Since 1977, when BYU converted two stately Victorian row-houses on Hyde Park’s northern edge into its new overseas campus, the London Centre has served as the university’s premier study abroad location in Europe. Four decades of BYU students have now called the London Centre home. When not studying, eating, or sleeping in these historic West End mansions, students have used the centre as a base for their explorations of the city, the British countryside, and beyond.
A term at the London Centre remains one of the great bargains at BYU. The program cost listed below covers not only more travel and better accommodations than most study abroad but also includes healthy, chef-prepared meals six days a week. Summer 2018 promises to be a particularly vibrant term at the London Centre, as the city will be alive with great theatre, concerts, and festivals, and the program will be led by BYU professors with extensive study abroad experience and unusual expertise in British and European literature, art, history, and culture.
Participants in this program will earn 7 credit hours toward graduation, develop close relationships with faculty mentors and their families, and tour some of the world’s greatest museums, churches, and cultural heritage sites. Within London, students will attend West End plays and musicals, encounter people and cultures from across the world, and visit such iconic sites as the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and possibly even Platform 9 ¾. Our coach trips across England, Wales, and Scotland will include stops at Stonehenge, Bath, Edinburgh, and York and take us to study Austen at her Hampshire cottage, Shakespeare along the banks of the Avon, the Brontë sisters amid the Yorkshire moors, early Mormon converts in Preston, the Pre-Raphaelites in Port Sunlight, and the Beatles in Liverpool. The program will also feature a four-day trip to Paris, offering countless points of comparison for our study of British art, architecture, and history through a day-trip to Versailles, a twilight cruise along the Seine, and tours of Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, the Louvre, and Musée d’Orsay.
DATES
23 June–10 August 2018
HOUSING AND FOOD
Students reside and take classes in the recently refurbished London Centre in the vibrant, conveniently located West End neighborhood of Bayswater. The centre is a short Tube ride from most central London attractions and just minutes by foot from Kensington Gardens, Notting Hill, and hundreds of shops and restaurants. Program costs include self-serve breakfasts and chef-prepared dinners all days except Saturday, and students can generally lunch on PBJs or the previous night’s leftovers. The centre offers free laundry facilities, a library, a lounge, and Wi-Fi access.
COURSES
Students will receive 7 credit hours, which can fulfill various GE and major/minor requirements or count as general hours toward graduation. All students will take the same three courses:
IAS 201R London Walks (1 credit hour, Professors Belnap, Kirkham, and Mason)
ENGL 300R British Literature in a Cultural Setting (3 credit hours, Professor Nicholas Mason): May fulfill GE Letters requirement or count toward major or minor in English, Humanities, or European Studies.
FNARTS 270R/ARTHC 490R Art & Architecture of England (3 credit hours, Professor Heather Belnap Jensen): Fulfills GE Arts requirement or, with permission, might also be counted toward various majors or minors.
All accepted students living within 90 minutes of Provo must also register for IAS 201R (1 credit hour), a required pre-departure preparation course to be taught by Professors Mason and Belnap Jensen during the second block of winter semester 2018.
COST
$5,100–5,600 (final amount will depend in part on US/UK exchange rates for 2018)
Program cost estimate includes full-time LDS undergraduate tuition (costs higher for graduate and non-LDS students); housing at the centre; breakfast and dinner all days except Saturday; admission to program-related plays, museums, and historical sites; transportation within London; travel, lodging, and meals on program excursions within UK and to Paris; and international health insurance coverage. Part-time BYU and non-BYU students must pay an additional $250 for the winter 2018 preparation course.
Not included: airfare to/from London, meals on Saturdays, passport fees, and personal expenses.
FUNDING SOURCES
BYU tuition scholarships, Pell Grants, and Federal Insured Student Loans may be applied to study abroad programs. BYU students are strongly encouraged to request experiential education funding through their home department and/or college and the ORCA program. Those who complete the financial aid section of the ISP application and file a current FAFSA form at BYU’s Financial Aid Office (A-41 ASB) will also be considered for a need-based study abroad scholarship.
Students may also pursue private grants and scholarships, including those listed online at kennedy.byu.edu/scholarships.
APPLICATION PROCESS
While London Centre programs primarily serve undergraduates from BYU, students from other universities who are committed to a rigorous academic experience and adhering to BYU’s Honor Code are also invited to apply. Interested students may contact the faculty directors at any point.
Applications are available online at kennedy.byu.edu/apply. While the final application deadline is February 15, 2018, the directors will begin interviewing applicants and admitting strong candidates in late 2017. Therefore, those submitting polished, academically-focused applications by the November 15, 2017 priority deadline will improve their chances of being admitted to what will likely prove a highly selective program.
FACULTY DIRECTORS
Nicholas Mason is a professor of English who specializes in later British literature. Mason’s teaching and research focus on such famous British authors as Jane Austen, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, John Keats, and Walter Scott. He has participated in London Centre programs as an undergraduate English major (1993), a graduate teaching assistant (1994), and a faculty director (2007 and 2012). His wife, Stacie, and at least three of his four children will join the 2018 London program.
Heather Belnap Jensen is an associate professor of art history and coordinator of BYU’s European Studies program. Jensen specializes in modern European art and culture, with an emphasis on nineteenth-century French and British visual culture and gender studies. Over the course of her career, Jensen has led six study abroad programs to Europe, including two stints at the London Centre (1997 and 2013). She will be accompanied by her four children.
David Kirkham is the resident academic director of the London Centre and a professor of political science and senior fellow in the law school at BYU. Since 2015, Kirkham and his wife Judy have lived full-time at the centre, coordinating BYU’s outreach efforts in the UK and playing central roles in students’ academic, social, and religious experiences in London.
INTERESTED STUDENTS SHOULD CONTACT
International Study Programs
(801) 422-8607
isp@byu.edu
Nicholas Mason
(801) 422-4617
nick_mason@byu.edu
Heather Belnap Jensen
(801) 422-8242
heather_jensen@byu.edu
PROGRAM ADJUSTMENTS
ISP reserves the right to cancel this program, revise its offerings, or make any adjustments to the preliminary cost estimates due to conditions beyond its control.
