From its beginnings, and as stated in its statement of core values, the University of Navarra promotes the development of the personality of its students in all its dimensions; it aims to contribute to their scientific, humanistic and Christiantraining ; it fosters in students a sense of solidarity and fraternity that is embodied in works of service to society, primarily through the exercise of their own profession; educates in a critical capacity and in a knowledge of the problems that allow each one to freely form their own convictions in a legitimate pluralism; aims to be a place of coexistence, study and friendship, for people of diverse political and ideological tendencies.

All students, regardless of the Degree they have studied, will be citizens who will have to make decisions concerning the lives of other people. They will be involved in processes of cultural, religious, political, demographic, technological and even global change. They will have to interpret cultural expressions, and face ethical dilemmas in their lives staff and professionally.

For this reason, the University of Navarra includes among its aims -following the best university traditions- not only the research and professional preparation, but also the integraltraining of the students, so that they receive the necessary support to develop their personality in all its dimensions (cfr. statement of core values, n. 2) and to face, in an informed and reflective way, the challenges of today's world.

Furthermore, the Christian identity of the University encourages the task of professor and research to raise "fundamental questions about the human being and the world" and to seek the "progress of the sciences, relying on the light of faith and reason" (statement of core values, n. 5).

In this sense, the Study program of each Degree includes different types of subjects, which can be divided into two groups:

• Subjects specific to each Degree, which include both specific subjects (e.g.: Econometrics, Civil Law, Ontology, Anatomy, etc.), and other subjects that deal directly with the assumptions and implications of the discipline (e.g.: "History of Medicine", "Professional Deontology", "Philosophy of the Economics", "Bioethics", etc.).

• Core Curriculumwhich is common to all Degrees and includes a series of compulsory subjects of training general. These subjects offer the teaching that the University of Navarra considers that all its students should acquire, regardless of the Degree they are studying. At present, it consists of 18 ECTS credit of the following subjects: Anthropology (6 ECTS credit), Ethics (6 ECTS credit) and a 6 module of 6 ECTS credit called "Cultural Keys" which is made up of several optional subjects offered by each School -after their approval as Core Curriculum subjects - from which the student must choose two out of 3 ECTS credit. One of the electives always offered is "Introduction to Christianity".

The goal of the Core Curriculum is to enable students to be in a position to:

• To achieve intellectual maturity through study and reflection on the great questions of human existence.

• To arrive by themselves at a global interpretation of reality, which gives meaning to their lives and offers a framework of integration for the rest of the subjects they study in their Degree (cfr. statement of core values, n. 5).

• Develop their judgement and intellectual freedom.

• Cultivate their aesthetic and moral sensitivity through art, literature and intellectual dialogue.

• To discover the truth, the good and the beauty both of the world and of the person, who, being created in the image of God, is endowed with infinite dignity (cf. statement of core values n. 4).

Although at the University of Navarra all the activity professor promotes the intellectual training of the students from a Christian perspective, the subjects of the Core Curriculum are specifically and immediately oriented towards this purpose and, therefore, constitute the framework of the global formative project of each Study program. The aim is to highlight the connection between what is studied at the University and society, enabling students to put all the teaching (professional and staff) they acquire in the context of the people they are, the professionals they are going to be and the life they will develop once they have completed their programs of study.

The specificity of the subjects of Core Curriculum refers both to their content and methodology, as explained below.

In terms of content, the subjects on Core Curriculum encourage students to be open to other disciplines. They therefore deal with branches of knowledge ("Social and Legal Sciences", "Humanities", "Sciences and Techniques") other than those of Degree that the students are studying or, at least, with subjects of training in general, other than the subjects of each Study program. This openness facilitates the acquisition of an integrating vision of knowledge, which captures the unity of truth, compatible with the methodological diversity of each science. Although the interdisciplinary approach is not common in our university tradition, it has the clear benefit of facilitating intellectual dialogue and helps to avoid reductionist or dogmatic approaches.

The Core Curriculum of the University of Navarra is focused on the Western Christian intellectual tradition, considered in its Hebrew roots, its Greco-Latin origins and its later development to the present day. In this way, financial aid students are taught to understand and judge their own tradition as well as others. This approach is considered to foster intellectual freedom in students, since it encourages the development of a historical awareness that enables them to discover and judge the cultural presuppositions of their own way of thinking.

They can be content of these subjects:

• The great works of literature and thought.

• Artistic manifestations, as an expression of the great questions of human life and as access to beauty, truth and the good of the world.

• The achievements of science, introducing student to the scientific view of the world and its current challenges.

• Theological, anthropological or ethical subjects that expound the Christian worldview, as well as subjects that deal specifically with the relationship between Christianity and a particular science.

Although for reasons of time and the nature of their content, the subjects of Core Curriculum are an introduction to the subjects studied, they must avoid superficiality, going to the essentials. In this sense, they must place the student in front of the complexity and greatness of the issues dealt with, avoiding simplifications.

The goal is for students to develop intellectual habits (mainly critical reading, reflection and argumentation), rather than specific knowledge of a subject or applied skills (which can be acquired through instrumental subjects).

The aim is for students to develop the ability to think and argue with rigour and maturity. It is therefore crucial that these subjects encourage student participation and involvement. Seminars on reading and discussion of texts are an excellent way of achieving this goal. In addition, it is recommended that students carry out short essays, oral presentations or directed work, individually or in group, in which they demonstrate their ability to understand a text, to reason logically and analytically and to present their ideas in an orderly fashion.

One method that has proved particularly effective - and with a long tradition in many universities - is the "Great Books Courses" (reading and discussion in small groups of great works of literature and thought, where students must write and present argumentative essays). However, the University of Navarra's Core Curriculum does not propose a single method for teaching.

One of the main challenges consists of knowing how to combine the academic rigour, typical of any university teaching , with the existential approach characteristic of the subjects being studied, so that students feel personally challenged by the content and the development of the classes.

For all these reasons, the teaching in the Core Curriculum requires specific preparation of the academic staff in charge of it teaching. The experience is that the real training that these subjects provide depends to a large extent on the people who teach them. Connecting intellectually with students in the subjects of Core Curriculum is a difficult task which requires not only knowledge but also specific qualities from the teacher. The teacher must be able to make himself/herself understood, taking into account the mentality of the students, who in many cases start from intellectual coordinates different from his/her own. It is a question of creating a climate of freedom at classroom that will lead to healthy discussion with the students, trying to "think together" and "guide" reasoning in the shared search for answers to the problems posed.