AUR’s general education requirements reflect the key concepts that make an American liberal arts university education unique. In addition to preparing students in the foundational skills of English writing, mathematics, the sciences, and the fundamentals of the Italian language, our general education program offers students the opportunity to develop the critical and creative capacity to explore larger questions of knowledge and meaning. Through required courses in the Arts and Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Creative Arts, students will learn an interdisciplinary approach to complex topics and to examine concepts from a variety of angles.
Completion of the General Education program is a requirement for all bachelor’s degrees, and makes use of courses throughout the AUR curriculum. Consistent with the mission of the University, the program develops important practical skills, addresses social issues of diversity, multiculturalism and ethics and draws on the rich resources of the city of Rome as a learning tool. Reflecting the mission of the institution, it strives to ensure that all students, regardless of major, will share a common dialogue which will prepare them to live and work across cultures.
AUR’s First Year Program is a signature, one-semester course required of all first year students, irrespective of their choice of major.
Communal learning—where all first-years students encounter the same questions, experiences, and texts—and the critical discussions that emerge from small seminars, make AUR’s first year program distinctive and stimulating.
FYS 101, Explorations in the Liberal Arts, is intellectually stretching and personally transformative for students.
Team-taught by several of AUR’s distinguished full-time faculty, from across a range of disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach fosters a habit of mind that students will employ throughout their studies at AUR and into life beyond the classroom.
The goals of The American University of Rome’s General Education program are:
- to develop and strengthen basic skills which will prepare students upon graduation for a modern working environment and which will be adaptable to a rapidly evolving economy.
- to cultivate an awareness of, and sensitivity to, cultural diversity and its importance in personal and professional decision making.
- to achieve a broad knowledge base, drawn from multiple disciplines, typical of an American Liberal Arts Education.
- to use Rome as a classroom and as an invaluable learning resource.
- to encourage active and responsible citizenship through knowledge of the forces shaping the actions of individuals and societies and through the development of critical thinking.
The General Education program requirements are shared by all majors, though each major may also require particular General Education courses to satisfy major requirements.
Transfer students with 30 or more transfer credits are exempted from this requirement.
For detailed information on our General Education program, please see our full catalog, pages 46-52
