Highlights
- Experience a bicultural and multilingual life in Catalonia , one of Spain 's most prosperous regions
- Explore issues relevant to doing business in Spain and the EU today, studying with Spanish students
- Develop competency in Spanish through a combination of language and content classes
- Enjoy a total immersion experience by living in a homestay
- Take advantage of an extensive excursion program throughout Spain and Catalonia
- Gain first hand knowledge about business in Spain through company visits
- Participate in sports, cultural events, language exchanges, and special interest activities sponsored by CIEE and the UPF
Is this program right for you?
This program is designed for students who have 0-3 semesters of previous Spanish language study and a strong interest in business and economics. Students who are motivated to develop their Spanish language skills and learn about Spain and Europe through living in the unique and beautiful city of Barcelona will find that this program provides an ideal opportunity.
Location
Barcelona is the capital of the province of Catalonia , a region of Spain with its own distinctive history, culture, and language. The city and the region have a tradition of initiative, hard work, and creativity, attributed in part to the continuous influx of different cultures from other parts of Europe and Spain , which has given the city its vitality and rich cultural and artistic heritage. The metropolitan area of Barcelona has a population of 2.8 million. Set between the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, Barcelona is located in the northeast corner of the Iberian Peninsula, close to the Pyrenees Mountains and Spain 's border with France . Nearby sites of interest include the Penedès wine country, the medieval city of Girona , and the Roman city of Tarragona . Walking though the city, one can observe architecture from different periods of history ranging from the medieval center's impressive Gothic network of narrow streets, to the 19th century Eixample area and its original examples of the "Modernista" architecture, to the ultra-modern showpieces found throughout the city.
Host Institution: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
The Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) is a publicly funded University created by decree of the Catalonian Parliament in 1990. It offers degrees in law, economics, business, social sciences, communications, humanities, biology, and technology, as well as other academic disciplines. Some of the unique features of the University are its trimester based course and degree structure, highly dedicated teaching staff, small class size and personalized attention to students, focus on technology and quality information services, and an international outlook. Courses are taught in Catalan, Spanish, and English. The University is located in beautifully renovated historic buildings throughout Barcelona , close to the Ciutadella Park , the Ramblas, the Olympic Village, and the port. While most buildings are within walking distance, the rest are all easily accessible via the city's public transportation system.
Housing and Meals
Students live in a Spanish home (one student per home) and have breakfast and dinner with their host families. Lunch is at the students' own expense and many eat at the several university-run cafeterias on the UPF campus. Students take public transportation to their classes, about a 30-minute metro or bus ride to the city center. All homestays are located in the city of Barcelona . Based upon student feedback and experience, living in a homestay is the best way to improve language skills and feel more a part of the local culture.
Orientation
A weeklong orientation session, conducted at the beginning of the program, introduces students to the country, culture, and the academic program, and provides practical information about living in Spain, and in particular, Barcelona. Themes such as the Spanish university system, banking, safety, visa regulations, how and where to shop, money issues, Catalan and bilingualism in Cataluña, cultural adaptation, and many others are covered. A language skills diagnostic examination is also conducted to identify the linguistic level of all participants, so that each student is placed in appropriate courses in the academic program.
Orientation includes both structured cultural activities and independent sightseeing and is maintained on an individual and group basis throughout the program.
Internet
Students receive a UPF e-mail account and have access to all University computer rooms for class-related activities. All CIEE students receive a "global campus" code upon arrival in Barcelona , which gives them access to all class notes, professor contact information, and photos/phone numbers of students in their classes.
Eligibility Requirements
Overall G.P.A. 3.0
0-3 semesters of college-level Spanish or equivalent
Housing
Spanish homestays
Duration
Fall 2004
15 weeks
early September - late December
Spring 2005
16 or 24 weeks
early January - late April or late June
Program Dates
Fall 2004
09/03/04-12/22/04
Spring 2005
01/03/05-04/30/05
*Approximate Program Fee, Spring Semester 2005: $10,950
Fees include an optional on-site airport meet and greet, tuition, housing, two meals per day, orientation, organized cultural activities such as museums, cathedrals, and the port, local excursions to Monserrat, Ampurias, and Tarragona, and field trips to locations such as Madrid, Andalusia, and Spain's northern coast, pre-departure advising, and insurance.
