With the creation of a joint Global Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film Art with PCA, Emerson becomes the first US college devoted to liberal arts and communications to offer an international bachelor’s degree in film art.

“Emerson is creating a borderless campus—which we see as vital to educating the world’s future generations”

The Emerson-PCA program builds on the advantages of each institution — PCA’s strengths in studio art and design, and Emerson’s in film, media, and the liberal arts — to serve students seeking an international education with application of artistic processes and practices in media arts.

After completing a semester in Boston, students will then spend a semester in France, with summer semesters in Boston and at Emerson College’s Kasteel Well campus, based round a restored 14th-century medieval castle in the Netherlands.

According to the president of Emerson College, Lee Pelton, the partnership with PCA is the first of several international degree programs that Emerson plans to offer as part of its ‘Global Portals’ initiative.

He said Emerson is also set to launch master’s degree programs with universities in Lugano, Switzerland and Barcelona, Spain, with plans to establish programs in Sydney, Australia and Hong Kong by 2022.

“Emerson is known internationally as the premier institution of higher learning for creative leaders in communications, the arts, and the liberal arts,” said Pelton.

“To continue to fulfil our mission in an increasingly global world, Emerson is creating a borderless campus — which we see as vital to educating the world’s future generations of artists and storytellers.”

Provost of Emerson College, Michaele Whelan, added that the opportunity to study film in multiple countries will “broaden students’ understanding and allow them to create compelling film art”.

Applications for the program open this month, with the first international cohort of students beginning their studies on Emerson’s Boston campus in the summer of 2019.