American University of Paris

In a world where accelerating change and ever-shifting personal, cultural, and economic connections are the norm, everyone — at least occasionally — is a foreigner.

Today’s world demands our ability to see the world as another person sees it, even if we might disagree with that person’s ideas and perspectives. We must know enough of the world and ourselves to function effectively in a variety of professional and social settings. We must be comfortable living at the edge of our own comfort zone.

And it is only through that comfort—that feeling of being at home in the world—that we can pursue our own ambitions, champion our own causes, further our own ideals.

An American-style education

An American-style education in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. AUP is itself a wildly successful experiment in international, interdisciplinary education. AUP brings together all the best elements of the American university model—small, discussion-based classes; a collaborative relationship between students and faculty; a special emphasis on critical thinking and clear communication—with the cultural, social, and professional opportunities of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.

Ours is an academic culture of engagement, global citizenship, and community. Our mission and values reflect this as we seek to foster in students and faculty alike a critical sense of commitment to a world of interdependence.

September 6, 1962 saw the arrival of the first students of the American College in Paris, a two-year, junior college located within the American Church in Paris at 65 quai d’Orsay. The vision for the college originated with AUP founder Lloyd DeLamater, a 40-year old US Foreign Service officer, and became a reality with ideological support from the leaders of Paris’ major American institutions (the American Library, the American Cathedral, the American Church and the American Hospital).

Enrolling 103 students in its inaugural class, who were largely children of American service members and expatriates living in post-World War II Europe, the College met a need for post-secondary schooling, fully open to American children, in which they could maintain routine progress towards an American Bachelor’s degree without returning to the United States.