*quoted fee is subject to change depending on significant fluctuations in currency exchange and other factors
Estimated Additional Costs
Books and Supplies: $100
Local Transportation: $300
Additional Meals: $400
Transportation: $900
( NYC-Barcelona round trip )
Personal Expenses $2500
(including entertainment)*
*Students participating in the third trimester are required to pay a supplemental fee. The fee for spring 2004 was $2600, which included tuition and housing. Please note this cost is not included in the estimated additional costs listed above.
Subject Areas
Art/Art History
Business/Business & Management
Cultural Studies
Economics
History
Marketing
Political Science
Spanish Culture
Spanish Language
Language(s) of Instruction
English
Spanish
Courses/Credits
Recommended credit for the fall semester program is 15 semester/22.5 quarter hours and for the spring semester, 15-24 semester/22.5-36 quarter hours, depending upon whether the student enrolls for the optional third trimester. Contact hours are 45 hours and recommended credit is 3 semester/4.5 quarter hours, unless otherwise indicated. A full course load is considered five courses or 15 semester/22.5 quarter hours. All content, core, and UPF classes are considered junior-level or senior-level courses. Language instruction in the program is at various levels (see below). CIEE reserves the right to place participants in the language course for which the student is best prepared based on the results of on-site diagnostic testing.
During the fall semester, students are required to take a three-week intensive Spanish language course. During the remainder of the semester, students take a required core course (based on the results of the language placement exams, students are assigned to the core course taught in English or the core course taught in Spanish), an additional Spanish language course, and two electives, chosen from UPF Business and Economics courses taught in English (with Spanish students), Cursos Hispánicos (classes for international students), and CIEE business courses taught in English. During the spring semester, students take one required language course, one required core course, and three additional courses from the following categories: UPF Business and Economics courses taught in English, Cursos Hispánicos, and CIEE business courses taught in English.
Spring students have the option of enrolling in the third trimester of UPF regular university classes, which begins in April and ends in late June/early July. These students enroll in three regular university classes or two regular university classes and a Spanish language class. Students who choose this option are required to pay a supplemental fee. When choosing a UPF class students should keep in mind that Spanish students begin to study in their area of concentration from the first day of their university career. They are specialists, not generalists. Unless students are extremely advanced in their major, they should not consider a course in level II, III, or IV.
Required Language Courses
Upon arrival in Barcelona , students take a language placement exam. Language classes are divided into sections, based upon the results of the placement exam and/or the intensive course.
Fall Semester Intensive Spanish Language Courses
SPAN 1501 BABC
Intensive Beginning Spanish
SPAN 2501 BABC
Intensive Intermediate Spanish I
SPAN 2502 BABC
Intensive Intermediate Spanish II
These three-week courses consist of 45 hours of classroom instruction during which time survival language skills are emphasized.
Fall Semester Language Courses
SPAN 2001 BABC
Semester Intermediate Spanish I
This class continues work begun in SPAN 1501 BABC and is designed for students with intermediate language skills. Through a communicative methodology, students work to improve their language skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish. Special emphasis is placed on perfecting the use of grammatical structures and vocabulary enrichment through cultural studies. Since communication is the course objective, this course combines a content-based language instruction with an interactive task-based approach.
SPAN 2002 BABC
Semester Intermediate Spanish II
This class continues work begun in SPAN 2501 BABC and is designed for students with upper-intermediate language skills. Through a communicative methodology, students will work to improve their language skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish. Special emphasis is placed on developing an increasingly accurate use of Spanish grammar and vocabulary as well as providing the student with valuable information about Spain 's culture. Students will be challenged in this course to better communicate in Spanish.
SPAN 3003 BABC
Semester Advanced Spanish
This class continues work begun in SPAN 2502 BABC and is designed for students at an advanced level who want an extensive description of Spanish language structures. The purpose of this course is to continue the development of communication skills in Spanish. Improving Spanish language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), along with exposure to Spanish culture will be the means used to accomplish the course objectives. The course places special emphasis on grammar and vocabulary, in addition to notions, functions, and uses of the language in real speaking situations. You will be challenged in this course to communicate better in Spanish.
Spring Semester Language Courses
SPAN 1001 BABC
Semester Beginning Spanish
This course is designed for students who have never studied Spanish or have had up to or the equivalent of one semester of Spanish. This class opens with sessions on survival language skills and is designed from a communicative perspective to help true beginners of Spanish language develop throughout the semester the fundamental linguistic language skills in oral comprehension, oral communication, reading and writing. Special emphasis is placed on the cultural context within which students will be living to improve competency in the language.
