Our International Summer Programme allows you to create a personalised summer learning experience. To explore our 140+ courses, simply search for topics, or use the filters to refine by week, number of sessions or subject. Once you click ‘Apply to the programme’, you’ll go through to our student portal where you can select your courses and submit your application.
You need to commit to at least one week, and attend courses in the morning and in the afternoon. The dates for this year's programme are:
Week 1: 12 to 18 July
Week 2: 19 to 25 July
Week 3: 26 July to 1 August
Week 4: 2 to 8 August
Need more help building your programme? Browse our course combination options, check out our how-to guide or contact us.
Course search
Pirates! The golden age of piracy, 1680-1730
Alexander the Great: king, soldier, legend
An introduction to the philosophy of science and technology
The global Middle Ages: Britain and the world, c.400–1500
The Renaissance garden
An introduction to autism
Different ways of dying - the complexities of cell death
Data analysis and statistics made accessible: a practical introduction using R coding
How to build your programme
You can study for 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks. Arrive on the Sunday before your courses start and depart on the Saturday after breakfast.
Programme dates
- Week 1: 12 to 18 July
- Week 2: 19 to 25 July
- Week 3: 26 July to 1 August
- Week 4: 2 to 8 August
Choose morning AND afternoon courses
Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you need to select:
- a morning (Am) course AND
- an afternoon (Pm) course
5- and 10-session course options
- 5-session courses run over one week.
- 10-session courses run over 1 or 2 weeks. If you choose a 10-session course running over 2 weeks, you need to attend both weeks.
If you're just coming for one week you can select either:
- 2 short courses (5 sessions each): 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. OR
- 1 longer course (10 sessions): split between morning and afternoon sessions across 1 week.
If you're coming for 2 consecutive weeks you can mix and match:
- 4 short courses (5 sessions each): 2 mornings and 2 afternoons OR
- 2 longer courses (10 sessions each): 1 per week OR
- A combination of short and longer courses.
If you've got a specific subject in mind, explore our range of subject streams. Simply type your preferred subject into the search or use the dropdown menu.
- Art and Visual Culture (including History of Art)
- Business, Entrepreneurship and Finance (including Business, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Marketing)
- Creative Writing
- History and Archaeology (including Ancient History, Archaeology, Classics, History, Medieval and Renaissance Studies)
- Literature and film (including Literature and film, Shakespeare)
- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
- Politics and International Relations (including Law and Criminology, Politics and International Studies)
- Science and Social Science (including Artificial Intelligence, Astronomy, Biological Sciences, Climate Science, Coaching, Cyber Security, Engineering, Mathematics, Psychology, Sustainability, Technology)
The University of Cambridge does not award its own credit for International Summer Programme study; your home institution will determine the number of credits that may be awarded. Please check your home institution will award credit before applying for the programme. See the VLE and Student Handbook for further information.
Students currently enrolled on programmes elsewhere
If you're seeking to earn academic credit from your International Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit assignments for evaluation.
We can provide:
- your home institution with a detailed description of your course
- a digital certificate of attendance
- an evaluation of your assignment (fees apply).
Your home institution will determine the number of credits they may award. The following examples are based on the US credit system:
- two weeks of the programme, with an estimated 46 contact hours and a 2,000-3,000-word assignment submission for at least one 10-session or 5-session course, achieving the minimum grade required by the home institution: three (3) undergraduate credit hours.
- four weeks of the programme, with an estimated 92 contact hours and a 2,000-3,000-word assignment submission for at least two 10-session or 5-session courses, achieving the minimum grades required by the home institution: six (6) undergraduate credit hours.
Students not currently enrolled on a programme elsewhere
We will issue a digital certificate of attendance, and you may write assignments for evaluation to enhance your own study experience (fees apply).
Students who are currently enrolled on a University of Cambridge undergraduate sub-degree or degree programme
It is not currently possible to earn credit towards a University of Cambridge sub-degree or degree programme. You may write assignments for evaluation to enhance your own study experience (fees apply).