As international exchange programs lead to exchange of information, ideas, experiences and provide opportunity for students to develop an understanding of local-traditional values and cultural issues in different countries; a great number of exchange programs are highly promoted as a part of education in architecture. The purpose of this paper is to discuss contributions of international exchange programs to architectural students based on experiences and outcomes of the program ICSA (InterCultural Study of Architecture) that is under the collaboration of Mukogawa University, Japan and Bahçeşehir University, Turkey. The main case of the study is the exchange program ICSA, which has been held twice a year since 2009 in Japan for 7 weeks and in Turkey for 15 days with the participation of Japanese and Turkish students and academicians. This paper is organized in four chapters. After the Introduction, Chapter Two will describe and compare ICSA programs held in Turkey and Japan in terms of their content, context, schedule and activities. In the light of the outcomes of the previous chapter, Chapter Three will focus on contributions of international exchange programs to architectural education in general. Finally in Chapter Four, the main arguments discussed in this paper will be outlined.
8th International Conference on Design Principles and Practices
8th International Conference on Design Principles and Practices
