Yale NUS College

Common Curriculum

The Common Curriculum is an essential part of the academic life at Yale-NUS. Courses are created to be multi-disciplinary and to drive critical, creative and active thinking. The Common Curriculum engineered at Yale-NUS includes the following:

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  Literature and Humanities 1 and 2

  In this two-semester course, students explore myths and stories across time and space to understand how writers represented and shaped the worlds in which they and their audience lived. The course aims to cultivate the cultural, aesthetic and rhetorical literacy needed to become a cosmopolitan reader of human experience.

  In this two-semester course, students explore myths and stories across time and space to understand how writers represented and shaped the worlds in which they and their audience lived. The course aims to cultivate the cultural, aesthetic and rhetorical literacy needed to become a cosmopolitan reader of human experience.

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  Philosophy and Political Thought 1 and 2

  This course, taught over two semesters, introduces students to the greatest figures in the history of philosophy and political thought. It addresses fundamental and recurring questions about the nature of reality and how we know it – the nature of the self, consciousness, the gods or God, happiness, moral conduct, and the character of law,...

  This course, taught over two semesters, introduces students to the greatest figures in the history of philosophy and political thought. It addresses fundamental and recurring questions about the nature of reality and how we know it – the nature of the self, consciousness, the gods or God, happiness, moral conduct, and the character of law,...

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  Comparative Social Inquiry

  Human beings are inherently social. We exist in families, tribes, cities and nations, work in organisations, and interact through networks. We are simultaneously the product and shapers of these norms and institutions. This course investigates these connections and raises awareness of social forces that determine how we live.

  Human beings are inherently social. We exist in families, tribes, cities and nations, work in organisations, and interact through networks. We are simultaneously the product and shapers of these norms and institutions. This course investigates these connections and raises awareness of social forces that determine how we live.

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  Quantitative Reasoning

  This course aims to develop skills and confidence in various kinds of mathematical reasoning with the aim of helping students become critical and informed readers of quantitative data. The course relies on team-based learning to ensure that students who bring diverse talents and backgrounds to the course can learn together and from one another. ...

  This course aims to develop skills and confidence in various kinds of mathematical reasoning with the aim of helping students become critical and informed readers of quantitative data. The course relies on team-based learning to ensure that students who bring diverse talents and backgrounds to the course can learn together and from one another. ...

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  Scientific Inquiry 1 and 2

  Science is often thought of as a collection of “facts” about our world. In reality, our knowledge of the world is rarely definitively correct, but our understanding has progressed to an extent that is “asymptotically true”. This course examines the process of how we have arrived at our understanding of the world today.

  Science is often thought of as a collection of “facts” about our world. In reality, our knowledge of the world is rarely definitively correct, but our understanding has progressed to an extent that is “asymptotically true”. This course examines the process of how we have arrived at our understanding of the world today.

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  Modern Social Thought

  Students are introduced to the foundational figures of modern social theory, including familiar names such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Contemporary social issues including the feminist revolution and postcolonialism are also encountered in the course to assist students in acquiring a sense of the ethical implications of different theoretical ap...

  Students are introduced to the foundational figures of modern social theory, including familiar names such as Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Contemporary social issues including the feminist revolution and postcolonialism are also encountered in the course to assist students in acquiring a sense of the ethical implications of different theoretical ap...

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  Historical Immersion

  This series of courses stands in contrast with the rest of Common Curriculum, which ranges widely across space and times. Historical Immersion courses focus on a particular historical moment and allow students to dive deep into what was happening in that moment – for example, in the age of the emperor Nero in ancient Rome,...

  This series of courses stands in contrast with the rest of Common Curriculum, which ranges widely across space and times. Historical Immersion courses focus on a particular historical moment and allow students to dive deep into what was happening in that moment – for example, in the age of the emperor Nero in ancient Rome,...

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