This contribution presents an instructional model that aims to offer a convenient alternative to study abroad programs in college education. The instructional model, known as the International Reciprocal Distance Education Model (Vásquez de Velasco & Holland, 1998a), is implemented by means of tactical models that address all possible instructional scenarios of a design curriculum. All the tactical models presented make use of digital network technology as means of delivery. Beyond the development of a conceptual framework that describes the general strategic model and its tactics, the article concentrates on the description of a Virtual Design Studio as the most complex instructional scenario of the array. The article describes how the "Tex-Mex Virtual Design Studio", initially implemented in 1996 for interaction between students and faculty of Texas A&M University and La Salle University in Mexico, has evolved into the "Las Americas Virtual Design Studio" with the incorporation of students in Guatemala, Peru and Brazil. The International Reciprocal Distance Education Model can be applied to a wide variety of disciplines.