International Day, punto de encuentro de estudiantes extranjeros en la UC3M

On April 20, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) organized International Day on the Getafe campus. The event enabled students from the Erasmus and the Non-European Mobility international exchange programs to share their UC3M experiences while at the same time informing outgoing UC3M students about their foreign university destinations for the coming academic year.

The event took place amidst a festive atmosphere in which informal discussion groups were organized among students from around the world. “I really liked the UC3M professors-they are so nice. When I get back to my university in Prague, I will tell my classmates to study here too because the course offering is really good,” noted Jan Cedick, an Electrical Engineering student from the Czech Republic. 

Andrea Bayer feels just as satisfied with her stay here.  Andrea, a German student who has been studying Business Administration and Management since September on the Getafe Campus, summed it up it this way: “I love Spain.  I wanted to see the culture, and even though it was hard for me at first to understand Spanish, I now understand almost all my profs.  What I especially liked about UC3M are the practical courses.” 

Beatriz Imedio, a UC3M Business Administration and Management student, took advantage of the gathering to speak about her experience at the University of Victoria in Canada.  “I learned so much in Canada, and when I can, I’ll go back.  And I convinced the friends I made there to come to UC3M to study because it is the best public university in Spain,” she asserted. 

The ESN reiterates that its aim is to make “Erasmus students feel at home”. This is star program of the European Union and its about shaping citizens who are academically and socially adept.  They come to Madrid alone and they have to make friends, get around in a language they don’t know and attend classes”, noted one of ESN’s volunteers. 

The UC3M Spanish students who seek an international exchange for the most part request universities in the United States, Canada and England.  Among those with most places offered is the University of California, which has up to 30 slots for UC3M students to study for one semester or for the entire academic year.  With respect to the countries of origin, the majority of UC3M foreign students “come from Asia and Oceania for the English studies here, and come from Latin America for the Spanish studies,”  the International Office on the UC3M campus highlighted.  As for study programs, Business Administration and Management  (ADE in Spanish) is the degree program most foreign students request..  

Currently, 18% of the UC3M student body is international. The proportion is especially relevant in the master’s programs (22%) and in the doctoral program (44%).   As for UC3M, 37% of its graduates have taken part in the Erasmus program and 17.5% have participated in non-European mobility programs.  

UC3M has signed more than 400 exchange agreements with universities from 54 countries to foment academic mobility among its students and it is the third university in Spain in the number of bachelor degree and master’s programs taught wholly in English (34).  

Further information: 

Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Office

http://esnuc3m.org/

International Relations Service

http://portal.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/internacional/seric