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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 thanks to the sea breezes. During the summer
months there is a host of leisure activities: open air concerts,
local festivities, the International Festival, bullfighting... The University consists of some 15,000 students, a teaching staff of 950, and approximately 450 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. The airport connects Santander with Madrid and Barcelona. The nearest international airport is that of Bilbao, which is about 100 kilometres away by motorway and 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. |
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The University 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" and others, has led to the learning programmes being both perfected and enlarged, and are now offered throughout the year. The courses in Spanish are offered at five different levels (beginners', pre-intermediate, intermediate, advanced, and higher), which can, in turn, be divided into sub-levels. 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. Our method is based on listening comprehension and oral and written expression. Owing to the experience we have gathered since 1975, we can ensure the best possible results in the shortest possible time. An essentially practical method that does away with the complications of a rule-based grammar and focuses on real, practical, everyday language. Our students hear, write, read and speak Spanish from the very first day they arrive at the School. The structure of the courses is as follows:
The two higher levels of the April course will be partially orientated towards preparing students to sit the examination for the Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE).
An e-mail address is available for all those who have enrolled for the Spanish courses. As well as having access to the Central University Library, students will have the right to use all the other facilities available on the university campus (Halls of Residence, sports facilities etc...)  The
University's Department of Sports and Physical Activities organises
summer courses in aerobics, keep-fit work-outs, golf, horse-riding,
parapenting, hang-gliding, canoeing, tennis, mountaineering, sailing
and windsurfing... Each of the courses provides a detailed programme
and there is a regularly updated list of activities offered. Please
ask us about any activity you are particularly interested in. The
University also has an indoor Sports Centre on campus, where it is
possible to practise all kinds of indoor sports and to make use of
its body-building gymnasium as well. An ample programme of voluntary activities has also been drawn up in order to complete the foreign 
students' linguistic and cultural formation during their leisure hours.
Students will be able to go to a bullfight, see the latest Spanish
films or simply go out for "chocolate y churros" at tea-time and then
"ir de marcha" (sample spanish night-life) in the company of their
fellow students and monitors from the Centre. Trips of artistic and
touristic interest around the region (Santillana del Mar, Comillas,
Castro Urdiales, Peaks of Europe), and even outside it (Guggenheim
Museum...), are also organised. Many of these activities, as in the
case of those organised by the Department of Sports and Physical Activities,
require the payment of an enrolment fee and may be cancelled if the
minimum number of participants is not reached.
 Two
kinds of accommodation are available to foreign students during the
months of July, August and September: living with a family in the
city, or in a University Hall of Residence. During the academic year
accommodation will only be in families. In both cases the accommodation
offered is on a full-board basis. Families are carefully selected by the university staff in order to guarantee the students both a pleasant atmosphere and satisfactory accommodation. All families offer individual rooms and are usually located quite close to the place in which the courses are given (20 minutes on foot at most). The University Hall of Residence "Juan de la Cosa" is on campus, and has both single and double rooms. There is only a limited number of places available in this Hall of Residence and the rooms will be allocated by strict order of enrolment. The reservation deadline for this type of accommodation is one month prior to the start of the corresponding course. After that date we cannot guarantee the availability of places.
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