The university's language of instruction is Englis...

The university's language of instruction is English, although students must prove a level of proficiency in French prior to graduation.[5] The university has over 1,100 students, representing over 100 nationalities, with an average student-to-faculty ratio of thirteen to one. The university's faculty members represent 21 nationalities, with 71% holding doctoral degrees and close to 70% speaking three or more languages.[2]



The university has been awarding honorary degrees since 1984. Amongst the recipients are scholars, writers, artists, political figures, and researchers, including Gene Kelly, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Caron, Robert Wilson, Pierre Salinger, Jessye Norman, I.M. Pei, William Styron, Simon Weisenthal, Pamela Harriman, Simone Veil, Sargent Shriver, James Ivory, Bernard Kouchner, Michel Rocard, Christine Lagarde, Christiane Amanpour, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tzvetan Todorov, Muriel Spark, Mavis Gallant, J.M. Coetzee, Eugene Lang, Paul Muldoon, Jane Goodall, Archie Shepp, David McCullough, Louise Arbour, Margaret MacMillan, R. Nicolas Burns, and Martha Nussbaum.[8]

History Edit
Founded by Dr. Lloyd DeLamater, a then 40-year-old US Foreign Service officer, in 1962 as the American College in Paris (ACP), the university was renamed 26 years later as The American University of Paris (AUP).[9]

ACP was initially a two-year junior college located in the American Church in Paris. Its inaugural class consisted of 100 students, many of whom were children of American service members and expatriates living in France and Europe. Fifteen part-time professors taught courses in Economics, English, Fine Arts, Government History, French, German, Spanish, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Sociology. In 1964, the first 40 students received their diplomas for two years of study, going on to complete their degree in the United States.