The Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum: An American Liberal Arts Foundation for Lifelong Learning

What is the Core Curriculum?

Fulbright’s Core Curriculum serves as a foundational introduction to the American education.

In your first two or three semesters, you will take four foundational courses designed to ignite new ways of thinking and learning, build essential skills, and connect you to Fulbright’s intellectual community.

Team-designed and taught by our dedicated faculty, these courses encourage you to ask questions, construct arguments, and take risks. Regardless of background, students will encounter something unfamiliar and unknown in the Core, confronting their own gaps—by design. You will be challenged to step outside your comfort zone and develop the essential curiosity, versatility, and resilience of a liberal arts education.

This broad preparation empowers you to confidently pursue intellectual paths throughout your academic journey and beyond, preparing you for a lifetime of opportunities.

The Core Curriculum: Structure and Content

In Fulbright’s Core Curriculum, three of the four foundational courses are fixed. Global Humanities and Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society develop your abilities in academic writing, critical reading, active listening, and collaborative discussion. Design and Systems Thinking, taught by our Engineering faculty, guides you through a product design cycle, enhancing your real-life problem-solving and project management skills.

Your fourth course can be chosen from Quantitative Understanding and Empirical Scientific Thinking (QUEST), a group of four courses: Quantitative Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry, Programming for Data Science and Visualization, and Introduction to Statistics. While each QUEST course has a distinct focus, all introduce data literacy, statistical awareness, basic coding, and the formulation of quantitative inquiries along with methods for addressing them.

These courses are designed to be accessible to all students, and you’ll receive support from teaching faculty, peer tutors, and Learning Support specialists through office hours, tutoring sessions, and dedicated workshops.

The Core Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Core Curriculum, students will be able to:

Demonstrate global awareness and respect for diverse perspectives
Locate and critically analyze information and present evidence-based arguments in written and oral forms
Formulate quantitative inquiries and apply appropriate mathematical, statistical, or scientific methods to answer them
Apply a systematic framework to analyze and address theoretical and practical issues.
Demonstrate creative, collaborative, and problem-solving ability.

Sample First-Year Course List

Semester 1

Global Humanities*
Design and Systems Thinking
Exploratory Course
Exploratory Course

Semester 2

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society
A Course in QUEST
Exploratory Course
Exploratory Course

Typically, students are required to register for four courses per semester.

The Core and Beyond: Community of Learning

Fulbright’s Core Curriculum fosters active learning through small group discussions, collaborative projects, and group presentations, empowering you to develop effective teamwork skills. This shared foundation not only connects you with your peers but also with Fulbright alumni.

Exposure to faculty from diverse disciplines helps guide your choice of Exploratory courses and informs your major decision at the end of your second year.

The Core Curriculum creates a shared experience of growth, discovery, and collaboration between faculty and students. This focused introduction to an American education cultivates your critical thinking and builds a strong skills foundation, enriching Fulbright’s intellectual community. The questions, values, and skills you develop in the Core support a lifelong journey of learning and foster lasting connections with Fulbright faculty, students, and alumni.

Course Coordinators

Dr. Ian Kalman is a socio-cultural anthropologist whose research looks at the complex interplay between global structures of law and technology and the subjectivities of interpersonal interactions...

Ian Kalman, Course Coordinator for Global HumanitiesSee more

After earning his MA in International Politics from Fudan University with the United Board (UBCHEA) fellowship grants, Dr. Trung pursued further studies at the University of Virginia under the Harvard-Yenching Institute’s Doctoral Fellowship...

Nguyen Thanh Trung, Course Coordinator for Modern Vietnamese Culture and SocietySee more

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Dr. Tran Vinh Linh is a Vietnamese mathematician with a passion for Liberal Arts education. He is interested in Applied mathematics with a focus on Applied Probability...

Tran Vinh Linh, Course Coordinator for Quantitative Understanding and Empirical Scientific ThinkingSee more

Design and Systems Thinking

With us, you’ll learn across the Fulbright Core how transformations have happened in human history – transformations in thought, in social structures, and in individual lives. You’ll also see how transformations happen in nature and how human intervention transforms the natural world. But what about transformation that humans create through intentional design?

This might be a new mask that filters air in a superior manner, a drone that can deliver medicines to remote parts of the country faster than any vehicle, or an app that allows you to create new music depending on your mood.

