Amsterdam University College
Published 8 September 2008

AUC's themes

© Erik de Vries

The AUC themes examine complex and far-reaching questions in today's world that require the integration of insights from different fields of knowledge. The six themes are:

  • Energy, Climate and Sustainability
  • Life, Evolution, Universe
  • Health and Well-being
  • Information, Communication, Cognition
  • Social Systems (peace & conflict; equality, inequality & diversity; market & regulation)
  • Cities and Cultures

You select a theme at the end of your first semester, and take an introductory course. This course will introduce you to some of the issues and research questions that are relevant to that theme, and explain how different fields of knowledge contribute to it.

Your theme then becomes the background to your choice of major in the sciences, humanities or social sciences. Your theme will guide you through the curriculum and will help you make a good choice of courses from  the wide array of disciplines within the AUC curriculum. 

You return to the theme itself in an advanced course in your third and final year. There you will be reunited with students who may have followed very different paths through the programme to your own, to debate the problems and research issues together with guest speakers.

You may choose courses from different disciplines which will count towards your major requirements as many courses are 'cross-listed.' This means, for example, that the course in question is valid for a science or a social science major. 

You will be able to use the knowledge you have acquired in your major during your second and third years to make an informed contribution to the debate, while the different paths that you and your fellow students have followed will allow you to bring a variety of insights to the discussion - the course will help you to integrate these insights.

Source: AUC