Recommended credits are shown in parentheses. Course
descriptions for all Spanish language courses are available
on the AIFS website. Courses are subject to change at the
discretion of the UPF. Contact the AIFS Admissions Officer for current course listings.
ECTS: Universitat Pompeu Fabra awards ECTS (European
Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits. The number
of class hours and ECTS credits will be shown on the transcript
to allow each student’s home institution the ultimate decision
in the awarding of U.S. credit. Recommended U.S. semester
credits next to each course are based on 15 classroom hours
per semester credit and are not a conversion of ECTS credits.
Students should consult with their university advisors prior
to participating in the program to have course credit preapproved
and ensure that they are taking the appropriate
amount of credits.
Students taking Spanish language should seek pre-approval
for several levels of Spanish from their home institution in
order to ensure that they receive credit for the level that they
are placed into following the placement test.
Hispanic and European Studies Program (HESP)
Students on this program can take up to 15 credits.
Apart from Spanish language courses, all courses are taught
in English unless otherwise stated. Students who wish to take
courses taught in Spanish should ideally have completed 4
semesters of college level Spanish.
Catalan Studies
Once labeled by Newsweek magazine as the “coolest city in
Europe,” Barcelona enjoys the reputation of a cosmopolitan
city with a great international projection. Like all places,
however, it is not without its complexities and contradictions.
Behind a glossy and tourist-friendly façade, the city has a
complex history. This interdisciplinary course covers subjects
in history, geography, art, architecture, and urban planning.
We will also discuss issues relevant to people living within the
city of Barcelona today.
Once labeled by Newsweek magazine as the “coolest city in
Europe,” Barcelona enjoys the reputation of a cosmopolitan
city with a great international projection. Like all places,
however, it is not without its complexities and contradictions.
Behind a glossy and tourist-friendly façade, the city has a
complex history. This interdisciplinary course covers subjects
in history, geography, art, architecture, and urban planning.
We will also discuss issues relevant to people living within the
city of Barcelona today.
This course focuses on how football (soccer) shapes the
social, economic and cultural realms, and tries to interpret the
different links between the game itself and the dimensions
surrounding it: media coverage, aesthetic value, political targeting, public and corporate policies. In that context, FC
Barcelona remains a unique case, studied in business schools
as an example of global market branding, while passionately
lived by millions of fans all over the world.
This course celebrates the city of Barcelona and embarks
students on a journey to better understand the concept
of sustainability and its novel developments. From an
environmental, social and business perspective, the course
covers the main challenges that sustainability raises for the
city of Barcelona and beyond. Relying on innovative individual
and collective pedagogical practices, the course offers an
integrative and deep learning process.
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the
main periods of art in the 20th century. The main background
theme: the complex relationship between tradition and
vanguard, classicism and modernism, and revolution and
artistic reaction throughout the century. The class will center
on approximately five Catalan (or from nearby in Spain) artists,
but has doubtless international relevance. The course begins
by taking the most significant works of arts, and uses them as
a method to create a historic or biographical conversation,
always as a part of a plastic language.
In this course students will be introduced to the Catalan
language and culture gaining a basic grounding in the
language.
The main artistic developments will be covered as well as
some political, historical and cultural issues that might be
relevant. Landscape art, gender production, the Spanish take
on Primitivism and the dynamics between artistic creation and
finance capital are some of its more relevant aspects. Although
this course is mainly based on lectures and class debate, three
visits to galleries and exhibitions plus a self-guided visit will be
also part of the course requirements. These visits will be made
during the class time, and are equivalent to a usual in-class
session.
This course is created as an overall look at 20th century
Spanish literature. It will analyze brief texts from the most
representative authors, taking into account their historical
significance and ideology. The course will include a brief
section about Hispanic narrators, and the footprint that they
have left on the imagination of Spanish authors as genuine founders of contemporary Spanish literature. Academic
requirements: Advanced Spanish (a minimum of four college
semesters)
The course offers an introduction to Spanish cinema from the
start of Spain’s democracy in the 1970s, until present day. It pays
particular attention to filmmakers highlighted for their artistic
value and their capacity to reflect on the most remarkable traits
of contemporary Spanish reality and culture. The different
class sessions display the variety in recent Spanish cinema,
considering the famous works of Pedro Almodóvar, Victor Erice,
Julio Médem, Alejandro Amenábar, or José Luis Guerín.