In this course, we showcase how innovation is linked to rigorous scientific, mathematical, and engineering methods, with an emphasis on teamwork and hands-on experience. You may take this as an entry point into the deeper study of design and engineering, or apply what you learn in this introductory course to the understanding of social and economic systems, to creative fabrication in the fine arts, or to the design and development of a start-up company in collaboration with Fulbright’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

This course embraces both the art and science of creation, instilling the confidence to experiment, sometimes to fail, but ultimately to prevail in designing and building a better future.

Design and Systems Thinking introduces the principles, processes, and tools of systems thinking and design thinking that are used to identify and generate solutions to frictions in our society. The building blocks to understand systems and to approach the designing process include: how ethnographic observation can be used to frame and observe real-world challenges from the consumer’s perspective; an introduction to systems thinking to understand how challenges exist in a broader context; design thinking, enabling a structured approach to developing solutions and concepts; prototyping of physical products and designs; and key engineering concepts that enable concepts to become reality.

This course employs project-based learning among teams of students to identify problems, specify client, consumer, or societal needs, and design a system answering those needs. This process includes defining the product’s features and specifications, decomposing it into components, integrating it into an environment, building it, and then validating and verifying its results.

For example, teams may create elements of a smart home like automatic lighting and watering, or an Internet of Things (IoT) system for drought monitoring and early warning, or an automatic hand sanitizer. They will use modules, materials, tools, and facilities available in the market or in the Fulbright Maker Space to prototype these systems. In the process, they will develop a basic command of agile methods used in project management, learn basic modern fabrication skills, and practice critical thinking, including an understanding of constraints, negotiating between options, and examining social and environmental impact.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Articulate and show an understanding of the key design and engineering processes that have delivered some of the world’s most iconic products and solutions (e.g. the DJI Mavic Air drone, the Razer Basilisk, or the Tata Nano).
Identify and set in context some of Vietnam’s design innovations (e.g. the Zalo app or the VinFast Luxe).
Understand and practice the tools and principles of system thinking (e.g. the Iceberg model) and design thinking.
Use a structured approach to identify and explain a market friction and an associated opportunity.
Define the requirements of potential solutions and the quantitative and qualitative specifications of a system, with consideration for technical, safety, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
Decompose a system into deterministic components, explain the functions of each component separately, explain how the components interact with each other and behave when integrated as a whole system.
Analyze how a system works within its environment.
Build a working prototype for a designed system based on the modules and materials available in the market.
Make decisions based on engineering judgement when encountering uncertainty or the need for tradeoffs, i.e. when several options or solutions are available.
Develop and conduct appropriate experimentation and then analyze results to verify whether a prototyped system meets defined requirements and specifications.

Global Humanities

Across time and geographies, humans have drawn upon arts and literature to make sense of the world we live in. Global Humanities is a brief introduction to texts which have helped shape human consciousness and history. Within the limitations of the semester and the wealth of texts available, we consider important ideas, arguments, and periods in global history. The first unit, “Classical Epistemologies” looks at early inquiries into what is knowledge, and how we know what we know. The second unit, “Power, and the Making of the Modern World” looks to the often unequal reshaping of social and political boundaries in the age of nation building, colonization. The third unit, “Making the Future” draws attention to how authors have considered the world we have built and are continuing to build, and how to do better moving forward. In addition to reading important texts and films, students will be introduced to and trained in a wide variety of academic skills which are essential for their future journey at Fulbright and beyond.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Reading Skills: Develop skills in reading texts, including the ability to: read texts critically, charitably, and with awareness of historical context.
Writing Skills: Develop skills in academic writing such as: writing a successful thesis statement, structuring an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion, and using relevant textual evidence to support one’s arguments in the form of quotes.
Oral Communication Skills: Develop oral communication skills including: active listening, articulation and justification of one’s ideas.
Cultivating an appreciation for intellectual exploration, intellectual community, and applying diverse ideas to one’s own life.

