Course recommendations:
The Knox College in Barcelona Program arranges its own courses taught by UB faculty on the UB campus. Enrollment in these courses, which are limited to topics dealing with Spanish language and culture with a few exceptions, is open to program participants only, most of which come from the United States, or more specifically, are Knox College students. While the professors the program employs are very knowlegeable in their areas of expertise and enjoy working with international students, the isolation of the program within UB is sometimes detrimental to the students' efforts to adjust to life in Barcelona. For example, many students continue to speak English with their American classmates in the program because it is the most comfortable and natural for them and they have difficulty making friends among the Spanish students who they don't interact with in regular classroom settings. While placing all program participants in classes together is comforting because of the common past experiences in American universities and the present situation having to intergrate themselves to life in Barcelona, most of the students find that they do not get to meet and interact with Spanish students at the UB as much as they would like to. Only some of the students have the opportunity to actually enter the Universitat de Barcelona and then take the same classes all Spanish students there can take, but these students must be staying on the Knox College program for the duration of the UB term as well, which is not always equal to program terms.

Personal comments:
See "recommendations in regard to courses" above.

Course recommendations:
You must point out first what your main objectives are. If you are planning to learn the language, or if you are planning to study something specifically or if you are interested in the University. If you want to speak the language, choose classes where you can socialize more, if you want to specialize on that subject this place has the best, do it and try to see why, and if you are interest in the University, try to know it all. Be sure that mixing these objectives is good but that having a mainly objective is necessary.

Personal comments:
Try to make friends fast! Be shameless and maybe you will find some friends. Try it the hard as you can because they will help you choosing classes, apartments, neighborhoods and will make your trip unforgettable.

Course recommendations:
No real recommendations - we were allowed to take classes outside of the program specially designated for the U of I/U of C students. This posed a problem sometimes as the classes were in Catalan and not Castellano - but people also learned Catalan in order to take some of the classes .....I really enjoyed the classes within our program as they were interesting and geared for the foreign student - (but still all in Spanish)

Personal comments:
Computers were hard to come by and the ones that were available didn't always work that great - but I understand that they don't always have the facilities we do in the US in other countries....

Course recommendations:
The thing is that the method of evaluation is very diffrent from my home country. In Spain they don´t have tests, homework, projects, essays, presentations throught out the semester course. They just have one closed multiple choice final exam and depending in what you get in the test is what your grade is. I personally dont think the a single closed test can evaluate everything you learned through out the course.

Personal comments:
I would suggest that there should be homework, projects, presentations, tests through out the course that evaluate in different percentages what we learn, instead of only one single closed exam at the end.

Course recommendations:
I will not recommed any subjects specific, but have a good look a the subject that you want to do and verify with the International Relation Office if it is possible to follow the course in Spanish. All subject are given in Catalonian and next to that in Spanish, I had to go for one course to another faculty. But that is Barcelona, everything is in the Catalonian language

Personal comments:
I would prefer more interactiveness between students and teachers. Next to that they should change their accommodation to make it a more friendly study area.

Course recommendations:
Some courses are in Catalan and as a foreign student it is hard enough to understand something of the Spanish classes, so that´s why I really boicot the Catalan classes. Also some inscriptions etc. are in the Catalan language (all the information of the sportcentre of the university for example), it is really strange in my opinion that they don´t have it in Spanish)

Personal comments:
The academic level isn´t the highest. Everything is being repeated over and over. If you are a student with some academic level than this isn´t necessary.

Course recommendations:
don't forget they speak catalan most of the times and altough you can write your exams and papers in spanish, most of the times they accept exams in portuguese, italian and french.

Personal comments:
Try, no matter how hard it must look, to get along with local students. they seem pretty closed but that's because they think erasmus students don't even make the effort to know them. They are really nice people!

Course recommendations:
the courses are not so bad but the problem is the choice of them because the are not the same of the university where you come from,but at the end surely you will find something

Personal comments:
i haven't meet local study because i think that the university is too big and the people just have they own relationship but i have met a lot of foreign students

Course recommendations:
Since they speak catalan here in barcelona, you canґt take all the different courses. So your choise is rather limited, but some were worth it: especially OAE3.

Personal comments:
dont take too much subjects, if you have 3 or 4 its more then enough. This means youґll have to do more at your home institute.

Course recommendations:
Chose the professor first, class second. If they speak catalan, leave immediately, it's not worth the hassle.

Personal comments:
Hardly any discussion, it's a straight frontal approach, the teacher talks, the students take notes. There are more modern approaches these days.

Course recommendations:
It's kind of a luck of the draw kind of thing.

Personal comments:
Academically speaking, the courses were easy in theory, but at the right level for getting a handle on the language. In my opinion they aren't supposed to be the hardest classes that you have ever had.

Course recommendations:
catalan skills widen your choice of courses; students have to be very independent and be initiative!

Personal comments:
tutoring of students could be improved, but otherwise it is up to one's own level of initiative: one will always find people to do stuff with

Course recommendations:
A good way to get to know people is to take also classes at othe faculties like at the facult. And make sure you know which classes are in catalan and which in castellano.

