Core Capabilities

At The American University of Paris we offer a student-centered, transformative learning experience to the global explorers who come to study here. What makes our community special is the quality of the people within it, who come from across the world to contribute their perspectives and ideas. As an AUP student, you are expected to work hard to pursue your academic and personal objectives and to make the most of the opportunities that being a member of this vibrant community offers.

We encourage you to look over the Core Capabilities listed on this page, and to reflect on what you hope to gain from your time with us. When you consider what you have already learned and what you still hope to discover you will realize that beyond gaining knowledge you are developing understanding, empathy, leadership and analytical skills.

The Core Capabilities are intended to guide you through your time at AUP, to maximize everything you do within and beyond the classroom and help shape the person that you will be when you strike out on your next steps.

This is not a journey you will be expected to take alone. Throughout your time at AUP you will be supported by your faculty, advisors, mentors and peers to expand your horizons and develop the skills that will stay with you long after you have left campus. They will become your friends, your teammates and your greatest supporters, pushing you to remember that the lessons learned on the journey are more important than the outcome.

Your experiences here will help you to cultivate your passions and interests, encouraging you along the way to listen carefully, express yourself intelligently in a voice of your own, and become a critical thinker ready to consider interdisciplinary solutions to contemporary challenges. When you walk across the stage at graduation you will be equipped with the digital literacy necessary to lead in a world of swift-paced change, and the compassion to recognize the vital importance of differences between individuals, cultures, and disciplines.

Independent, Creative Thinkers

Graduates will think critically about their place in the world and their role in its future. Grounded in the liberal arts tradition of independent inquiry, they will be able to navigate resources, evaluate their findings and articulate well-reasoned arguments

Engaged, Lifelong Learners

Graduates will be knowledgeable in one or more disciplines while benefiting from a larger interdisciplinary context. They will use a range of modes of analysis, including quantitative, qualitative, visual, digital and textual, with care and resourcefulness. They will continue to meet the challenges of intellectual, personal and professional growth in meaningful and balanced lives beyond the University.

Responsible Actors, Empowered Leaders

Graduates will apply their knowledge and skills to the global challenges of the 21st century. Their core values of curiosity, integrity and collaboration will enable them to act with commitment and ethical responsibility.

Adaptable Communicators with a Global Perspective

Graduates will be skillful at engaging diversity and difference in an international setting. They will hone their intercultural awareness and abilities. Graduates will understand that exciting ideas and valid viewpoints are articulated in a multiplicity of languages and languages competencies, and across a variety of cultures. They will demonstrate mastery in communicating in English, and be comfortable interacting with the French environment in which AUP is located.