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. Spring 2019 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 expertise in British popular culture and European literature, art, history, and culture.
Participants in this program will earn 7 credits 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, the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and possibly even Platform 9¾. Our coach trips across England and Wales will include stops at the Isle of Wight, Stonehenge, Stourhead, Bath, Tintern Abbey, St. Fagan’s, Beacon Hill, Fountains Abbey, and York. We will also study Jane Austen at her Hampshire cottage, Shakespeare along the banks of the Avon, William Wordsworth at his Ambleside home, and the Brontë sisters amid the Yorkshire moors. Because of this program’s emphasis on popular culture, we will see Shakespeare performed in the restored Globe Theatre, attend a premier league football match, learn about the Beatles in Liverpool, retrace the steps of early tourists traveling to the Lake District, and visit locations that were used in film adaptations of Austen’s novels. 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, the Louvre, and Musée d’Orsay.
DATES
30 April–17 June 2019
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.
MEALS AT THE LONDON CENTRE
All dinners and breakfasts at the London Centre are prepared and served communally. Student participants are required to help in food preparation and clean-up. Because of the communal nature of the meals, the BYU London Centre cannot meet all special dietary needs nor can it ensure a safe environment for those with food allergies. Please also note that other than a communal microwave, students do not have accommodations in the Centre, and may not bring their own accommodations to the Centre, to prepare food for themselves individually. If you have dietary or allergy concerns we recommend that you speak with the International Study Programs office before you apply.
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): Professor Kirkham
IHUM 280R Humanities and British Popular Culture (3 credit hour): Professor Kerry Soper; fulfills GE Letters requirement and counts toward major or minor in Interdisciplinary Humanities.
IHUM 202 Western Civilization II (3 credit hour): Professor Nate Kramer; fulfills GE Civ requirement.
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 Soper and Kramer during the second block of winter semester 2019.
Participants may not take any other courses on this program, including BYU Online courses, without approval by the program director and ISP.
COST
$5,400–5,900 (final amount will depend in part on US/UK exchange rates for 2019)
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 2019 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 20 December 2018, the directors will begin interviewing applicants and admitting strong candidates in late 2018. Therefore, those submitting polished, academically focused applications by the 15 November 2018 priority deadline will improve their chances of being admitted to what will likely prove a highly selective program.
FACULTY DIRECTORS
Kerry Soper is a professor in the Department of Comparative Arts and Letters who specializes in popular culture and art history. Soper’s research focuses on comedy and satire in comics, film, and television. He is also a professional landscape artist and humor columnist. He co-directed a London Centre program in 2008. His wife Lisa and two of their four children will join the 2019 London program—one of them (a junior at BYU) as a college-age participant.
Nate Kramer is an associate professor in the Department of Comparative Arts and Letters and director of BYU’s Scandinavian Studies program. Kramer specializes in modern and late-modern Scandinavian literature and culture, with an emphasis in nineteenth-century Danish literature, philosophy and culture. He has led several study abroad programs to Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. His wife Jill and three of their five children will join the London 2019 study abroad program.
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, he 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
Kerry Soper
(801) 422-1242
kerry_soper@byu.edu
Nate Kramer
(801) 422-1932
nate_kramer@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.
