TOP TEN

MA A+U are thrilled that MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE has been named as one of the top schools of architecture in the world, one of just three UK institutions to make the Top Ten in the QS Top Universities 2016 rankings for the subject.

Professor Tom Jefferies, head of the Manchester School of Architecture, said: “It’s fantastic news which reflects the unique position of the school sitting in two major centres of excellence – Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University and the School of Environment, Education and Development at The University of Manchester. It is a measure of the very interesting exploratory and ground breaking work we do with a range of national and international partners. It’s great for Manchester and the region, and we are already looking at opportunities arising from this.”

Manchester School of Architecture has been run collaboratively by Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Manchester since 1996. The QS Top University Rankings have been published internationally since 2004, and is one of the most widely read global university rankings.

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'Some Reasons for Travelling to Italy'

Peter Wilson, a guest of the MA A+U course in 2012, has recently published his new book 'Some Reasons for Travelling to Italy' (AA Publications 2016). The publisher writes

"Italian cities have been points of reference for much of architect Peter Wilson’s professional life and the many reasons for visiting the country have long presented themselves as not just the easy list – holidays, food, architecture and culture. The grand tour is the most obvious of tropes for framing these things, but it can also serve as a useful vehicle for a more ingrained understanding into Italy’s wider architectural habitat and cultural mythology. This book, which accompanies an exhibition of the same title at the AA School in 2016, appears in the form of a latter-day Baedeker. But rather than a pragmatic itinerary, its content here offers an eclectic and idiosyncratic list of assorted reasons to head south, richly illustrated by Wilson’s own drawings and watercolours.

Some of the reasons for travelling to Italy include: to live cheaply, to travel with a consumptive relative, to look up, to abandon a bikini, to disappear, to make the Pope smile, to invent neo-classicism, to research Tarantism, to discover a telefonino on Etna and in an English garden in Naples."

Nothing could be more timely as MA A+U are close to finalising details of our own journey there ...

MMU Postgraduate Loan Scheme

Manchester Metropolitan University is offering postgraduate loans for taught masters courses including MA Architecture + Urbanism commencing in the 2016/17 academic year. This is in addition to the Alumni Loyalty Discount which will be available for the second year running in 2016/17. Three current MA A+U students benefit from the 20% discount on fees.

Details are available at www.mmu.ac.uk/pgloan