Take an In-Depth Dive Into Specialized Study with Hands-On Experiences
Webster University is offering new thematic Study Abroad sessions at three international campuses: Geneva, Leiden and Vienna.
Two back-to-back sessions will be offered at each of these vibrant locations. Each four-week session will host thematic programs comprised of a three-credit core course and a one-credit experiential learning course.
An Historic City at the Intersection of Old and New
Often named one of the world’s top cities for quality of life, it is hard to find a more livable city than Vienna.
Here you will find a thriving center of international commerce, where business districts share the streets with the city’s famous centuries-old opera houses, cafés, magnificent palaces and the winding Danube River.
Located in Central Europe, students will be exposed to multicultural living and learning at its best.
Study Psychology, Music, Art or Media in Summer 2024 at Webster Vienna
Walk in the footsteps of some of Vienna's greatest composers, experience performances first-hand, explore the connections that exist between music and psychology, learn about the history of the public relations field, meet global artists and make art of your own.
Summer Session 1 has offerings in psychology, music or art. Summer Session 2 offers a choice between a psychology or public relations theme. Read more about the course offerings in each session below.
Study for four or eight weeks in Vienna or pair four weeks in Vienna with four weeks in Geneva or Leiden.
Summer Session 1: June 3–28
Vienna has been at the epicenter of musical development throughout the centuries,
from the Baroque period through the Viennese Classical Period and right up to present
day electronic music. The Vienna: World Capital of Music package is designed for music lovers majoring in areas outside of music, but nonetheless
deeply interested in Austria’s rich traditions and latest works.
Course Fee: $175
Students will learn about the main musical genres that have marked Vienna's musical history, including classical, jazz, folk music, hip hop, electronica and austropop while developing skills to distinguish and comment on different musical genres.
Students will connect Vienna’s musical scenes, artists and institutions of past and present with the political, economic or social movements and ideals of their times.
Package includes a series of daytime excursions to relevant museums, like the Belvedere and Hofburg palaces and the Haus der Musik. Evening excursions include visits to concerts such as the city’s world-famous state opera, in addition to clubs and concert venues of contemporary musical performances.
Vienna’s Sex in the City package, designed for students majoring or interested in
Psychology and matters of sex and sexuality, examines human sexual behavior within
cultural, social and political contexts.
Students will learn about the evolutionary basis of sexual reproduction and its psychological consequences, conflicting historical and cross-cultural sexual attitudes, reproductive health, rights, sexual experience, gender differences, roles, orientation and sex in relation to disease, law, social responsibility and personal ethics.
Course Fee: $225
This course examines human sexual behavior within the cultural, social and political context. Topics discussed include historical/cross-cultural sexual attitudes, reproductive health and rights, the range of sexual experience, gender differences and roles, sexual orientation, sex and disease, sex and the law and sex and social responsibility/personal ethics.
Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively toward the development of a course-related project using Vienna’s lab equipment including its Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience and Behaviour (CanBeLab).
Package includes visits to some of Vienna’s sexually oriented cafes and museums exhibiting visual portrayals of nudity, tours covering sexual anecdotes of the city’s historical figures (including two of its most famous gay figures Prince Eugen of Savoy and the Emperor Karl VI), the history of Viennese prostitution and the diverse erotic practices of the population. Both courses will be taught by Dr. Gerulf Rieger of Essex University.
This program offers an immersive experience in art production, research, art history
and cultural exchange. It is meant to provide a studio art-focused and professional
art practice experience that works to emulate a studio residency in a new local. Students
will be creating artwork, visiting with professional artists, and learning from their
new environment through museum visits and cultural exploration.
There will be class critiques over artwork produced, class discussions about exhibitions, and studio visits with local artists. The session will conclude with an exhibition of student-made artwork. Studio projects will focus on drawing, printmaking, sculpture and site-specific artwork.
Course Fee: $675
Offers opportunity to study the practice of art in international settings and experiences. Course goals are to; prepare students for professional residencies, expand students understanding of their place in the world, be immersed in another culture to better reflect on their own, see and create art in another context, work with practicing artists and better understand their future interests and potential profession.
Independent study involves research work on a specialized subject or project, or artistic work. The emphasis in an independent study is usually on individual pursuit of a specific content area. May be repeated for credit if content differs.
