|
Cantabria
Cantabria provides a privileged setting for those wishing to learn the Spanish language. It is a community in which, in contrast to many others, the inhabitants, the public institutions and media all use Castillian Spanish alone.
The city of Santander , the community's capital, lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. The city enjoys a mild climate, and this is so even in the summer. During the summer months there is a host of leisure activities: open air concerts, local festivities, the International Festival, bullfighting...
The University of Cantabria consists of some 14,000 students, a teaching staff of 1,050, and approximately 500 administrative workers. It enjoys one of the most favourable staff/student ratios within Spain, and now ranks third out of all Spanish Universities regards quality and standards of research according to the National Planning and Assessment Agency.
Santander is easily reached by ferry from Plymouth. From the French border (Hendaye) there is a motorway coach service which takes only 2.5 hours. Santander has regular flight connections with several different cities in Spain and with London, Liverpool, Rome and Frankfurt in Europe. These connexions will be increased during 2008. There is also another international airport nearby in Bilbao, a city about 100 kilometres away by motorway and which has a regular bus service to Santander. There are rail connections with Madrid 24 hours a day. Please feel free to ask if you should have any questions about the best way to get to us.
Spanish courses for foreigners
The University of Cantabria has offered summer courses in Spanish as a Foreign Language for well over two decades. Furthermore, over the last few years the presence of a large multinational student body, the result of exchange programmes such as "Erasmus/Socrates" and others, has led to the learning programmes being both perfected and enlarged, and these are now offered throughout the year.
Our Spanish courses are offered at five different levels: beginners', pre-intermediate, intermediate, advanced, and higher, which can be divided into sublevels. On the first day of each course there will be a written test to assess the level of each student; after this, students will be placed in groups of the same level, with no more than 15 students per class.
Students who satisfactorily complete the final level should be perfectly capable of successfully sitting the examinations held by the Instituto Cervantes, which is under the auspices of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture. These examinations may be taken in the months of May and November at any of the "Instituto Cervantes" delegations that exist abroad. The University of Cantabria is also authorised to set these examinations in those above mentioned months.
|
