AUP's mission is to educate our 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.

Ours is an academic culture of engagement, global citizenship, and community that fosters in students and faculty alike a critical sense of commitment to and responsibility for a world of interdependence. In AUP’s multilingual, multicultural learning environment, students develop a capacity for ethical and political judgment that is alert to cultural diversity. In the living laboratory that is Paris, in the exceptional space of the AUP classroom, students and faculty of 100 different nationalities meet to articulate civic values and negotiate difference, as together they question, reflect upon, and work toward creative solutions to real-world problems. The special alchemy of our exceptional learning community inspires students, faculty, and staff alike to excellence, and equips us to contribute actively and compassionately to an increasingly just and sustainable world.