Four leading European universities (UPC Barcelona, TU Delft, KU Leuven and IUAV Venice)* have designed a joint European Postgraduate Masters Programme in Urbanism: Strategies and Design for Cities and Territories, to be offered as of September 2005. The 4-semester course will constitute an international platform for urban debate.

Urbanism is closely related to the rapid transformations being undergone by society and is continuously elaborating new interpretations, strategies and designs in response. Increasingly influenced by emerging individual and collective imageries, technologies and economies, urbanism, along with other disciplines, provides society with conceptual and operational tools for understanding change, revealing potential and possibilities, and producing visions and projects.

The new joint programme is a collaborative effort. It intends to bring together the best components of existing curricula and to offer a top-ranking professional degree by combining the specificity and strengths of each of the participating Schools.

The Masters course is design-oriented and affirms the role of design in the knowledge process, while integrating the different levels of scale. Learning by doing, research through design, and the project as knowledge producer constitute the key concerns and standpoints of the European post-graduate Masters degree, which is also aimed at enhancing a network of experiences and critical thinking.

Design studio work forms the core of the programme and will afford the main themes related to transformation in cities and territories. Joint workshops and studio reviews complement the specific expertise of the participating Universities. The design studios will offer an overview of the state of contemporary cities and territories providing an international platform for debate in the field of urbanism.

Appropriate and qualified students are invited to apply by 1st April 2005.

Study Programme
The consortium offers the two-year postgraduate Masters programme (120 ECTS), consisting of three core semesters (30 ECTS/semester) and one final semester for a written or design thesis (30 ECTS). In each core semester, several cutting-edge courses are conducted where design studio is seen as the programme’s backbone.

International Joint Degree
The joint programme aims to produce highly-qualified university-trained urban designers/planners at the postgraduate Masters level. The Consortium, in an agreement signed by the four participating universities, guarantees the joint diploma of EUROPEAN POSTGRADUATE MASTERS IN URBANISM (Strategies and Design for Cities and Territories) to anyone who successfully completes his or her studies in this joint programme.

Student Mobility
Course participants must fulfil a minimum of 60 ECTS from the hosting university and 30 ECTS (minimum) should be obtained from another counterpart university. Mobility begins in the second semester and any move may be prolonged to include a third semester to other counterpart university.

Admission Criteria
Academic Background: applicants with an Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or Urban Regional Planning and Design degree may enrol to this joint programme. (2) Previous Degree Qualification: applicant should have at least one Masters degree or at least a five-year Bachelors professional degree. (3) Previous Grade Qualifications: A Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for previous studies of at least 75 per cent of the scale maximum). However, If the CGPA doesn’t meet with the requirement, Educational Board will examine a specific results/marks/point obtained from their academic transcript on the specific assignments, design studio or final thesis. (4)Previous Project Portfolio: (theory, method, approach and design skills), Working Experience, Awards/Competitions and CV. (5) Essay: a clear and relevant essay in English (2,000 words) written by the applicant and covering the following aspects: (a) your motivation for the joint postgraduate programme; (b) why do you want to conduct this study abroad, and/or in this consortium or corresponding host university in particular; (c) reasons for choosing for counterpart university for your mobility; (d) If there are optional specialisations in the joint programme of your choice: which specialisation(s) interest you most, and why?; (e) provide three examples of thesis topics that interest you and explain your particular interest; (f) Give a short summary (maximum 250 words) of the previous thesis work or the final assignment done for your previous higher education study and state the credits and last grade. (6) Language Qualification: Except for Barcelona a Language Qualification (International TOEFL with a score of at least 550 (paper-based test) or 213 (computer-based test), or ELTS (academic version) with an overall Band score of at least 6.0) will be required.

E-enrolment
The consortium is applying E-enrolment system as a part of joint selection. The applicant can easily enter our website to fill in an electronic identifier. After submitting an e-identifier, the applicant will receive an access code and e-form for monitoring and staring the application process. The e-form also serves as a printed application form to anyone without appropriate access to Internet.

Tuition Fees
All the participating universities will charge a tuition fee of between € 2.500 (minimum) to € 3.000 (maximum) per semester. Students should pay for every semester on the basis of the number of ECTS that will be obtained in the different universities.

Language of Instruction
The courses are conducted in English, although Spanish will be used in UPC, Barcelona.

Educational Board
Miguel Corominas Ayala (UPC Barcelona), prof. eng. Bruno Dolcetta (IUAV Venezia); prof. dr. Antonio Font Arellano (UPC Barcelona); prof. dr. ir. André Loeckx (KU Leuven); prof. arch. Marcelo Mamoli (IUAV Venezia); prof. dr. ir V.J. Meijer (TU Delft); prof. dipl. Ing. Jürgen Rosemann (TU Delft); prof. dr. Joaquín Sabaté Bel (UPC Barcelona); dr. Kelly Shannon M. Arch (KU Leuven); prof. dr. ir. Marcel Smets (KU Leuven); ir. Martin W.M. van den Toorn (TU Delft); prof. dr. arch. Paola Vigano (IUAV Venezia).

Prof. dr. ir. Marcel Smets (KU Leuven, Chairman, Educational Board)
ir. Andrea Peresthu MAHS., Dipl. Urb. (TU Delft - Secretary General, Executive Board)

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* Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-ETSAB) in Barcelona, Spain; Technische Universiteit Delft (TUD) in Delft, the Netherlands; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Leuven, Belgium; Università IUAV di Venezia, in Venice, Italy.