SPAN 2001 BABC
Semester Intermediate Spanish I
This class is designed for students with intermediate language skills. Through a communicative methodology, students will work to improve their language skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish. Special emphasis is placed on perfecting the use of grammatical structures and vocabulary enrichment through cultural studies. Since communication is the course objective, this course combines a content-based language instruction with an interactive task-based approach.
SPAN 2002 BABC
Semester Intermediate Spanish II
This class is designed for students with upper-intermediate language skills. Through a communicative methodology, students will work to improve their language skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish. Special emphasis is placed on developing an increasingly accurate use of Spanish grammar and vocabulary as well as providing the student with valuable information about the culture of Spain . Students will be challenged in this course to better communicate in Spanish.
Required Core Courses
(offered both fall and spring semesters)
Students are required to take a core course taught in English or Spanish depending upon the results of the diagnostic language exam.
HIST 3001 BABC
History and City - Viva Barcelona
This class is taught in English. Barcelona is a cosmopolitan city with a great international reputation. This course is an introduction to the city of Barcelona by studying its past and analyzing its present. This course will review the most important moments in the urban development of Barcelona focusing on the ways these events can be seen in the present layout of the city. The course will also analyze the expressions of Catalan and Mediterranean identity in its buildings and traditions. City visits and tours will complement class lectures.
SPAN 3001 BABC
Arte y Artistas/Art and Artists
This class is taught in Spanish. Students are introduced to five important artists- Gaudí, Picasso, Dalí, Tapies and Miró - who marked not only Barcelona and Catalonian art and architecture, but art history in Spain as well. Class lectures are complemented by out of classroom visits, especially to the architectural wonders of Gaudí in Barcelona , the Picasso Museum , the Dalí Museum in Figueras, the Miró Museum in Barcelona , and Tapies exhibitions.
Elective Courses
CIEE Business Courses
(taught in English)
The following courses are offered for CIEE students only and may not be offered every semester. Please contact CIEE for course availability.
BUSI 3001 BABC/MGMT 3001 BABC
International Management
This course provides the student with frameworks, tools, and factual knowledge useful for understanding the institutional and competitive environment and managerial challenges of firms in international competition. It analyzes the socio-cultural, political, and economic characteristics of a country and how they influence the behavior of firms in international competition. It studies the main economic flows around the world, its barriers, and their impact on firms. It also introduces briefly the study of internationalization methods used by firms.
BUSI 3002 BABC/MKTG 3001 BABC
International Marketing
The future of all business is stated and recognized to be global. This course is designed to enhance the student's understanding and appreciation of the importance and relevance of international marketing in today's global economy. The course emphasizes the knowledge of world geography, regional alliances/conflicts, and cultural diversity in the world. It approaches the complexity of marketing environs and decisions, and the global marketing issues that challenge American companies. It focuses on marketing strategy, development, and implementation.
BUSI 3003 BABC/MGMT 3002 BABC
Psychology of Management
The purpose of this course is to understand psychological processes underlying employee behavior in organizations. This course is designed to gain a broad understanding of individual and group behaviors within an organization. It aims at developing an understanding of theory and practice of organizational behavior, as well as increasing awareness of human dynamics operating in organizations and of communication problems.
Cursos Hispánicos
The following classes are taught in English for international students registered at UPF.
Contemporary Spanish Art (fall/spring)
This course proposes to complement a theoretical overview of Spanish art with a practical approach to works of art. Barcelona has a great art variety and richness, but there are some artists who have their main museum in the city, and who have an international prestige. These artists are: Gaudí, Picasso, Miró, Dalí and Tàpies. They are the main subjects of this course.
Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (fall/spring)
This is an introduction to modern statistics. The aim is to teach students how to think about data and how to use statistical methods. Statistics is presented as a means of using data to gain insight into real problems. As the continuing revolution in computing relieves the burden of calculating and graphing, the emphasis on statistical concepts and on insight from data becomes both more important and practical.
Literature: Chicano and Latino Cultures in the U.S. (fall)
This course provides an introduction to the social and cultural reality of Latinos in the United States with a particular emphasis on the largest demographic group, the population of Mexican descent. The concept of the borderlands will be an analytical prism throughout the course that will allow students to look at Latino/cultural identities within the United States as the product of complex negotiations both inside and outside the country's geographical borders.
Between Tolerance and Conflict: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Iberian Peninsula (fall)
This course seeks to introduce Spanish history as a space and time in which three monotheistic religions have coexisted for centuries, a unique case in the Western world, in which both tolerance and religious conflict have played defining roles.
