Fontys Academy of Architecture and Urbanism (AAS) is one of a few schools of architecture that offer parttime master courses in architecture and urban design. Parttime, because participation of students in professional practice is the keystone of the Academy education: learning and practice form an integrated four-year programme. The Tilburg Academy is relatively small, but it has a long history during which it gained distinct character and profile. Approximately 90 students, a staff of 10 and nearly 50 visiting critics annually, create an atmosphere of creativity and  ambition. Students in our school are not just numbers but personalities and form a real community of learning, an academy in the original sense of the word. The intense master programmes in architecture and urban design are open for future designers who aspire and prove able to distinguish themselves in the design, planning and making of the built environment, both in the Netherlands and abroad. After finishing the programme they attain the degree of Master of Architecture (March) or Master of Urbanism (Murb).