RISD Global Summer Studies courses are unique, short-term global learning opportunities, designed and led by RISD faculty. These courses take place for three to five weeks between fall and spring semesters. RISD's global travel course portfolio reflects the school's commitment to community learning edification through an internationalized lens, so that its societal contributions have multicultural contextualization and profound impact. Travel courses are natural extensions of RISD's Providence campus curriculum. Each one provides integral depth to diverse cultural milieu, as well as ways of making, from artists and designers throughout various regions of the world.

Global Summer Studies are open to undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at RISD or in other art and design institutions worldwide, as well as recent RISD graduates.