Personal comments:
That the teachers are more available to the students

Course recommendations:
I took 4 courses: Marketing Internacional, Tecnicas Modernas de Ventas, Sociologia de la Comunicacion y Grupos a la Empresa and Teoria de la comunicacion Comercial. Marketing Internacional: a mess - there were 2 ways to be evaluated, one in which you had to complete many assessments throughout the course and a final term exam, and other which was just the exam. I wanted to choose the former, but i couldnt access the Course internet files for about 2 weeks so i failed to handle 4 assessments and couldnt choose the on going system anymore. So, as i was forced to choose the simple final exam option, i didnt feel estimulated to go to classes anymore, as presence is not required. Also, gotta say that the classes were pretty much of a mess, the teacher couldnt control the students and would be only speaking about cases, without explaining the fundamentals of international marketing. Deception much. Tecnicas Modernas de Ventas - good class, the teacher was very helpful and nice. The project we had to develop could have been a bit more oriented. Sociologia de la Com... - Awesome class, but u gotta speak a very good spanish to understand it. the teacher is so funny and smart and thinks completely out of the box. There arent many exchange students here, so u will probably be alone cause local students dont interact much. Teoria de la Comunicacion - good basic class of advertising. dont expect to learn on a deeper level though.

Personal comments:
I dont like the system of exams worthing 100% of the mark - would have prefered to be evaluated throughout the semester, as happens at my home uni.

Course recommendations:
I took 4 courses: Marketing Internacional, Tecnicas Modernas de Ventas, Sociologia de la Comunicacion y Grupos a la Empresa and Teoria de la comunicacion Comercial. Marketing Internacional: a mess - there were 2 ways to be evaluated, one in which you had to complete many assessments throughout the course and a final term exam, and other which was just the exam. I wanted to choose the former, but i couldnt access the Course internet files for about 2 weeks so i failed to handle 4 assessments and couldnt choose the on going system anymore. So, as i was forced to choose the simple final exam option, i didnt feel estimulated to go to classes anymore, as presence is not required. Also, gotta say that the classes were pretty much of a mess, the teacher couldnt control the students and would be only speaking about cases, without explaining the fundamentals of international marketing. Deception much. Tecnicas Modernas de Ventas - good class, the teacher was very helpful and nice. The project we had to develop could have been a bit more oriented. Sociologia de la Com... - Awesome class, but u gotta speak a very good spanish to understand it. the teacher is so funny and smart and thinks completely out of the box. There arent many exchange students here, so u will probably be alone cause local students dont interact much. Teoria de la Comunicacion - good basic class of advertising. dont expect to learn on a deeper level though.

Personal comments:
I dont like the system of exams worthing 100% of the mark - would have prefered to be evaluated throughout the semester, as happens at my home uni.

Course recommendations:
Every semester there is an intensive 1 month spanish course for foreigners. I really advice people to do it: I met half of my current friends in that course, and I improved my spanish a lot, straight from the beginning.

Personal comments:
none

Course recommendations:
I think the students quality of english, is quite low, but another hand, the quality of matimatices is really really high. Some courses was in Catalan, and I dont speak catalan, and it is quite similare to fraces, but it does not matter, becaouse I dont speak frances either. I asked the teacher to change the langues, but he told me No. some teachers changed the langue and some not, a friend of maid, got the answer, I am not your spanish teacher¡ so then I am going to have the clase in katalan. The courses is quite dificult and I dont think it is more easy for the erasmusstudent as for the catalan students, I mean I fail Economices history of catalonia, and I was in barcelona whit erasmus, but another hand I pass marco 4. I Think in sweden all the erasmus pass everything, but not here, I have so many exemple for this one, last semester was is a couses call MOF ( matimatices operation and finace) and all esramus student failed the exam) Another thing to think about is the reexamen is in september, so if you fail a examen in january, you have to wait until september. I failed Micro 3 and have to wait until september, I told to the teacher, and he told me, youhav to wait until september like averybody.

Personal comments:
I wouldlike to hav emore assingments to do becaouse here was it just the examen in the end of the semester, and at the end avertbody lock the door and trew way the key for studing like an ... on one way, I liked it, becaouse during the semster was it great, nut in the the end of the semester was is terrible, but anoter hand, I am not sure if it is a good way to study or not, if was had more assingments to do, we had to be more creative and do something, not just be studing for the examen

Course recommendations:
Be sure that your courses are in spanish and not in catalan, specially at the beginning it is really hard to understand it. tell the teachers that you are a foreigner at the beginning.

Personal comments:
no it was pretty much okay

Course recommendations:
I just took the courses they told me to. I was studying there through a study abroad program.

Personal comments:
I didn't really study that much. It was more about cultural experience rather than academics.

Course recommendations:
Try taking some real university courses, even though they might be more difficult.

Personal comments:
Maybe more groupwork should be involved to provoke further interaction between students.