Teaching at the MSA complies with the high international level of the UNESCO/UIA standards. The master degree qualifies graduates to practise the profession of architect throughout the world. Since 2001, teaching at the MSA has been divided into seven clearly arranged modules. Any academic credits earned abroad are recognised within the "European Credit Transfer System" (ECTS). From the very first semester, optional seminars in "Design Basics" are offered in English, as well as other seminars in higher semesters. Other foreign languages also belong to the compulsory optional programme.

Architect(o)ure

International professors are invited to lecture in the core areas of architecture as visiting professors. Likewise, professors from Muenster teach as guests at foreign higher education institutions. The MSA maintains valuable cooperative relations with the following higher education institutions: IUAV Venezia - Facoltà di Architettura, Escuela Téchnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, Cracow University of Technology - Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft Faculteit Bouwkunde and the Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría - Havana.

Furthermore, the MSA regularly invites interesting guests to lecture series, such as the "Stadtansichten" (Urban Views) or to symposia in order to enrich teaching with external voices. Past personalities include Frei Otto, David Chipperfield, Rafael Moneo and Carlos Ferrater.

A particular aspect of the Master programme at the MSA are the integrated short modules in the first semester, specifically offered to our students at renowned European universities such as Barcelona, Delft, Cracow, Prague and Venice. Furthermore, famous, internationally active architects act as visiting lecturers for these modules at the MSA. Past visiting lecturers include Roman Delugan (Delugan Meissl Architects, Vienna), Holger Kehne (Plasma Studio Architects, London), Sebastian Behmann (Studio Olafur Eliasson) and Volker Staab (Volker Staab Architekten, Berlin). Here, students are given the opportunity to experience the different methodologies of various architecture philosophies, enabling them to gain a personal relationship to architecture.

Winterschool in Havana

The MSA is currently setting up a "winter school" in cooperation with the partner university in Havana, the Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría CUJAE. The idea is that from 2010, Master students at the MSA will travel to Cuba to study there for a certain period within the framework of design modules.

Interdisciplinarity

In accordance with the occupational image of architects and the spirit of the time, münster school of architecture is also oriented towards related faculties, such as the Faculties of Art and Design. This interdisciplinary orientation promotes architects who act in a universal and responsible manner, sensitising them to all aspects of their work. For instance, the initiative "Dreiraum" illustrates the encounter between the related disciplines of Art, Design and Architecture on the Leonardo Campus.