AUC builds a culture of leadership, lifelong learning, continuing education and service among its graduates and is dedicated to making significant contributions to Egypt and the international community in diverse fields.

There will also be a number of University forums throughout the year to facilitate larger community discussion.

American University in Cairo is rededicating itself to this fundamental purpose. Just as our spectacular

campus in New Cairo was intentionally designed as “a city for learning,” so too, our aspirations for the University as a whole should intentionally reflect a constantly renewed commitment to facilitating learning in all dimensions of the University’s operation:

In 2009, the University reviewed its mission statement and adopted the following text: The American University in Cairo (AUC) is a premier English-language institution of higher learning. The university is committed to teaching and research of the highest caliber, and offers exceptional liberal arts and professional education in a cross-cultural environment. AUC builds a culture of leadership, lifelong learning,

Lifelong Learning: We believe that the pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and personal and  professional development should continue throughout one’s lifetime.

Education for Citizenship and Service: We believe that a sound education not only prepares students for professional success but also for responsible citizenship and community engagement. The liberal arts tradition, with its emphasis on the broad education of a common core curriculum and  the experiential learning of rich extracurricular programs, strengthens the curiosity and courage of AUC graduates, and promotes civic participation.

In addition, just as students and faculty expect to have instant and continuous access to a borderless digital universe, they also expect to learn-by-doing. Increasing emphasis on experiential learning is changing the way faculty teach, the way student affairs professionals define their responsibilities, the

way employers assess job seekers, and the way universities allocate resources.

As one US university describes it: “Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities including internships, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and other creative and professional work experiences.

AUC has long been a

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 4 2012 Survey of First-Semester Freshmen. The American University in Cairo, September 2012. 5

 “Internet Usage Statistics for Africa.” Internet World Stats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm 6 As one US university describes it: “Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities including internships, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and other creative and professional work experiences. Well-planned, supervised and  pioneer in providing opportunities for internships, community-based learning, creative performance, civic engagement, undergraduate research, study abroad, and other outside-of-the-classroom learning experiences, and needs to build on that robust tradition.

Finally, of course, globalization of higher education itself is proceeding apace. From branch campuses, to various kinds of study and work opportunities outside students’ home countries, to international recruitment of degree candidates, student mobility and intellectual collaboration across borders are

increasingly watchwords in higher education around the world.

As a liberal arts institution, we not only provide

knowledge and skills in particular fields but preparation for a life that reflects critical thinking, ethical  principles, and self-directed, lifelong learning.

Strategies and Initiatives: How Will We Get There?

In all, once again, we focus our efforts on students in the first instance, on our degree candidates, and more generally, on all of our efforts promote learning and to better understand and improve our world.

In each of these, we emphasize the primacy of learning and the priority we place on enhancing the student experience. To that end, we also focus on sustaining a strong and vibrant faculty and the institutional capacity to serve our community of learning effectively.

Strategy: Unleash Learning: Opening the AUC Classroom To create “an ethically engaged, diverse community of scholars” in the twenty first century, we need to embrace and adopt new pedagogies that emphasize learning-by-doing and so prepare our young people with skills and confidence that not only build on but also transcend their particular major or graduate discipline. To that end, we should utilize the campus as a classroom, recognize extra-classroom experiences like service-learning, internships or study abroad experience in designing graduation requirements and better monitor, recognize and reward extracurricular involvement. All of these will require refashioning the links between the Provost’s academic programs and the Vice President for Student Affairs’ functions, redesigning everything from majors to transcripts, courses to clubs. Four specific initiatives recommend themselves as catalysts for such restructuring of how we foster learning.

Expand the “SustainableAUC” theme across campus. Encourage visible, innovative projects involving students in learning beyond the classroom by using the campus as the classroom and demonstrating the University’s commitment to sustainability, such as roof gardens, solar energy, carpooling, etc., and incentivize schools, departments, staff, and student groups to develop and implement student and faculty research and collaborations that relate to sustainability.

The Gerhart Center for Civic Engagement and the various academic community engagement programs, including our current community-based learning (CBL) initiatives, should be consolidated and dedicated to overseeing and managing on- and off-campus civic engagement and service learning programs, working with faculty to develop and evaluate service learning courses, academic service learning internships, facultys ponsored public service research projects, and public service-based international study abroad programs.

In many ways, this institutional priority crosses and supports all the others: without a strong, well trained and dedicated administration, much of the effort in meeting our other substantive goals will be dissipated. But it is important in itself, since a culture of continuous improvement is a reflection of a commitment to life-long learning.

