The Common Core Curriculum was jointly adopted by the Schools of Science and Liberal Arts at IUPUI in 1998. The curriculum’s structure is as follows:

1. Framework of the Basic Core (5-9 credits)
   
   • First-Year Experience (1-3 credits)
   • Junior/Senior Integrator Course (3 credits)
   • Capstone Experience (1-3 credits)
2. Core Communication Skills (9-19 credits)
   
   • Written Communication (6 credits)
   • Oral Communication (3 credits)
   • Foreign Language Proficiency (B.A. only, 10 credits)
3. Core Quantitative and Analytical Skills (6 credits)
   
   • One college-level mathematics course (beyond the level of Math 111)
   • A second course with substantial analytical content -
4. Approaches to knowledge (23-28 credits)
   These courses further address analytical thinking/intellectual depth, breadth, and adaptiveness/understanding society and culture. Courses must be taken from outside the major, in the following areas:
   
   • Natural Sciences (8-11 credits)
   • Humanities, Social Science and Comparative World Cultures (15 credits)

The understanding of ethical values and aesthetic appreciation are taught in many places across this curriculum.

The School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science each have additional degree requirements beyond the common core. These degree requirements are fully explained in the Liberal Arts bulletin and the Science bulletin. The historical development of the common core curriculum, and the fullest explanation of the rationale for it, are found in A Principled Curriculum.