erasmus

How is the UK's departure from EU affecting Brits in Catalonia, students and Catalan businesses? 

Exchange between Britain and Catalonia involve 1,000 students every year

How is the UK's departure from EU affecting Brits in Catalonia, students and Catalan businesses? 

More than 36% of the students who register in a university master in Catalonia are graduates from a foreign university, according to the Secretary's Office of Universities and Research most recent data corresponding to the course 2015-2016. Almost four out of 10 students registered in the Catalan university system for postgraduate studies have studied in an international university system. The Secretary of Universities and Research, Arcadi Navarro, said this shows “the good quality of Catalan universities”, which achieve notable positions in international rankings among the best European and international universities. He also noted an annual rise in these registrations, which means that every year more foreign graduates choose Catalonia for continuing their university training.

The Spanish Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, proposed this Tuesday during her appearance before the Commission of Health of the Spanish Parliament the creation of “Erasmus scholarships at a national level”. The programme will be named Cervantes, in commemoration of the fourth centenary of the death of the writer, and seeks to “promote territorial cohesion in addition to favouring the mobility of students”, Montserrat explained. It is a mobility project for students between 14 and 18 years old so that they can study the last two years of high school and the two pre-university years “in another Spanish city different from their own”. To be launched together with the Ministry for Education, the project “aims to promote knowledge of our cultural diversity, our traditions and languages”, said the Ministry in a statement.

Catalan universities are present at the Annual Conference and Expo of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), which is the world’s largest event of its kind. The conference is organised in the United States and this year’s edition is being held in Houston (Texas) until Friday June 1st. The website www.studyincatalonia.com has been presented and aims to promote the studies offered by Catalan public and private universities worldwide. The presence of foreign students in postgraduate and master courses at Catalan universities increased by 34% in the last school year (2010-2011).

Thousands of Erasmus students choose Catalonia each year as their exchange destination. The students, from across Europe, started either their work or study placements, last week. The CNA interviewed two of the new arrivals about their reasons for this choice and what they hope to gain from their experiences.

Laia Fàbregas, a Barcelona born writer, says: “Barcelona is much more than that. There are a lot of tourists and different types of people that enjoy living here”.

In order to receive EU funding to subsidise part of the language courses for Erasmus students, the Spanish Government has labelled Valencian Catalan as a different language. Both dialects were considered as the same language in all previous documents to the EU, an opinion shared by all the universities