The Grinnell-in-London program offers an intensive liberal arts semester in what is arguably the world’s most culturally diverse and exciting metropolis. Its office and classrooms are located in the heart of Bloomsbury and just steps away from the British Museum. But the program also treats wider London – its museums and galleries, music, theatre, politics, centuries of history, and living human cultures -- as the larger classroom in which you can study anything and everything. All courses are planned to take active and frequent advantage of the extraordinary riches of this vibrant city.
The “Grinnell-in-London” name testifies to the core strengths of the program. Students can count on the academic rigor of the courses taught by Grinnell professors and experienced adjunct faculty in London, and enjoy the intimacy of working closely with these instructors. At the same time, the program’s London base makes possible a first-hand kind of study that expands outwards to stimulating, experiential, and reflective engagement with the city as a wide-open, three-dimensional encyclopedia of human life. This engagement happens through academic courses and co-curricular activities, through the option to undertake an internship as part of the program, and through opportunities to make personal discoveries. Whatever your enthusiasm, whatever you are passionate about, you can see it and do it in London.
Course-related field trips also range beyond London to destinations in the wider UK, and to Ireland and the European continent. Always the emphasis is on the educational value of travel – to see, to learn, to sympathize, to understand – not tourism.
Past students frequently testify that for them the Grinnell-in-London program has been a high point of their time as a Grinnell student, a memorable and horizon-broadening semester – like this recent participant:
“Organized field trips, shows, and events give you so much instant access to experiences you might otherwise have never unearthed and free time gives you the chance to explore your own version of London. The fusion of freedom and organization is incredible. . . . It’s probably been the best experience of my life.”
See links on the left for further particulars about the program.
