The seven sectors better reflect how departments operate now. Two changes in particular have prompted such a system. Departments are more interdisciplinary, so knowledge crosses discipline boundaries much more today. And department courses, Peterman said, are more likely to offer a wider range of knowledge. Psychology, for example, is represented in Living World, Science Studies, and two other sectors.
Philosophy has a presence in a number of sectors.
Likewise, Harvard has a complex set of general college requirements that present students with choices in areas such as Moral Reasoning, Social Analysis and Quantitative Reasoning. Other national trends are reflected in the Duke curriculum. Internationalization is an emphasis in nearly all curriculums, both through encouragement of foreign language skills and cross-cultural study. Still, in most cases those curriculums with a foreign language requirement allow students to place out of classroom study through either Advance Placement or a diagnostic test. But the movement is toward requiring some kind of course work in foreign languages.