression Française

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 who have not completed two courses of university-level French (or hold the French Baccalauréat diploma) must take a placement test at Orientation. Either by means of exemption or completion of the necessary French language sequence, students must demonstrate a proficiency level equivalent to that obtained in FR 1200 (French and Culture II). A minimum grade of “C” is required in French courses in order to fulfill the requirement. FR 1200, which fulfills the Expression Française core curriculum requirement, is coded CCF.

Full GLACC Requirements in Fall 2020

There will be four more Core Curriculum requirements for students starting in Fall 2020. These include: Experiential Learning (coded CCX), Digital Literacy and Communication (coded CCD), Disciplinary Research Methods/Writing in the Discipline (coded CCR), and AUP Capstone (a mandatory senior seminar, senior project or internship). See the table below for more details.