Particular attention will be paid to the following offices, as critical interaction points with students, faculty, and staff:

Excellence

We continually strive to be among the best in all we do: in teaching, research, creative expression, service to our communities, and service to each other in our daily interactions.

Lifelong Learning

Equipped with the critical thinking.

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/Pages/Home.aspx

Multi disciplinary policymaking and participatory dialogue on questions in the public domain.

Core Competencies

Through GAPP’s various programs, students will be able to develop:

• Critical analysis

• • Quality research skills

Outreach

The school’s outreach efforts aim at initiating policy dialogue on issues that are pertinent to the region, providing policy advice to decision makers, disseminating research results and acting as a platform for linking between various schools and research centers that are concerned with public affairs in the region and worldwide.

Publications The Cairo Review of Global Affairs is GAPP’s quarterly journal. It was launched in 2011 with the primary aim of being a focal point for policymakers, officials, academics, experts, journalists, students and others in the Middle East region who follow global affairs. It is also intended to be a platform that gives perspectives from the region a greater voice in international policy conversations and debates.

Why Study at GAPP?

Middle Eastern perspective on global issues

•Strong curriculum that advocates critical thinking and practical

experience

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/jrmc/Pages/default.aspx

Learning Outcomes

Understand concepts and apply theories in the use and presentation of images and information

5.     Demonstrate a knowledge of professional ethics and apply these principles in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity;

6.     Think critically, creatively and independently

7.     Conduct research and evaluate information by methods appropriate to the communication professions in which they work;

8 Critically evaluate their own work and that of others

10.    Apply basic numerical and statistical concepts

11.    Apply tools and technologies appropriate for the communication professions in which they work

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/PPAD/Pages/Mission.aspx

A learning environment that fosters faculty-student communication and promotes lifelong learning and career development

Collaboration and teamwork: Collaboration on the basis of inclusion and outcome orientation

Learning and critical thinking: Lifelong learning and engagement in problem solving

Finding ways to address these challenges requires more than commitment; it requires the analytic and managerial skills that students gain in our programs and develop by working on real-world problems with experienced international professors.

Partnerships and collaborations are central to the strategic goals of the GSE..

Some of the expected outcomes of the school over the past few years have included providing a framework for the “professionalization” of educators, developing skills and competencies that are appropriate for the 21st century, enabling educators to be agents of change, empowering students to be innovators in whatever realm they are involved and ensuring that GSE faculty members are partners in the development of the school.

Our humanities faculty and students work together in a laboratory of ideas in which critique transforms established disciplines and leads to new fields of inquiry.

Whether it is through Community-Based Learning courses, interdisciplinary research projects, campus-wide capacity building programs or outreach to communities beyond the campus walls, HUSS students are challenged to invest themselves in the pursuit of social justice and positive, sustainable change.

Today’s problems will not be solved by any one discipline, body of knowledge, field of expertise or skill set. AUC’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences prepares students to address the complex challenges that lie ahead by thinking critically, thinking creatively and thinking big.

Link:  http://www.aucegypt.edu/huss/pols/Pages/default.aspx

The department seeks to strengthen students’ analytical and critical abilities and become adept at making oral and written presentations, increasing their capacity to compete in today’s rapidly changing world.

The graduate of the political science department is thus well equipped to follow those professions and lines of work that require independence of thought, initiative, creativity in solving problems, and continuing self-development”. 

Our collaborative exchange of ideas across the world involves distance learning with other classrooms in Europe and North America.

We aim to continue attracting foreign students to engage in learning with Egyptian students as a mutually enriching experience.

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/huss/sape/Pages/default.aspx

Grounded in the traditions of the liberal arts and sciences, the department is concerned that its courses contribute to the development of critical thinkin….

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/sse/Pages/default.aspx

Link:  http://www.aucegypt.edu/sse/csce/about/Pages/default.aspx

The department provides an environment in which students develop their critical thinking capabilities, problem solving skills, creative potential, communication skills in English, and proficiency in the tools of learning.

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/Business/ccfc/pages/About%20CCFC.aspx

Link: http://www.aucegypt.edu/Business/A2K4D/Pages/default.aspx

Since then, we have continued to work together as a research network promoting knowledge openness with a critical analysis of the role of balanced intellectual property to promote inclusive development.

6. Assess and follow-up faculty/student use of learning technologies and the effectiveness of these technologies on the learning process

2. Bring current developments in teaching practices and learning theory to the attention of faculty.

3. Acquaint all those involved in teaching with important innovations in learning technologies and their application to teaching.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud chose AUC to host an American studies center as part of an effort to encourage dialogue and reconciliation between the MENA region and the United States.

·         The Corporate Sustainability Capacity Building Program

·         RESEARCH PROGRAM