Global Professional Skills Program (GPS)

The Global Professional Skills (GPS) program is open to all undergraduate students and provides you with the opportunity to sharpen critically important skills and develop your own personal narrative throughout college that will benefit your life after AUP.

As an undergraduate student, you are strongly encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities during your time at AUP — whether it's volunteering with an international NGO, interning with your dream fashion designer, or participating in one of AUP's many clubs.

To successfully earn a GPS certificate, you will develop global skills through design thinking workshops, and activities that connect your curricular experience with co-curricular opportunities by developing a personal narrative. Each activity is aligned with our university Core Capabilities  and are designed, in the words of AUP’s mission, "to challenge you to master and to make, to reflect and to apply and to analyze and to act in hands-on, real-world settings."

WHY PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM?

    • 7 in 10
      undergraduates are active GPS Program participants
    • 67%
      of GPS seniors apply co-curricular experience to coursework
    • 85%
      of program graduates report preparedness for life after AUP

In addition to providing a structure for you to record and reflect on your co-curricular and extracurricular activities – thus learning about yourself and the world and preparing yourself for life after graduation – the program also offers the following takeaways:

  • Learn how to tell your story with confidence and conviction;
  • Customize your own co-curricular record to highlight activities to share with graduate schools and employers;
  • Participate in a suite of three design thinking workshops to develop a unique, compelling, and coherent narrative about yourself, your interests, and your achievements;
  • Earn a GPS certificate (with a mention of your completion of the program on your official academic transcript) at the annual GPS Award Ceremony in May;
  • Seize the opportunity to present your narrative to a panel of AUP alumni, employers, and faculty;
  • Top student presenters will be invited to present in front of the AUP community and the AUP Board of Trustees at the annual GPS Award Ceremony;
  • One winning submission will receive the Danielle Savage GPS Award at Commencement.
Explore your GPS path here

If I hadn't done the activities, my AUP experience would have been much quieter, less fun, and less fulfilling. I am so glad that I took the opportunities provided to me.