This course is designed to give both political science and nonpolitical
science majors a robust overview of key features of
Spanish Politics. The core of the course is the study of the nature
and functioning of the Spanish democratic system established by
the late seventies. It pays special attention to the main political
processes, institutions, actors, belief systems and political
behavior in the country, including contemporary political
violence and international immigration. At the beginning of the
course, some sessions will be devoted to study the previous
Spanish democratic experience (1931-1936), its collapse (1936-
1939), the authoritarian rule imposed afterwards and the Spanish
transition to democracy (1975-1978), episodes that have left their
mark on the features of the current Spanish political system.
European Studies
Since the globalization of the economy at the end of the last century,
the context of brand communications in today’s businesses has
radically changed. Communication strategies to reach any type of
target group are challenged to anticipate stakeholders’ interests,
build brand equity beyond good products and services and be able
to remain competitive in a highly-active technological context that
has reversed some of the traditional ways of managing businesses.
Examines the nature and complexity of interactions between
the regions of the Mediterranean during the second and the
first millennia BC. The cultural florescence of the Ancient
Mediterranean civilizations had its origins in a series of colonial
entanglements beginning first in the eastern Mediterranean.
A period spanning more than two thousand years, and ending
with the Roman conquest, colonists, merchants, sailors and
conquerors sought to benefit from the commercial and cultural
opportunities provided by the riches of the eastern, central and
western Mediterranean.
Introduces the main institutions and the structure of the EU
to U.S. students. The course will examine the origin and the
development of the European integration process and the
institutional structure of the EU as well as examining policy issues
on integration, the EU budget and the EU in the international
scenario.
Global Studies
The course aims to put the contemporary discussion of
globalization into historical perspective by examining the
long-lasting interactions of East Asian countries, Latin America
and Southern Europeans from 1500-1800 in order to offer a
rich and understandable explanation of three hundred years
of globalization. The course will focus on the debate about
economic histories of divergence between the East and the
West.
The course looks at world news management up until now before
analyzing the consolidation of global media such as Al-Jazeera
in the Arab world, Tele Sur (Latin America) or Zee TV (India) to
look at their role in the global news story and the development
of “South-South” communication. Through the analysis of case
studies such as the media coverage of Islam, the Africa story,
the European Union and finally the image of Spain in the foreign
press, we can analyze the role of the foreign correspondent as
an intercultural mediator, the media construction of the “Other”,
the new actors in the global news narrative and ask the question:
how does the future of the world news system shape up?
This course looks to offer an analysis of the performances of
social movements in diverse parts of the world due to different
phenomena of the 21st century, such as globalization, political
and economic crises, and the process of democratization. This
course will address proposals, different forms of organization
and actions, debates raised, and the impacts generated by
movements in Arab and Western countries. The course will
combine different perspectives from different academic
disciplines, including political science, international relations,
sociology, economics, gender studies and investigative
journalism.
Spanish language courses
Students wishing to take a Spanish language course take
a placement test after arrival in Barcelona. Please see the
UPF website for course syllabi.
Spanish language is available at 6 levels:
Espanol Inicial 51637 (fall)/51643 (spring) (6) Beginner
Espanol Preintermedio 51638 (fall)/ 51644 (spring) (6) Pre-Intermediate
Espanol Intermedio 51639 (fall)/51645 (spring) (6) Intermediate
Espanol Avanzado 51640 (fall)/51646 (spring) (6) Advanced
Espanol Superior 51641 (fall)/51647 (spring) (6) Superior
Espanol para hispanohablantes 51642 (fall)/51648 (spring) (6) Spanish for Native Speakers
ESCI-UPF International Business Program
Students on this program can take up to 15 credits.
The International Management course is mandatory. Students
must also take at least one additional course from the ESCI-UPF
International Business Program.