Package includes visits to the Leopold Museum, Museum Moderner Kunst (MUMOK), Albertina Museum, Kunsthalle Wien, Belvedere 21, Kunst Haus Wien, as well as to a number of artist studios.
Summer Session 2: July 1–26
The impact of music on the mind and behavior can be profound and varies among individuals.
This program is focused on students majoring or interested in psychology and the brain’s
perception of music. Both courses will be taught by Jutta M. Street, PhD, Professor
of Psychology, Campbell University.
Course Fee (tours, museums, and concerts): $300
Students will examine the relationship between musical experience, emotion, and behavior, including how music is interpreted, produced, reacted to and incorporated into daily life. Modern music psychology is essentially empirical; as a result, students will learn how new insights are frequently drawn from analyses of data gathered through careful observation of human participants and learn how research in music psychology has applications in a variety of fields.
The course is particularly interesting for those who are curious about creativity, cultural evolution, the perception of time and structure, music-language interaction, cross-cultural brain studies, musicality, prediction and motor engagement, the brain of the musician, sensory dissonance and the brain, musical groove, music therapy and psychological well-being.
Students will be introduced to the measurement of physiological and aesthetic responses to music (startle reflex, emotions, galvanic currents, respiration, aesthetic qualities, prediction and aesthetic appraisal, etc.) and will gain first-hand introductory experience on the systematic study of composers and compositions in relation to perceptual, affective and social responses to their music.
Package includes visits to the Vienna State Opera to see Le Nozze de Figaro and other classical concerts, museum visits including the world-famous Haus der Musik, and Jazz and blues performances at clubs such as Porgy and Bess.
Have you ever wondered why a breakfast of bacon and eggs is so quintessentially American?
When you’re scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, what content makes you want to tell
someone else about them? The answers to these and related questions await you in Vienna.
We’ve developed a course package offered exclusively at Webster’s Vienna campus in
summer 2024. We’ll survey the lives and contributions of people like Edward Bernays,
the nephew of Sigmund Freund, who applied Freudian psychoanalysis to form what we
call ‘public relations’ today, (he’s the one responsible for bacon and eggs, by the
way). We’ll look at the work of Austrians Paul Lazarsfeld, Ludwig Wittgenstein and
Karl Popper, among others to help form a clear and unique understanding of Vienna’s
contributions to field that still impact us today. Of course, the strategies developed
from these thinkers are not only found in the professional world, but also in social
media influencers as well as radical ideologies online and off. We’ll consider these
strategies in the rise of far-right movements outside Austria but also Austria’s own
history with anti-Semitic far-right political movements and how these affect current
events to this day. The one-credit course will give you the fundamentals about these
challenging questions and issues. The three-credit course will provide you with the
skills to tell your own stories, using media production techniques to explore visual
forms of storytelling and narrative.
Course Fee: $125
This course, taught by filmmaker Dr. Phil Moran, incorporates a combination of applied media aesthetics, theory and hands-on production experience in photography, filmmaking, audio and video production. For the purpose of this special summer program, locations in Vienna will allow for students to explore the city and their newly gained production knowledge for creative storytelling.
This course, taught by Dr. Bradley Wiggins, Head of Vienna’s Media Communications department, will focus PR’s connection to Vienna, examining personalities like Edward Bernays, using cases and visiting places that deepen student’s appreciation of Viennese Café culture and its role in the birth of that which now call Public Relations. Much of what formed the foundation of Bernays’ perspectives, aside from those borrowed from psychoanalysis, stems from earlier views known today as mass society theory, or the view that people are generally easy to manipulate due to isolation and alienation brought about by modernity. Ironically, Austrian scientist Paul Lazarsfeld worked to challenge such notions through the application of research methodology to social and political inquiry. His concept, the two-step flow of communication, is still employed today, such in the form of social media influencers and others.
Package includes co-curricular activities such as visits to Vienna’s Technical Museum (Technisches Museum), café visits including Vienna’s famous Café Central where in 1913 alone, Josip Broz Tito, Sigmund Freund and Joseph Stalin were patrons, and a visit to the studios of Austria’s national broadcaster, ORF, among others. In addition, students will be able to incorporate their new knowledge from this course in production projects in this summer program’s other course.
Webster WINS Partner Schools
Is your school a Webster WINS partner? If so, you may be eligible for a scholarship up to $500 toward your airfare. Check to see if your school is already a partner!
Other Questions?
Email worldview@webster.edu or call 314-968-6988.