Architectural Institute in Prague (ARCHIP) is an English-speaking international school of architecture. The proportion of non-Czechs among ARCHIP students is more than 90% – a high level of internationalization is thus a long-term objective for us. It is also something that we bear pride in. 

As we find ourselves in an increasingly globalized world, internationalization and ability to be an attractive partner for other higher education bodies from abroad, have also become one of the key criteria of quality. We realize that and do our best to promote international cooperation with other schools bearing similar values. The Erasmus+ programme for higher education is an integral part of this effort. We appreciate the programme opportunities greatly and value the overall emphasis that the European Union puts on higher education. 

There are three levels of internationalization that ARCHIP pursues vigorously:

1. International environment within the school.

ARCHIP gradually became a home for students and teachers of more than 30 nationalities. This creates an inspirational environment where everyone shares their ideas, where different aesthetics and architectural approaches intertwine, and where students feel they are – to use an EU motto – truly united in diversity. 

Our goal naturally is to sustain and further improve the level of international environment within the school. Only that way can ARCHIP keep its unique vibe of diversity and familiarity.

2. Accessible short-term and long-term mobility.

Ever since ARCHIP was founded, students were able to benefit from short-term, small-scale mobilities that were based on cooperation with other European schools or on a passion of our teachers. This has changed once ARCHIP’s first Erasmus+ mobility grant was obtained from the national agency. The programme is not only a general platform for students willing to experience a different learning environment. It is also a tool that enables them to do that. 

ARCHIP’s international students are a specific group to convey this message to: most of them have already travelled to Prague to study architecture. Because of that, they do not perceive Erasmus+ as a new life experience which is quite a common perception among students studying in their country of origin. For that reason, we at ARCHIP try hard to focus on the educational aspect of the Erasmus+ experience, enabling our students to take a semester abroad at some of the top schools mostly in Germany, Scandinavia and the UK.

In the future, we would also like to help arrange foreign internships for our students through the Erasmus+ programme – something a talented architect-to-be needs as much as a foreign educational experience, if not even more. 

Our overall goal regarding student mobility is to convey the message that spending a semester abroad or having an internship experience from abroad is a natural thing. That way, students can benefit from experiencing a slightly different style of instruction and new architectural approaches and ideas which they can bring back to ARCHIP and, subsequently, to their future career. The gist of this message is not only applicable to students but also to teachers who can share ideas and good practice when teaching abroad or learn from guest lecturers that come to ARCHIP. 

Motivation is the key in making ARCHIP grow along with the Erasmus+ programme. We aim to keep providing the best educational opportunities to our students, using ARCHIP’s network of partner institutions and the generous programme funding. The current target is to send at least 10% of our students abroad each semester, to study or participate in an internship abroad. 

Starting 2019, we enabled our students to make use of foreign internship opportunities by securing the necessary funding. Last year, we made another step in this direction by including the possibility to receive credit for an internship and embedding a number of  internship scenarios into our study plan (summer internship, 2-month internship in summer semester, semestral internship and graduate traineeship). Studying a technical and practice-oriented field, our students have shown that the demand for internship opportunities is very high, while the study-abroad opportunities only appeal to a fraction of our students. For this reason, we are now in a process of acquiring continuous partnerships with vetted architectural studios and firms throughout Europe that would offer internships to our students on a regular basis. Starting 2022, we would like to have at least 5–10 firms to offer such opportunities to our students during the summer semester.

Last but not least, we at ARCHIP are always glad to welcome students and teachers from our partner institutions as they usually bring a fresh breeze of novelty to ARCHIP. 

3. Quality cooperation with ARCHIP’s international partners.

Building on the previously mentioned points as well as the experience and contacts of our teachers, ARCHIP strives to promote all sorts of cooperation with institutions of higher education, public administration bodies, and private architectural firms and studios. 

The focus of ARCHIP’s international activities and cooperative programmes remains in Europe. We have well-established ties with a number of architectural schools in Scandinavia which has always been the main area of interest, given the background and contacts of ARCHIP’s core teachers and staff. Apart from that, ARCHIP also has its partners in Germany, France and other countries of western Europe. Recently, we have also been engaged in promoting deeper cooperation with architectural schools in the (post-Brexit) United Kingdom, and with a number of emerging schools of architecture in central Europe and especially the Balkans.

We also enjoy long-lasting cooperation schemes that we have with higher education institutions in USA, India or China. 

Our goal regarding the promotion of international cooperation is to keep focusing on our long-term partners while deepening and improving cooperation schemes that we have with our newer partners, particularly in the United Kingdom and central and south-east Europe. More dynamic communication and a free flow of ideas have to be established in order to achieve that. Last but not least, ARCHIP teachers should also be highly motivated to undertake a cross-border project that they feel passionate about and include it in their day-to-day curriculum.

Using the unique know-how, experience and contacts of our expert staff, along with the Erasmus+ funding granted by the European Commission, we would like to sustain the highly international character of ARCHIP and promote it even further. We hope to see visible internalization progress, especially in the field of architectural internships for our students and further deepening of our portfolio of partners, by the end of 2022, which would go in line with this policy statement.