Skidmore in Alcalá students take courses at both our Program Center located in Madrid and at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (UAH). All courses are taught entirely in Spanish. The program provides enrollment in UAH through the Facultad de Documentación (The School of Documentation). This center offers enrollment in regular university courses as well as in courses especially for North-American students. A specific group of UAH professors of regular university courses will make special arrangements for our students to be able to complete their course work by Christmas vacation. Fall students' course selections at the UAH will be limited to this group of willing professors.

Students travel to the Program Center in Madrid once a week to attend the required civilization course; either JMFS-323 Twentieth Century Spanish Civilization and Theater or JMAH 221 Contemporary Spanish Civilization and Art (offered during the spring semester only.) Students may also take Advanced Spanish Composition and Conversation, a program course offered in Alcalá. Program courses are specifically designed for our students. Individual and group tutorials in Alcalá de Henares are an integral part of the academic program and students are encouraged to take advantage of these services. Students also attend monthly lectures by leading political and cultural figures at the 'Recoletos Center' and attend cultural events in both Madrid and Alcalá.

In addition to the required course in Madrid, students typically take three or four courses at UAH. Following is a list of courses that will be available to our students. Students also have the option of taking the Advanced Spanish Composition and Conversation in Alcalá if they choose. For students interested in theater, specialized courses will be available through the Aula de Estudios Escénicos y de Medios Audiovisuales, directed by Ángel Berenguer.

Participants are expected to carry a full course load of 14 to 18 credits per semester. All course work taken in Alcalá is reported on a Skidmore College transcript. For Skidmore students, grades are calculated into the Skidmore GPA, and students may count all 300-level credits in Alcalá toward Skidmore's maturity-level credit requirement. Non-Skidmore students should check with their home campuses for details.

University of Alcalá de Henares Courses

The following list is a selection of courses that have either been taken by program students in the past or correspond to the usual areas of interest demonstrated by students in the past. All courses listed may not be available every year, but many other courses are offered at the University which are not listed here. Students can consult the UAH Web site, where course listings are found within each Facultad's pages.

Each UAH course is listed with its original title in Spanish, the translation in English and a brief description of the course content. After the titles, we have also included the semester in which the course is offered and the academic year (for Spanish students) in which the course is taken. The Spanish University system has a basically fixed curriculum, which requires students to specialize in one academic area from their first year of studies and to take specified required courses in each of their four years of university.

If “Third Year” is mentioned after a course title, it means that Spanish students take this course in their third year of studies in the field. There are also some electives in each major, which are grouped in two “cycles.” If the elective is from the "Second Cycle," it can be taken by the student in their third or fourth year of studies. This information will be helpful in determining the maturity level of courses for translation into American credits. Program students are not bound by the Spanish system, but must, of course, have the appropriate academic background to follow the material given in the courses they select.

Internships

Internships are available for full-year students in a variety of non-profit organizations, museums, schools, and business. Past students have interned at places such as the Botanical Gardens of Alcalá, Unicef, teaching art classes at a local school, and working with the PSOE, a Spanish political party, and many others. Interested students should contact Joan Berenguer, Skidmore in Alcalá’s Resident Director, for more information.

Extracurricular Activities

In addition to courses offered at UAH there are a number of activity courses offered at private academies of quality and solid professional standards.