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society

This course invites you to discover a wide array of ideas, issues, and perspectives encountered in modern Vietnam, ranging from socio-cultural, politico-economic aspects to questions of nationalism, international relations, and globalization when examining the country in its regional and global contexts.
Throughout the course, you’ll be introduced to basic concepts in the social sciences and humanities that will illuminate your social environments as well as urge you to assess others’ interpretations with an open, but critical mind. The course will raise your socio-political awareness and cultural identity, encouraging engaged citizenship within local, regional, and global communities.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Form a multidimensional view of contemporary Vietnam and its past using the foundational methods and concepts of history, literature, philosophy, and political science.
Understand Vietnamese culture and society in Vietnam and beyond with an open, but critical mind.
Identify problems critically from multiple discourses, form strong arguments based on substantial evidence, and solve the identified problems using logic, analysis, and interpretation.
Conduct an appropriate research project independently or with a team.
Present the results of the research project convincingly and creatively in various formats, such as written essays, oral presentations, film, and website design.
Recognize and respect the diversity of communities and cultures within Vietnam.
Strengthen civic identity as both an engaged citizen of Vietnam and the world.

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Quantitative Understanding and Empirical Scientific Thinking (QUEST) is a group of four courses: Quantitative Reasoning, Scientific Inquiry, Programming for Data Science and Visualization, and Introduction to Statistics. Students are required to take only one course from this group.

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Digital technology transforms how we live: from how we travel, to what we use for money, to how we swipe to find love. At the heart of these social, cultural, and economic changes lie mathematics and computer science. But how do we gather the information, interpret the data, and construct the algorithms that drive these advances and affect our lives?

Quantitative Reasoning in a Digital Age not only develops foundational skills in mathematics and computer science, but demonstrates how computer programming and algorithmic thinking inform issues in fields as diverse as economics, psychology, history, and philosophy. Structured around project-based teamwork, you’ll examine how the toolkit of computational thinking can model human behavior and address real-world problems in business, education, public health, government, and other sectors.

By understanding how quantitative reasoning affects modern society and modern society often affects our quantitative reasoning, you’ll learn to question your own assumptions about data big and small and think critically about the abundance of quantitative information that defines the decisions we make.

Scientific Inquiry

From the smallest atom to the most distant star, what do we know about our universe, and how do we know it? Scientific Inquiry unlocks the door to discovery and explores how humans acquired our fundamental knowledge of the sciences.
This course introduces you to the scientific method through engagement with groundbreaking experiments from the likes of Galileo, Newton, and Pavlov and provides hands-on experience with projects that reflect everyday, real-world problems relevant to fields such as biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and neuroscience.
Through this project and inquiry-based approach to answering scientific questions across the various disciplines of the natural sciences, we will understand how to make, interpret, and challenge scientific claims rigorously and responsibly. Creating connections across the Fulbright core curriculum, this course emphasizes how scientific inquiry informs public debates past and present, challenging you not only to understand the world from a scientific perspective, but also to understand how our scientific perspective is shaped and informed by the world.

Programming for Data Science and Visualization

The Programming for Data Science and Visualization course isn’t just about turning numbers into charts; it’s your key to unlocking the transformative power of data. This course transcends your major, equipping you with the skills of a data analyst. Imagine crafting informative visualizations that bring data to life, revealing hidden patterns and trends. The course delves into data visualization, fostering a critical approach to how data is generated, analyzed, and used. By mastering key concepts and techniques, you’ll be able to create compelling data stories that not only expose hidden insights but also inform effective data-driven decisions. The exploration goes beyond the visual. With Python’s extensive libraries, you can extract valuable insights and make informed decisions in any field. To further elevate your understanding, the course provides a glimpse into the fascinating world of machine learning algorithms – the cornerstone of data science and artificial intelligence. This introduction equips you to explore these dynamic fields and harness their power to tackle real-world challenges with innovative solutions. This course isn’t just about data; it’s your passport to a future powered by insights. Unlock the secrets hidden within information and become a leader in the data-driven revolution.

Introduction to Statistics

How do we know which Covid-19 vaccine is the best? Which combination of social policies could help promoting start-up companies? These questions could be answered with the help of Data analysis. Social scientists need to process survey results. Natural scientists want to analyze experiment’s outcomes. Modern statistical methods and state of the art computing software can help finding valuable information from a large and confusing data set. This course will provide students with basic statistics concepts and methods, as well as practical coding skill in modern programming languagues. Students will be able to describe and find characteristic of the data, explore, and confirm relationship among data, and draw answer for questions from their own discipline via hand-on experience with various projects. Some main topics are data visualization, descriptive statistics, parameter estimation, hypothesis testing, ANOVA.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Formulate research questions and collect appropriate data to address these questions.
Critically examine and identify patterns in quantitative data.
Clearly communicate quantitative information.
Effectively work in teams.

