| The American University of Paris | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1962 |
| Type | private |
| President | Celeste Schenck[1] |
| Academic staff | 105 [2] |
| Students | 1,000 [2] |
| Location | Paris, Ile-de-France, France |
| Campus | Urban, eight buildings |
| Website | www.aup.fr |
The American University of Paris (commonly referred to as AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts and sciences university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe. The university campus consists of eight buildings, centrally located in the seventh arrondissement of Paris, on the Left Bank near the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, and the Seine.[3]
AUP's mission is to educate graduates to communicate well in a world of many languages, to think critically about history, culture, the arts, science, politics, business, communication, and society, to develop creative interdisciplinary approaches to important contemporary challenges, to be both technologically and culturally literate in a world of swift-paced change, to understand the ethical imperatives of living in such a world, and to take their places as responsible actors in communities, civil societies, and countries around the globe.
The university's language of instruction is English, although students must prove a level of proficiency in French prior to graduation.[4] The university has approximately one thousand students, representing over one hundred nationalities, with an average student-to-faculty ratio of fifteen to one. The university's faculty members represent over twenty nationalities, with eighty percent holding doctoral degrees.
The university sponsors more than two hundred lectures and seminars every year, exposing students to a wide range of topics. Past lecturers at AUP have included Jane Goodall, J.M. Coetzee, National Geographic photojournalist Reza, and Calvin Klein. Additionally, the university has hosted many international conferences, inviting an aggregate of over a thousand scholars, including Gary Becker, Nobel Prize-recipient of Economics in 1992 and Michel Rocard, the former Prime Minister of France.[5]
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The American University of Paris is accredited in the United States by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The American University of Paris is a non-profit educational institution incorporated in the State of Delaware and licensed by the State Board of Education as a Delaware institution of higher education. The American University of Paris is registered in the United States as a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
The University confers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, and Master of Science degrees accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The institution is authorized to offer Bachelor's and Master's degrees through the State of Delaware.
The American University of Paris is declared to the Rectorat de Paris as an établissement privé d'enseignement supérieur libre. The Rectorat de Paris has also acknowledged that the undergraduate majors and Masters programs taught at The American University of Paris are of higher education level (les formations dispensées par l’établissement American University of Paris sont reconnues de niveau d’enseignement supérieur), which allows our students to be registered in the French social security system. AUP degrees are also recognized by the Ministries of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia, Norway, and Turkey.[6]
The university offers 17 majors and 36 minors in its undergraduate program, along with courses covering a wide array of other liberal arts subjects, including Anthropology, Art History, Astronomy, Biology, Drama, Fine Arts, Gender Studies, Mathematics, Music, Physics, Sociology, and Languages, including Arabic, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Latin, and Ancient Greek.
The university's academic departments include:
The university offers nine graduate programs:
The university is clustered among eight historic buildings in the seventh arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank, located near the Eiffel Tower, and within walking distance of the Champs-Elysées, the Louvre, and the Quartier Latin.
One of the university's buildings houses the AUP Fine Arts Gallery.[7] The gallery was created in 2003 by Ralph Petty, who is the university's Curator and an Associate Professor of Fine Arts.
The AUP Library, open to the AUP community, is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, a block away from the Eiffel Tower. The Library is one of the most active academic services on campus. Its selective collection provides support for the undergraduate and graduate programs. Partner Parisian academic libraries enhance access to the extremely rich scholarly information existing in the city. A constantly growing collection of book, journals, films is complemented by a large collection of online resources (e-books, e-encyclopedias, e-journals, full text databases, etc.). Group study rooms, a teleconferencing room and informal reading areas, wireless access, sufficient electrical outlets for laptops and large flat screen monitors facilitate collaborative work. The AUP Library works closely with the Academic Resource Center (ARC) and Information Technology Services (ITS) to provide the best possible services to students and faculty.
Professional librarians help fulfill one of the main institutional goals, which is assisting its users in becoming self-sufficient information-literate researchers. Information fluency instruction at AUP is embedded in the various programs from the basic level (English for University Studies, English Bridge, FirstBridge) to upper level courses.
The university has about 1,000 students with over 95 nationalities represented on campus.
Almost any undergraduate class of 20 students has about fifteen nationalities, with many of the world’s cultures and religions represented. Americans represent about one third of the student body, Europeans (from more than twenty-five countries) another third, and the final third come about evenly from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Students have the opportunity to learn and meet other students through a large number of clubs and organizations. Some of the most popular include the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots, AUPPA (student political association), WhiteMask Theatre club, AUP’s award-winning debate club, Model United Nations, Photo Club, Student Government Association (SGA), and the Graduate Student Council (GSC).
Students also manage several student-run publications, including the monthly student newspaper, The Planet; Core, AUP’s humanities journal; Scripta Politica et Economica; and Paris/Atlantic, a journal of creative work.
Students live off campus, many near the university. The Housing Office helps AUP students find lodging in chambres de bonne (small, private rooms generally found on the top floor of older French apartment buildings), with French hosts, or in apartments. Students also have the opportunity of living in student housing (Campuséa Residence) in the 13th arrondissement of Paris half an hour by metro from AUP.
ARC@AUP (the Academic Resource Center) is a project designed to link technology to the curriculum and to supplement academic support services at AUP. On the ground floor of the Grenelle Building, ARC provides multiple services to students, including library research stations and video production equipment. Peer tutoring services, including the Writing Lab, are also available in the ARC space.
There are five student computer labs containing 100 PC and iMac computers. Students have free e-mail accounts and Internet access as well as use of a variety of software, printers, projectors, and scanners. WiFi is available throughout the campus buildings.
Individuals of note who have attended the university include: