Top universities in Europe for Masters in Architecture – The profession of architecture is a boundless seam of learning. Measuring a person’s interest and worth in continuing and pursuing a master’s degree in any field is a personal pursuit that entirely depends on their ardent goals. Pursuing a master’s degree is rather a subjective opinion that might be a requirement for pursuing the professional practice of teaching or so. As architecture isn’t a book-bound field, masters in architecture vary based on what kind of impact you would want to set in architecture.

Master’s is an established course that would help in improving future and personal prospects in their respective profession. Getting a double degree would be to specialize yourself in a particular, interesting subject that is in guidance to an individual to learn in-depth about that subject. Gaining a wider and in-depth understanding of that career would certainly provide a greater level of creative freedom in the person to think.

Every year the rankings of the University change according to course and curriculum. The best Universities for the year 2021 recommended for the M.Arch degree are completely determined by the system.

1. Delft University | Top universities in Europe

Location: Netherlands
Degree: MSc in Architecture, Urbanism, and Building (2 years) 

An international university that has stood against time to establish itself as one of the oldest and prestigious universities. The university is home to diverse cultures and ethnicities, with students pouring from all over the world. It offers 14 UG courses and 30 PG courses in design, engineering, and science. The university encourages problem-solving aptitude and has offered students various wide-ranging opportunities in the industries. 

The courses are and can be optimized to the student’s lifestyle providing them a pied living within the campus. The institution is highly reputed for its enormous links with the professions as well as its massive alumni network. TDU supports and provides a platform for research and innovation and has achieved an exemplary mark in aiding newer technology.

TDU has been ranked in the top university for its visionary and prescient attitude towards education and has successfully presented a balanced student life over the years.

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2. University College London

Location: London, UK
Degree: M.Arch, MSc and MA in Architecture, Design, Computation (1-2 years)

One of the prestigious colleges on a long list is currently standing at the 10th position in the QS World University List. As a university that seeks diversity, it has a large column of alumni, dedicated to various fields; the university directly stipulates any student’s future in their respective profession. 

Due to its wide network in the fraternity, they are part of various research and grants and often impel students to achieve distinction. A diverse global university, ranked at the top allows diverse thinking inspiring the next generation. It declares itself as having a progressive and brave approach towards academic excellence.

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3. Eth Zurich | Top universities in Europe

Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Degree: MSc In Architecture (2 years, 6 months- internship period)

A public research university, with the main motto to educate the youth and create an environment of higher knowledge. The university ranks sixth currently and has been entitled to being Europe’s second-best university. For any international student on a budget, this would be the perfect pick. The university is a popular selection among international students due to its low tuition fees and high percentile of attaining a job with a high graduate salary. 

Along with these, the university is home to some of the biggest, notable alumni from the architecture fraternity.  Ranking currently in the top, it is quite obvious that the university is a well-recommended one, they provide the maximum number of research-based programs.

Imagine a class taught by some of the famous architects like Frank Gehry, ETH Zurich even provides an opportunity like that; the university has some of the world-renowned architects as professors as well.

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4. University Of Cambridge

Location: Cambridge, UK
Degree: MPhil,  MSc in Architecture and Building History (1 year)

Another extremely prestigious university on the list, being among the four surviving oldest universities in the world, Cambridge University is a self-proclaimed collegiate research university. It is a coalition of 31 autonomous colleges and has over 100 Nobel Prize Laureates among its alumni. The university offers tailor-made courses for students and complete access to a flexible program. 

Yes, the college is considered to be slightly on the expensive side with only a 15% acceptance rate so it has a higher competition range. However, they do provide scholarships for international students. The university is known to have extremely high placement rates, vivid campus life, and approachability towards some of the best professionals in the field. The cost of living is again on the expensive side as it is only 50 miles north of central London. 

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5. Politecnico Di Milano | Top universities in Europe

Location: Milan, Italy
Degree: MSc in Architecture (2 years)

Titled as one of the best universities in Italy, now ranked in the top 10, Politecnico Di Milano is an outstanding university to pursue a Master’s in Architecture. Again one of the oldest universities of Italy provides courses specific to design, engineering and architecture. 

PoliMi offers diverse opportunities for students who would want to integrate academics with experience outside Italy as well. The institute offers various scholarships for students and guarantees job opportunities within the given period in high-end companies.

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6. Manchester School Of Architecture

Location: Manchester, UK
Degree: M.Arch  (2 years)

MSA is a joint venture between the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. The students of MSA issued with both colleges are given complete privileges from either of the colleges. The university has a dedicated architecture research team that constantly competes for newer advancements. 

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The university relatively newer on the list has still gained a significant amount of recognition and adds the benefit for students to gain access to two of the bigger universities in Manchester. They provide degrees specific to Urbanism and Landscape as a part of MA and MLA.  

7. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne | Top universities in Europe

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Degree:  MSc in Architecture (1 year)

Considered as one of the two Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the university aims with the mission of education, research, and technology transfer. EPFL is located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland while its sister university ETH, Zurich in the German-speaking part. The university is known for its meticulous means of programs dedicated to urbanism and technology advancement that is taught in the due course of 12 months. 

The university teaches in bilingual dialects: English and French. Like other universities, EPFL has a very dedicated community for International students and does provide scholarships. The student life is opinionated as vibrant and active, while the city itself is quite known as the elite living hub.

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8. Kth Royal Institute Of Technology

Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Degree: MSc Architecture (2 years)

A public research university in Sweden’s largest and oldest technical university. Amidst its location, the university is quite famous for being the home of the Nobel Prize. The university guarantees extensive personal development in a world-class setting. KTH offers a wide network of master’s courses, whilst MSc in architecture is one of them. 

The course is an intensive collaboration between studio class, workshops, orientation course, and independent project. The end rate of job acceptance is considered to be the highest in Sweden from KTH.

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9. Technical University Of Munich

Location: Munich, Germany
Degree: MA in Architecture (2 years)

A public research university specializing in engineering, technology, applied, and natural science. The university holds high with its network of alumni and has been one of the leading universities in Germany. Being stretched for over four semesters, the university also has language proficiency in German as a requirement. 

The university also has almost 160 partnerships with universities from all across the globe.

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10. Polytechnic University Of Catalonia | Top universities in Europe

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Degree: M.Arch in Architecture, Design, BIM, Sustainability (1-2 years)

Also known as BarcelonaTech, the university is the largest for engineering and architecture in Spain. The university offers a wide range of master’s degrees and has categorized based on the duration and course requirement. The architecture masters have almost 10-15 subunits each varying into full-time or part-time. It has ranked in the top 50 best universities in the world. 

PUC has even ties with other European engineering colleges and provides a platform for internationalization with accounting to a maximum number of international students for PhDs.

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11. The Architectural Association

Location: London, UK
Degree: M.Arch (2 years)

One of the oldest and independent universities in the UK commonly known as AA is the most prestigious and competitive university in the world. AA has been known for its symposiums, significant breakthrough, and the long list of notable alumni. AA provides a full-time 2-year course rather than a diploma. It leads to exemption from ARB/RIBA Part 2 after the 2-year course. 

However, due to the status of AA not being part of the country system and proclaiming self-independence, it sits out of the ranking. The university also deems its very own publishing lines in the professional fraternity.

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12. The University Of Edinburgh

Location: Edinburgh, UK
Degree: MSc, M.Phil (1-2 years)

The university is held as the sixth oldest and established university in Scotland. The university has five main campuses in Edinburgh with inclusive sites of historical and architectural importance. Being a part of many prestigious groups, the university is well versed with opportunities ranging in the research field.  

Architecture postgraduate study is based on Urbanism, conservation, and history. The courses are structured based on the student’s perspectives and programs around specialist training for candidates who already hold a first-class degree.

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13. Ku Leuven | Top universities in Europe

Location: Flanders, Belgium
Degree: M.Arch (2 years)

KU Leuven is considered a research university that hails in the Dutch-speaking city of Leuven, Belgium specializing in research, teaching, and services. The university is located in various parts of Belgium leading it to be the largest in Low countries. It has consistently ranked in the top 100 over the years and has ranked as Europe’s most innovative university. 

It boasts about its ancient deep-rooted Renaissance history up till the leading of nanotechnology. Like every other university, the course is a student-friendly designed system with complete provision towards the curriculum’s research and learning.

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14. The University Of Sheffield

Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Degree: M.Arch, MSc, MA (1-2 years)

The university college is an amalgamation of three colleges and is granted a royal charter. One of the original red brick universities. It includes an extensive research facility dedicated to the fields of engineering and technology. The college has dictated a first-class learning system and has ranked in the top 100 for the last few years consecutively. 

A versatile range of Postgraduate courses with a limited time frame to suit the student’s requirements is what the university avails. 

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15. Technical University Of Berlin | Top universities in Europe

Location: Berlin, Germany
Degree: MSc (2 years)

The first public research university to adopt the name technical. With high profiled laureates and alumni, this university stands in the top 150 all over the world.

Home to two innovation centers, the university has gained mass acceptance as ‘The Entrepreneurial University’. Although it is highly proficient in science and technology it does provide architecture with great leads. However, the architecture course is seen to be a restricted admission with limited seating and hence must be enquired beforehand. 

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The Field of Architecture is an Unmapped Region Where Specialized Learning Could be of Major Benefit.

To pursue a Master’s, it would be of utmost importance to know what to specialize in. Masters is a platform to gain and intercept higher knowledge for a specific matter that would give insights to the holistic understanding of that issue.

Author

VismithaYaji is an aspiring designer and a writer who is currently working in the field of Architecture & Design. She has recently decided to put her passion for writing on the front stage and has been contributing to many on-going competitions and anthologies. Being an ardent fan of motivational quotes, poetry, and designing, she is often seen questioning the current trends in a divergent and unique fashion.She enjoys a philosophical approach to life and is keen on learning and developing new skills. Being a person who has traveled and has often shifted from place to place, she has been able to explore and appreciate various cultures and lifestyles. She enjoys traveling, sketching,anything related to music or movies, and once in a while the rare opportunities of photography. Her approach towards writing is inspired by life and its unexpected turn of events. Most of her works in any field, whichever it may be reflects these ideologies and beliefs. She pushes herself to discover newer approaches in the field of design and create modernistic conclusions.