The Architectural Study Tour is the foreign study option for architecture and interior design students who do not make the choice to study abroad for a full semester. The Architectural Study Tour is a 5-credit hour, 4-week, May-term course, typically taken following the spring term of the third year. It is a mountaintop experience in the architecture and interior design programs, where students strengthen community bonds with each other while challenging their boundaries of experience and understanding.The study tour is structured around three primary areas of learning, (i) focused, observational field-sketching and watercolor rendering, (ii) critically experiencing significant pieces and places in art & architecture history, and (iii) an engaged understanding of how the built environment impacts place, culture and cities.

The course is taught by two department faculty members each year. The teaching faculty rotate from year to year. As such the focus, content and destinations vary with each iteration of the course. Typically the course includes two weeks in Italy and two weeks in a European destination[s] of the instructors’ discretion. In addition to Italy, recent past tours have included sites and cities in France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. Future study tours may include sites farther afield.

Students should be in dialogue with their advisors as soon as their second year regarding registration and preparation for the Architectural Study Tour. Preparations, readings and sketch workshops take place throughout the academic year prior to the May-term course. An informational meeting is held near the end of each school year, outlining the scope and preparations for the following year’s course. Second year students should attend this meeting so that tuition and course costs can be anticipated in financial aid planning.

Judson architecture and interior design students may choose to study for a full semester at a foreign institution, or at a foreign site, hosted by another US institution. Listed below are schools where Judson architecture students have studied abroad in the recent past, however, we continually seek new study abroad destinations and relationships. The study abroad semester is an option for confident, independent and strong academic candidates. For most students, the semester abroad fits into the third year, spring semester of the typical four year completion plan. A decision to spend a semester abroad requires a great deal of planning and coordination, including application, costs and financial aid, course selection and transfer credits, housing, and visas. This process should begin during the spring of the second year in the program. Professor Burtelson is the primary contact for foreign semester abroad coordination.

In addition to sending out students abroad, Judson University welcomes architecture and design students from foreign schools to study for one semester in residence on our campus. These exchanges benefit the home students and the visiting students, not to mention the faculty and support staff. The department assists foreign students with course selection and logistical needs to facilitate their study at Judson University.

Architectural Institute in Prague Czech Republic	Architectural Association of London England	University College Dublin Ireland
University of the Witswatersrand South Africa	National University of Singapore Republic of Singapore	Anhalt University of Dessau Germany
École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles France	UCJC Madrid Spain	Danish Institute for Study Abroad Denmark