The World Is Your Classroom

Learning to work meaningfully in today’s complex, connected world means stepping outside the studio or classroom. At SAIC, you’ll have year-round access to international programs and off-campus opportunities. Get an up-close understanding of fashion and design in the UK, contemporary art in India, or globalization in Southeast Asia. Study at a top art school in Europe. Decompress at an arts residency. You’ll develop crucial cross-cultural skills and grow as a thinker and maker. You might even be able to get funding for your adventure.

Take a Trip

Faculty-led study trips are an amazing way to learn beyond the bounds of our Chicago campus. Offered during summer and winter breaks, these highly specialized courses let you learn directly from SAIC faculty in offsite “classrooms” both in the US and around the globe. Because faculty propose these trips within their areas of their expertise, you get an unusually close perspective on a fascinating topic.

Work from SAIC student Billie Carter-Rankin.

Contemporary Meets Tradition in Japan

Grad students from SAIC and Tokyo University collaborated on a massive site-specific art installation for Japan’s Setouchi Triennale. Their work responded to the traditional museum environment it occupied.

A Semester Away

Curiosity and the freedom to feed it inspire creative leaps—which is why you should consider experiencing life and learning far beyond our Chicago campus. From Amsterdam and Australia to South Korea and Switzerland, you’ll have a world of opportunities through SAIC’s partnerships with top art and design schools around the globe. You can also come up with your own personalized track of independent study abroad.

Students working in a metal shop at Oxbow

Ox-Bow and SAIC: A Powerful Partnership

Student smiling amongst a larger group.

Fulbright Scholarships: We’re On It

Financial Support for Off-Campus Learning

    Odyssey Travel Grants

    Travel can change your perspective, fuel your imagination, inspire you, and allow you to test new waters. This scholarship helps fund graduate and undergraduate personal, educational travel itineraries across the country and around the world.

    Students looking at art underneath glass.

    SAIC Travel Scholarships

    Thanks to the ongoing generosity of multiple SAIC donors, we offer a range of competitive, specialized, and merit-based scholarships to help both undergrad and graduate students with tuition and travel costs for faculty-led study trips.

    Students walk into a building in a desert

    China Scholarship Council

    A partnership with China’s Ministry of Education gives students and scholars the opportunity to study or conduct research at a Chinese university for the full academic year. These highly selective scholarships include tuition, housing, health insurance, and pre-approved Visa status.

    Students working on laptops

    Kikeri-Sinha Travel Fellowship

    Open to degree-seeking students, this need-based travel award helps with tuition and travel expenses for faculty-led study trips in India and beyond.

    Students in front of a large, ornate temple

    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

    Open to graduate and advanced senior students, this specialized grant covers the full costs of tuition, room, and board for a nine-week summer residency intensive on Skowhegan’s 300-acre campus in Central Maine.

    Aerial shot of the Showhegan school