Delivered in large-lecture format, Freshman Forums are offered in three core themes: ability cultivation, career exploration, and life education.
Organized by faculty teams, each forum features a curated series of lectures centered around its core theme. Students will engage with topics such as self-exploration and philosophical thinking while cultivating core competencies in civic engagement. Students are encouraged to design forward-looking personal learning blueprints, consolidating their life goals and equipping themselves with abilities transferable to workplaces.
Freshman Forums are conducted in large classes, and all undergraduate students, freshmen or not, are welcome to join. Instructors retain the flexibility to determine grading rubrics based on class participation, written reports, or oral presentations, and the courses will be graded on a pass/no pass basis.
➡️ Freshman Forum Course Catalog
Established in the academic year 2008, Freshman Seminars are designed to introduce campus culture to first-year students. Guided by faculty mentors in class, students are supported as they adapt to the new environment, paving the way for their learning journeys. These instructor-curated seminars cover a diverse range of topics and discussions, requiring no prior background knowledge, specialized expertise, or course prerequisites. To ensure high-quality student-faculty interaction and enable students to build networks outside their home departments, enrollment is capped at 25 seats per class in principle.
To build a warm, comfortable, and relaxing space where students can truly feel part of a community, we sometimes host Freshman Seminars outside the standard classroom. Learning can take place anywhere suitable on campus, including dormitories! (Note: Even if a seminar meets inside a gender-specific dormitory, students of all genders are still welcome to participate.)
Instructors retain the flexibility to determine grading rubrics based on class participation, written reports, or oral presentations, and the courses will be graded on a pass/no pass basis. Students who pass will earn two credits.
To accommodate as many freshmen as possible, Freshman Seminars are open exclusively to first-year undergraduate students of the University. Freshmen may take only one Freshman Seminar per semester. In the second semester, priority enrollment is granted to freshmen who have not yet taken a Freshman Seminar.
➡️ Freshman Seminar Course Catalog