The University of Barcelona welcomes more than 1.700 international students this year

In the academic year 2016-2017 the University of Barcelona has received 1.720 new international students, coming from 81 countries, mostly from Europe and America. 635 of these people have enrolled for the first time on a bachelor or master degree in the University of Barcelona. From 67 different nationalities, some are especially coming from Morocco, Romania and China. The others, more than a thousand, are enjoying a temporal stay, through international mobility programs such as Erasmus+, lateral agreements, Erasmus Mundus, specific programs with the United States, and others that require individual applications. The countries that sent more students were Italy, Germany, United States, Netherlands, France and China. International students take part in lots of studies offered by the University, but many of them are studying at the faculties of Economy and Business, Philology, Law, Medicine, Geography and History, and Biology.

International experience

What are they looking for here? Basically, international experience, good training and a foreign language, without forgetting about the beauty of Barcelona. Zhen Lin, from China, has been in the University of Barcelona for three years, and sees it as “my family”. She has just started her fourth year of English Studies. She says she always wanted to be a language teacher. The two strongest reasons she had when thinking about choosing the University of Barcelona were “firstly, because this university is well known in the field of philology; another reason was the location of the faculty, right in the center of the city, very well connected to everything”. Zhen valeus her experience positively and would recommend it without any doubt: “teachers help me a lot, and everything is very organized, classmates are friendly and the lessons are very interesting”.

Once Erasmus, always Erasmus

At the same time, the University of Barcelona promotes international mobility among its students. With this aim, a thousand agreements with worldwide universities have been signed, aiming to improve academic quality through the strategic promotion of international relations with other universities.

Only in the academic year 2015-2016, the University of Barcelona received 1.762 international students and sent 1.255 abroad. Cristian Díaz is an example. He studied abroad thanks to international mobility programs three times during the seven years he studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona. The universities of Lille 3 (2011), Bologna (2013) and Brasilia (2015) were his destinations. He values these experiences very positively: “The first one, in France, was the discovery of it all. Not only for the cultural shock or adaptation to another education system, but for the discovery that you make on your own. Getting out of your comfort zone and changing your environment, it makes you grow and open your mind in ways you donʼt even know”, he says. And he continues: “the other two exchanges were a new chance of enrichment and expanding horizons. You become aware of your true potential”.

Now Cristian is the president of the student association ESN Barcelona UB, a section which is part of the biggest student organization in Europe, Erasmus Student Network (ESN). “We are a volunteering family that went on an Erasmus and want to give back a part of what that experience gave us”. Their objective is to take care of things so that students who are in Barcelona enjoy the best experience in the city. “We help them with any problem they might face when adapting to the city and the University; and organize many activities to invite them discover all that Barcelona offers, and help them getting to know the others”. From city tours, to sport activities or other social activities such as collaborating with residences for the elderly, or giving food to the neighbors of the Raval quarter. He says that students give a very positive response: “there is no better indicator than knowing they join ESN in their cities when they come back from the Erasmus”.

Cristian recommends the experience to other students: “I would actually help and encourage anyone whose institution offers it, to go on an Erasmus”. He says these exchanges enable students to gain skills in an international environment which is essential for a future that is “globalized, connected and multicultural”, and waiting for them when they finish their studies. “I canʼt think of a better way of improving transverse and maturing skills, which should also be promoted by the higher education system”, he says.

Institutional welcome to the new students

Today the University of Barcelona celebrated the institutional welcoming ceremony for the 1.720 international students that came this year. Nineteen international lecturers participating in research and teaching projects were also invited in the event, which has been chaired by the temporary rector of the University, Jordi Alberch. There was also the participation of the vice-Rector for International Policy, Maria Calejón; the vice-Rector for Academic Policy, Students and Quality, Gaspar Rosselló, and the Commissioner for Multilingualism, Maria Teresa Garcia Castanyer.

During the ceremony, several services of the University were presented: Academic Management, UB Sports, Language Services, and Estudios Hispánicos (Spanish Studies), apart from the student associations ESN Barcelona UB and AIESEC. Some international students participated to share their experience in the University of Barcelona. The ceremony ended with a human tower performance by Els Arreplegats de la Zona Universitària.