Published 29 April 2008
AUC's study programme is structured around three years of study, covering six semesters (totalling 180 European credit points). Each semester will be 20 weeks long, divided into three periods: 8 weeks + 8 weeks + 4 weeks. You will usually take five courses per semester of 6 credit points each. This will translate into a total study workload of around 42 hours per week (16 hours of class plus 26 hours of self-study).
Diagram 1: click on magnifying glass to enlarge
Diagram 1 (right) shows the general structure in more detail, per semester and per year. You start at the bottom: each row is a semester while each block represents a single course of 6 credit points. You design your own study programme, with advice from your tutor, gradually filling in this structure with your chosen courses. Of course, the details of your programme might differ from this diagram (you might take more than one disciplinary course in a semester, for example, and then take no disciplinary courses in the next), but it shows the general pattern.
Diagram 2: click on magnifying glass to enlarge
Diagram 2 (right) shows how your programme has its foundations in your theme, on which you build your major, supported on either side by the Academic Core and your disciplinary courses. You return to your theme at a later, more advanced, level before finishing your programme off with the capstone.
At least ten of your courses (totalling 60 credit points) will be in the Academic Core, which ensures you develop strong academic skills. These include a minimum of one 'big questions' courses in your first year, that you will choose from the four offered by AUC. You will take Academic Core courses throughout your programme; the exact requirements will depend on your choice of major.
At least half of your study programme (90 credit points) will be dedicated to your major. This includes the courses that you follow on your selected theme (2 x 6 credit points), and the capstone experience in your final year (12 credit points). You can major in the sciences, the humanities or the social sciences. You declare your major at the end of your first year, and with the help of your tutor you will then select a coherent package of at least 11 courses on subjects within your major that you will take in your second and third years.
Alongside the requirements of the Academic Core and your major, you then have up to 30 credit points (one-sixth of your programme) that you can complete with freely chosen courses, the electives. You can use your electives to expand and deepen your studies in a variety of ways.
Source: AUC
|