Scientific Inquiry

Demonstrate understanding of the historical development of key scientific ideas through written communication.
Demonstrate ability to critically evaluate scientific claims through written and/or spoken communication.
Demonstrate ability to apply the process of scientific inquiry through forming scientific questions & hypotheses as well as collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data.
Demonstrate basic competence in quantitative data analysis by applying the relevant skills to a project.
Understand the commonalities and differences between science and other areas of culture.

Programming for Data Science and Visualization

Interpret datasets and create culturally aware, evidence-based visualizations and narratives.
Use Python and data science tools collaboratively to design innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Apply quantitative models and machine learning to answer complex inquiries with statistical and computational methods.

Introduction to Statistics

Demonstrate an understanding of descriptive statistics, including data collection and summarization using appropriate graphical and numerical techniques.
Apply random sampling methods to effectively simulate sampling distributions.
Conduct inferential statistical analysis, including hypothesis testing and constructing confidence intervals to estimate population parameters and test hypotheses.
Design and implement suitable statistical models and testing for real-world problems using computer programming.

Featured Fulbrighters

Voices from our majors

“One of the aims of Global Humanities is to de-exceptionalize the Vietnamese experience by showing our students how similar the experiences of very different people have been around the world and throughout time. Our students can build empathy with other cultures and see the shared human experience of change.”

Dr. Andrew Bellisari, a faculty member in History and one of the main instructors of this course.

“I realize that my knowledge about the Vietnamese culture and society needs to be challenged, as it is still limited. This course encourages me to seek new knowledge, new concepts. At the same time, it helps me realize the national identity that defines Vietnamese people. It’s important to understand that national identity. And I realize I won’t be lost in this modern world.”

Quach Minh Phat, Alumnus, Class 2024

“Not your typical engineering class. There was no rigid structure to follow. Instead, things were very flexible, focused more on self-exploration. Specific fields of knowledge, or task forces, were assigned to be peer-taught. The instructors did not tell us what to do or what to think, but rather encouraged us to learn the techniques by ourselves.”

Thai Thanh Mi, Alumna, Class 2023

Connect with us

Discover the future awaiting
you at Fulbright

Learn how to apply

The Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum: An American Liberal Arts Foundation for Lifelong Learning

What is the Core Curriculum?

Fulbright’s Core Curriculum serves as a foundational introduction to the American education.

This broad preparation empowers you to confidently pursue intellectual paths throughout your academic journey and beyond, preparing you for a lifetime of opportunities.

The Core Curriculum: Structure and Content

The Core Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Core Curriculum, students will be able to:

Demonstrate global awareness and respect for diverse perspectives
Locate and critically analyze information and present evidence-based arguments in written and oral forms
Formulate quantitative inquiries and apply appropriate mathematical, statistical, or scientific methods to answer them
Apply a systematic framework to analyze and address theoretical and practical issues.
Demonstrate creative, collaborative, and problem-solving ability.

Sample First-Year Course List

Semester 1

Global Humanities*
Design and Systems Thinking
Exploratory Course
Exploratory Course

Semester 2

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society
A Course in QUEST
Exploratory Course
Exploratory Course

Typically, students are required to register for four courses per semester.

The Core and Beyond: Community of Learning

Exposure to faculty from diverse disciplines helps guide your choice of Exploratory courses and informs your major decision at the end of your second year.

Course Coordinators

Dr. Ian Kalman is a socio-cultural anthropologist whose research looks at the complex interplay between global structures of law and technology and the subjectivities of interpersonal interactions...

Ian Kalman, Course Coordinator for Global HumanitiesSee more

Nguyen Thanh Trung, Course Coordinator for Modern Vietnamese Culture and SocietySee more

$news$

Dr. Tran Vinh Linh is a Vietnamese mathematician with a passion for Liberal Arts education. He is interested in Applied mathematics with a focus on Applied Probability...

