GSE offers a fall semester Language and Culture program at UB. No language requirement exists, but it is recommended that students have taken at least one semester of college level Spanish before enrolling.

Required Language Courses

Students attending Spanish Language and Culture semester programs at the University of Barcelona are required to take a two week, 40-hour, intensive Spanish language course as preparation for semester long courses. Following the two week preparation course students will take a placement exam and be enrolled in the appropriate semester language course. Spanish language courses consist of 110 contact hours of instruction focused on conversation and grammar. Students will earn 11 semester units for the completion of the Spanish Language portion of the course. 

The required language courses are divided into the following five levels:

• Beginner Spanish (100A)
• Elementary Spanish (100B)
• Intermediate Spanish (200)
• Advanced Spanish (300)
• Superior Spanish (400)

Optional Cultural Elective Classes

Students have the option of taking 1 cultural elective course in addition to the required language course. Each cultural elective course meets for a total of 45 contact hours throughout the semester. After the successful completion of the exam(s) at the end of the term, students may earn approximately 3 semester unit per cultural elective course successfully completed. If both the Language and Culture portions of the semester program are completed, students may earn up to 14 semester credits.

Click on any of the courses below to view a detailed course description.  Please note that the cultural electives are taught in Spanish; each cultural elective correlates to students' fluency levels.

100A and 100B (beginner and elementary) courses are considered Spanish language fluency "Level A"; 200, 300, and 400 (intermediate and above) courses are considered Spanish language fluency "Level B."

Note: Interested fall semester participants may extend their semester to a year abroad by continuing their study into the spring semester in either the same city or a different city offered by GSE. Doing so would merit a discount in tuition for the second program attended. Contact us for details.