Liberal Arts and Sciences

Amsterdam University College (AUC) offers a liberal arts and sciences programme, leading to a joint Bachelor (Honours) degree from the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. A liberal education teaches you to read intelligently, think critically and write effectively. AUC students acquire not only depth of knowledge, but also important and transferable academic and research skills. You can major in the sciences, social sciences or humanities. All AUC students undertake community service or an internship, and AUC offers a wide range of study abroad opportunities.At AUC you will be trained to analyse complex issues from different perspectives and academic fields of knowledge. Discussions start from the big questions in science and society and lead to in-depth study in a wide range of disciplines. Six interdisciplinary themes provide an orientation to your studies and choice of course options:- Energy, Climate and Sustainability- Life, Evolution, Universe- Health and Well-being- Information, Communication, Cognition- Social Systems- Cities and CulturesYou will engage on a daily basis in intensive and small-scale seminars with high calibre international staff. An AUC tutor (academic adviser) supports you in the process of planning your study programme, to help you ensure it is solid and coherent and will meet your academic and/or career goals. Substantial emphasis is placed on scientific reasoning within an interdisciplinary approach.Together with your tutor, you will choose 10 courses in your major with consideration to your chosen theme, subjects that interest you and your future ambitions. Your tutor will ensure that the courses you choose are coherent and will qualify you for specific Master’s programmes or career paths. The major courses you choose are also relevant to one or more of AUC’s themes and are designed not only to deepen your knowledge, but also to build your understanding of the relationships between different fields of knowledge. Please note that a theme serves as the background to a major. AUC students major in sciences, social sciences or humanities.Concentrations and specialisationYour package of major courses will include a concentration. This means that you will select specific fields of knowledge and ‘concentrate’ your studies on them, taking a certain number of courses up to an advanced level. This brings coherence to your programme and ensures that you achieve sufficient depth of knowledge in a specific subject area.Your choice of major also influences the set of Academic Core courses that you have to complete, with different mathematics and methodology courses for the different majors.