Tran Vinh Linh, Course Coordinator for Quantitative Understanding and Empirical Scientific ThinkingSee more

Design and Systems Thinking

This course embraces both the art and science of creation, instilling the confidence to experiment, sometimes to fail, but ultimately to prevail in designing and building a better future.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Articulate and show an understanding of the key design and engineering processes that have delivered some of the world’s most iconic products and solutions (e.g. the DJI Mavic Air drone, the Razer Basilisk, or the Tata Nano).
Identify and set in context some of Vietnam’s design innovations (e.g. the Zalo app or the VinFast Luxe).
Understand and practice the tools and principles of system thinking (e.g. the Iceberg model) and design thinking.
Use a structured approach to identify and explain a market friction and an associated opportunity.
Define the requirements of potential solutions and the quantitative and qualitative specifications of a system, with consideration for technical, safety, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
Decompose a system into deterministic components, explain the functions of each component separately, explain how the components interact with each other and behave when integrated as a whole system.
Analyze how a system works within its environment.
Build a working prototype for a designed system based on the modules and materials available in the market.
Make decisions based on engineering judgement when encountering uncertainty or the need for tradeoffs, i.e. when several options or solutions are available.
Develop and conduct appropriate experimentation and then analyze results to verify whether a prototyped system meets defined requirements and specifications.

Global Humanities

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Reading Skills: Develop skills in reading texts, including the ability to: read texts critically, charitably, and with awareness of historical context.
Writing Skills: Develop skills in academic writing such as: writing a successful thesis statement, structuring an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion, and using relevant textual evidence to support one’s arguments in the form of quotes.
Oral Communication Skills: Develop oral communication skills including: active listening, articulation and justification of one’s ideas.
Cultivating an appreciation for intellectual exploration, intellectual community, and applying diverse ideas to one’s own life.

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Form a multidimensional view of contemporary Vietnam and its past using the foundational methods and concepts of history, literature, philosophy, and political science.
Understand Vietnamese culture and society in Vietnam and beyond with an open, but critical mind.
Identify problems critically from multiple discourses, form strong arguments based on substantial evidence, and solve the identified problems using logic, analysis, and interpretation.
Conduct an appropriate research project independently or with a team.
Present the results of the research project convincingly and creatively in various formats, such as written essays, oral presentations, film, and website design.
Recognize and respect the diversity of communities and cultures within Vietnam.
Strengthen civic identity as both an engaged citizen of Vietnam and the world.

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Scientific Inquiry

Programming for Data Science and Visualization

Introduction to Statistics

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Formulate research questions and collect appropriate data to address these questions.
Critically examine and identify patterns in quantitative data.
Clearly communicate quantitative information.
Effectively work in teams.

Scientific Inquiry

Demonstrate understanding of the historical development of key scientific ideas through written communication.
Demonstrate ability to critically evaluate scientific claims through written and/or spoken communication.
Demonstrate ability to apply the process of scientific inquiry through forming scientific questions & hypotheses as well as collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data.
Demonstrate basic competence in quantitative data analysis by applying the relevant skills to a project.
Understand the commonalities and differences between science and other areas of culture.

Programming for Data Science and Visualization

Interpret datasets and create culturally aware, evidence-based visualizations and narratives.
Use Python and data science tools collaboratively to design innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Apply quantitative models and machine learning to answer complex inquiries with statistical and computational methods.

Introduction to Statistics

Demonstrate an understanding of descriptive statistics, including data collection and summarization using appropriate graphical and numerical techniques.
Apply random sampling methods to effectively simulate sampling distributions.
Conduct inferential statistical analysis, including hypothesis testing and constructing confidence intervals to estimate population parameters and test hypotheses.
Design and implement suitable statistical models and testing for real-world problems using computer programming.

Featured Fulbrighters

Voices from our majors

Dr. Andrew Bellisari, a faculty member in History and one of the main instructors of this course.

Quach Minh Phat, Alumnus, Class 2024

Thai Thanh Mi, Alumna, Class 2023

Connect with us

Discover the future awaiting
you at Fulbright

Learn how to apply

The Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum: An American Liberal Arts Foundation for Lifelong Learning

What is the Core Curriculum?

The Core Curriculum: Structure and Content

The Core Learning Outcomes

Sample First-Year Course List

The Core and Beyond: Community of Learning

Course Coordinators

Design and Systems Thinking

Global Humanities

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Voices from our majors

Connect with us

Discover the future awaiting you at Fulbright

The Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum: An American Liberal Arts Foundation for Lifelong Learning

What is the Core Curriculum?

The Core Curriculum: Structure and Content

The Core Learning Outcomes

Sample First-Year Course List

The Core and Beyond: Community of Learning

Course Coordinators

Design and Systems Thinking

Global Humanities

Modern Vietnamese Culture and Society

Quantitative Reasoning For A Digital Age

Voices from our majors

Connect with us

Discover the future awaiting you at Fulbright

Discover the future awaiting
you at Fulbright

Discover the future awaiting
you at Fulbright