Lingo Map: What is attending a Spanish university like?

Buenos días! It has been such a long time since my last blog post and I am glad I have the chance to write something about my university experience here. I have been talking a lot about the Spanish festivals and parties, but the truth is in the past few weeks I have also had a lot of final projects to hand in. So, although there is in no doubt a lot of fiesta in Spain, you still need to do some work.

I would like to start by arguing against the general perception that the education here is not of high quality. While the expectations might not be as high as in the UK, I find the Spanish way of teaching quite interesting and very practice-oriented. In the 9 months I have been part of Valencia University, I have had a lot more assignments and case study analyses to do than what I would normally be given in Cardiff. Moreover, most of them have been group ones, which really helped me get to know my course mates and learn how to work in a team.

Another thing that I really like is that the lectures in Spain tend to be in small groups (not more than 30 people), which allows the professors to get to know their students and vice versa. At first this close relationship and lack of too much formality might lead to the experience of cultural shock. However, in this way the lecturers learn a lot more about your individual abilities and are able to observe the effort of each student, therefore, consider it for the final grade. The usage of visual material, videos, films and personal experiences to illustrate theoretical concepts is also quite common here.

To summarise, I have learnt a lot while studying at Valencia University and I was lucky to have amazing lecturers. One of them is the director of the Masters programme I am interested in, which is why I am considering coming back after my graduation next year.