Study Abroad

EC-US Meta University

Each year, the School of Planning sends one or two students to each of two European partner institutions for a quarter of study and research. In return, students from the Technical University Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Hogeschool St-Lucas in Belgium study in the U.S. Through international exchange, students broaden perspectives and gain appreciation of the differences and similarities in urban development issues facing the United States and Europe, and in approaches to addressing these issues.

The faculty from each university involved, led by Associate Professor Johanna Looye, structures a curriculum for the program that addresses common concerns and takes full advantage of each partner university's strengths. Besides the benefits to students, the institutions involved gain from increased interaction with European and American partners, with the hope of developing a long-standing student-faculty exchanges and collaborative research.

In 2003, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) in the U.S. Department of Education awarded Prof. Looye, of the School of Planning, on behalf the University of Cincinnati, a $200,192 grant as the lead U.S. partner in the formation of this transatlantic exchange program in urban design and planning. Dr. David J. Edelman, School Director, is also part of the SOP faculty team working on the grant.

Study in Istanbul

Since 2004, graduate students in the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati have had the opportunity to study for a quarter at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University, while graduates of ITU's undergraduate planning program pursue MCP degrees in Cincinnati. Founded in 1773, ITU provides American students with an unparalleled opportunity to learn from both European and Middle Eastern planning traditions in one of the world's most beautiful, exotic and problemmatic urban areas, which displays both the difficulties of a modern metropolis and the struggles of a developing country.