Montserrat AUC was founded by American educator Dr.
Paul Tien in 1978. The main campus of the American University of the Caribbean was originally located on the island of
Montserrat. However, the university had to be evacuated in 1995 due to volcanic activity in the
Soufrière Hills. The campus remained closed for two years, until it was finally destroyed by
pyroclastic flow from the volcano in 1997.
St. Maarten AUC purchased a parcel of land in the village of Cupecoy on the
Dutch side of
St. Martin and construction of a permanent campus began in July 1996. The new campus opened on 1 May 1998. AUC's new campus consists of teaching and learning facilities featuring classrooms and laboratories, an imaging
anatomy lab, a
microbiology lab, and a
medical library. The school was purchased by
Adtalem Global Education in 2011 for $235 million. The current dean of AUC is Mark Rosenberg.
Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma struck Sint Maarten on September 5 and 6 2017 and the AUC campus, including the dormitories, suffered minor damage. Classes had to be canceled and all students were evacuated off the island of Sint Maarten, as the island attempted to restore basic services. According to the AUC's official hurricane update page, students were sheltered in a building that was engineered and designed to withstand a category 5 hurricane (Building 2). Supplies were distributed to sheltered students, colleagues, and loved ones in the storm's aftermath. Several residences, where students were staying, were "completely destroyed--and food and water is scarce", according to the
CBC. The school arranged for students to start the next semester on September 29, 2017, having made an arrangements with a North West England university (
University of Central Lancashire) to share their facilities until students were able to return to the Sint Maarten campus. ==Curriculum==