Literature: Angloamerican Travelers in Spain (spring)
This course provides a survey of the representation of Spain in Anglo-American letters throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students analyze major writings by such authors as Washington Irving, Henry W. Longfellow, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Evelyn Waugh, Gerald Brenan, and Richard Wright (alongside other texts by lesser known authors).
The following courses are taught in Spanish (for students with 2-3 semesters of Spanish) for international students registered at UPF. These courses are offered both semesters.
Cultura en los Textos y en los Medios Audiovisuales/ Reading and Listening Comprehension Workshop
This class studies Spanish culture and civilization as presented in various means of communication: the press, television, music, humor, Internet, etc. Special emphasis is placed on topics such as regionalism, religion, family, food, and other issues of contemporary significance. The course objective is to familiarize the student with the most common references for news in the country, develop a cultural and intercultural consciousness, a learning consciousness and the application of strategies for learning the language and culture. It also aims at perfecting the use of the language, in particular at developing it to receptive competencies.
Taller de Cine/Film Workshop
This class introduces beginning level students to Spanish films of this century. Students will view several of the classics of Spanish film from Buñuel to Almodóvar. The films will be studied within their social, cultural, historical, linguistic and literary contexts. Students will work to strengthen and improve their listening comprehension skills through special exercises related to the films and class discussions.
Medios de Comunicación y Sociedad en España/Communication and Society in Spain
The course intends to show the functioning and structure of the media in Spain . For that purpose, sessions will alternate theory and practice in order to reflect on the general communication system and its peculiarities, and there will be visits to the most important media in Barcelona . The course will give a historical and current, critical and reflexive point of view on the role of the communication media of the contemporary Spanish society and future perspectives on the burst of new technologies.
The following course is taught in Spanish (for students with 3-4 semesters of Spanish) for international students registered at UPF and is offered both semesters.
Español para los Negocios/Spanish for Business
This seminar is for students who wish to improve their command of the language in business contexts. The objectives of this class are to allow the student to participate in oral and written communication activities in business spheres. It also aims at developing good grammar control, a broad and precise vocabulary according to the business sphere's use of the language, and clear and natural pronunciation and intonation.
The following course is taught in Catalan (for students with 3 semesters of Spanish or those who place into Intensive Intermediate Spanish II) for international students registered at UPF. This course is offered both semesters.
Lengua y Cultura Catalana/Catalan Language and Culture
This class introduces students to the grammatical structures of the Catalan language. Students work on vocabulary building through exercises, readings, videos, and commentary on Catalan culture.
UPF Business and Economics Courses in English
Students may register for any of the following classes offered in English below. Below is a select list of classes. Please note that not all classes are offered during all the trimesters of the UPF academic calendar.
Trimester 1
Department of Economics Business/Marketing
Applied Microeconomics
Econometrics I
Economic Theory II
Financial Economy I
Introduction to Financial Accounting
Macroeconomics I
Microeconomics I
Probability
Department of International Business
European Integration I
Financial Accounting I
International Trade II
Marketing Management I
Pricing Policy
Strategic Management I
Trimester 2
Department of Economics
Business/Marketing
Applied Economy II
Business Economics I
Commercial Management I
Corporate Finance I
Economic Organizations and Markets
Economic Theory III
Introductory Economics II
Public Sector I
Statistics
Department of International Business
Business Economics I
Human Resource Management
International Strategic Management
Introduction to Financial Accounting
The Market Legal System in the EU
Marketing Management II
Marketing Management IV
Strategic Management II
Trimester 3
Department of Economics Business/Marketing
Applied Macroeconomics
Business Economics II
Choice and Strategic Competition
Commercial Management II
Current Issues in Commercial Management
Economic Theory I
Economic Theory IV
Environmental Economics
Human Resources II
International Economics I
International Business Policy
Labor Economics
Department of International Business
Business Economics II
Business Simulation
Fiscal Law in the European Union
International Contracting and Civil Liability
International Economics
International Economic Institutions
International Trade I
This course listing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a contract between CIEE and any applicant, student, institution, or other party. The courses, as described, may be subject to change as a result of ongoing curricular revisions, assignment of lecturers and teaching staff, and program development. Courses may be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment. Syllabi for the CIEE courses listed above are available upon request.
Faculty
All regular university courses and Cursos Hispánicos are taught by faculty from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Language courses are taught by experienced professors specialized in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language.