Students who do not wish to choose all of their elective courses from
the International Business Program courses can choose to take two
or three courses from the HESP program, Spanish language or from
the ESCI-UPF regular undergraduate course offerings.
Business Courses
This course is designed to prepare students to better analyze and
understand the challenges and opportunities that companies face
when expanding their activities internationally. Special attention
will be placed upon the different tools and analytical skills available
to and required for various specialized managerial roles when
businesses are competing internationally. The course is comprised
of 3 segments: The first is designed to offer students insight into
the challenges posed by the international environment. The second
will focus on the analysis of global organizational structures and
international strategies. Finally, the third will deal with international
management operations, with a particular focus on import and
export strategies and financing. Recommended prerequisite:
Business Organization.
The course is divided into two sections: In the first section
students will analyze various trade models and policy
instruments, as well as the behavior of “real economic variables.”
In the second, they will explore topics related to international
finance, such as the foreign exchange market, the international
financial architecture, or the balance of payments and the
relationship it bears to the forex market. Recommended
prerequisite: Introduction to Economics (Microeconomics and
Macroeconomics).
This course aims to provide students with a good understanding
of the international financial markets and their impact on financial
decisions and management at international firms. The course
covers a range of topics related to the international monetary
system, the foreign exchange and derivatives markets, the
financing of international firms, foreign investment operations, and
foreign exchange risk management. Recommended prerequisite:
Finance.
The course is structured into two sections: The first offers a global
view of Europe (historical background, evolution of the EU, its
institutional structure, and its domestic and foreign policies). The
second analyzes the European business environment, paying
special attention to differences in managerial and consumer
behavior in order to understand and identify economic,
political, social and cultural dimensions of the EU that might
represent opportunities for business development in the region.
Recommended prerequisite: Business Organization.
In the international sphere, accounting principles are converging
(IFRS, USGAAP, etc.). In this context, and in order to take important
business decisions, it is imperative to be able to build, read,
understand and analyze the financial statements of companies, no
matter which country they are from. One of the goals of the course
is that students master the vocabulary of financial statements and
accounting reports, and use it to communicate with internal and
external interlocutors. It also focuses on how to measure corporate
investments and to consider the different finance resources that
are currently available. Recommended prerequisite: Business Organization.
ESCI regular undergraduate courses
Please note that undergraduate courses with local students at
UPF operate under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)
and courses will appear on transcripts as ECTS credits. AIFS
recommends that undergraduate courses transfer to your U.S. home
institution as 45 hours of instruction and 3 semester credits. It is your
responsibility to obtain course credit approval from your university
adviser at home before arriving in Barcelona. Exams for some ESCI
undergraduate courses are on a different academic schedule to
study abroad courses. If necessary, you may need to work with your
ESCI professor to schedule exams prior to the program departure
date.
AIFS may not be able to advise students of conflicts between the
International Business Program and regular undergraduate courses
until students are on-site in Barcelona. Students should also select
electives from the International Business Program and HESP courses
in case their undergraduate course requests cannot be fulfilled.
Courses are taught in English and Spanish. Below is a list of
undergraduate courses that have been offered in the past. Please
contact the AIFS Admissions Officer for a current list of available
ESCI undergraduate courses.
- Market Research I (3)
- International Marketing (3)
- International Expansion (3)
- Business (3)
- Culture and Business in America (3)
- Culture and Business in the Middle East and Africa (3)
- Consumer Behavior (3)
- International Project Management (3)
Courses taught in Spanish
- Finance II / Finanzas II (3)
- Cost Accounting / Contabilidad de Costes (3)
- International Logistics / Logística Internacional (3)
- Business Ethics / Deontología Empresarial (3)
- Quantitative Methods / Métodos cuantitativos (3)
- Analysis of Business Economics and Financial Information / Análisis de los estados constables (3)
- Sales Management / Dirección de ventas (3)
- International Digital Marketing / Marketing Digital Internacional (3)
Spanish Language Courses
As part of their course load students may take a Spanish language
course for 6 credits. Students wishing to take a Spanish language
course take a placement test after arrival in Barcelona.
