Key academic changes starting in September 2023

While AUC's curriculum is updated every year through the approval cycle of the Academic Standards and Procedures, the changes that will go into effect starting in September 2023 are more than normal. The most major changes are as follows:

Theme courses to be discontinued & no longer required to graduate

Students will no longer be required to complete theme courses as part of their degree. All 100- and 300-level theme courses will be discontinued. Some of the former theme courses will be redeveloped into interdisciplinary courses within the major.

Amount of credits in the major

With the discontinuation of the theme courses, all students will be required to complete 66 EC (instead of the current 60 EC) in their major, with at least 24 EC (instead of the current 18 EC) at the 300 level. This contributes to depth of learning while allowing you more choice in selecting courses.

Language requirement discontinued

Languages at AUC will no longer be mandatory. Instead, all language courses will become electives and the language curriculum will be further developed to focus on intercultural skills and strengthening the cultural aspects of language learning. AUC will continue to offer Chinese, Arabic, Dutch, French, Spanish and German with an emphasis on the beginner and intermediate levels.

More courses offered during the intensive periods

Students will have more courses to choose from during the intensive periods (four-week courses in January and June). Besides languages, students can take a lab course, complete a CPI, or opt to take one of several new courses being developed especially for the intensives. These will include accessible interdisciplinary courses such as Literature off the Page, Challenges of Food and Nutrition Security, and Health, Resilience, and Human Flourishing, among others.

CPIs to be pass/fail, have a 30 EC option & open to first-years

There will be some significant changes to the CPI (Community Projects & Internships) programme to allow for more extensive opportunities for experience and community-based learning. CPI projects will now be graded with a "pass/fail" designation and no longer count toward the GPA. This will allow students to better focus on learning from the project instead of worrying about grading. In addition, there will be a new option to take a 30 EC internship for students who wish to engage in extensive research (instead of studying abroad or taking multiple off-campus electives, for example). Finally, future first-year students will be able to complete a CPI project instead of waiting until their second or third year.

Two courses in each of the majors required

Students will now be required to complete two courses in each of the majors other than their own (instead of the current one course in each of the majors). For example, a Science major will need to take two courses in the Humanities and two courses in the Social Sciences as part of their degree requirements. Please note that this new rule will only apply to students who start at AUC in September 2023. Current students need only complete one course in each of the majors outside of their own.