Frequently Asked Questions

Our alumni love us! We are happy to have provided great experiences for over a thousand students over the last 26 years. Many ALBA students referred their peers to the program after their return home, quite a few have completed a second term or an internship with us and many report that their experience and letters of recommendation from their ALBA professors were instrumental in getting a job before and after graduation.

ALBA Study Abroad in Barcelona, in principle, follows a “quarter” calendar with three eleven-week terms and a summer session (Fall term, Winter term, Spring term, and a five-week Summer Intensive session). However, courses are not sequential and you can, therefore, attend for a single term at any time, or for any two or all three terms of a regular academic year.

What about semester school students? Yes, ALBA does cater to semester school students and many semester school students have attended the ALBA program over the last 25 years (U of Michigan, Vanderbilt, UC Berkley, to name a few). In fact, the ALBA program has the added benefit to semester school students in that they can get a full semester of transferable credits in just 11 weeks, leaving more time for an internship or a longer spring or summer break to work and/or travel.

Are full-year programs available to maximize my Spanish language fluency and cultural and international experience? Yes, absolutely. ALBA can customize a full-year program, with preferential pricing, that provides both classes and an internship in your field. Let us know what you need and have in mind!

Please check our application guidelines for more information.

Application deadlines are roughly four weeks prior to the start of a term, although if you are also applying for financial aid we ask that you apply at least eight to ten weeks prior. This is a later deadline than usual for such programs, not only because of our smaller size, but also because we have jettisoned the traditional letters of reference (they often delay the process and are almost always glowing; we ask instead for the name and contact address of your official academic adviser in cases where we are unsure). You will also note that we do not impose a minimum GPA requirement because we have found that these vary between institutions, between departments in the same institution, and between teachers and courses within the same department. All of these things are taken into consideration but not under any artificial criteria. Likewise, you are free to expand upon your interest in studying with us, but we do not require a separate essay of minimum length. Basically, good academic standing – a virtual certainty that you will complete your first degree without significant incidence of “non-passing” grades – and a desire to study abroad are the key elements for you to have a successful experience, and hence for ALBA to admit you to the program.

Program Fees Include:

• Portland State University enrollment (UW students will be enrolled at UW), transcripts, and other required campus fees.
• Tuition. Small-group classes with excellent professors from some of Spain’s finest universities.
• Comprehensive medical insurance. Except for UW Students, who hire their own insurance.
• 24-hour emergency assistance service.
• Up to 22 Quarter credits or 15 Semester credits.
• Airport transfer to accommodation on the day of arrival if within the days and time frame of suggested arrival.
• Orientation lunch and various Barcelona city tours.
• Cooking classes at ALBA kitchen with a local chef.
• All class field trips and entrances to cultural institutions.
• At least four ALBA-sponsored full-day excursions out of Barcelona.

Program Fees DO NOT Include:

• Flight or other transportation to and from, or around (Metro and Bus), Barcelona.
• Food or personal expenses or travel expenses beyond ALBA-sponsored events.
• Housing accommodation. If students wish to live in some of the ALBA-sponsored accommodation options, they must inform ALBA and the housing fees, at least 60 days before the start of the term.
• Class textbooks, and reading materials.

Small and Personalized. First and foremost, we are a relatively small study abroad program with an average enrollment of 25 students and a cap of forty students per term. This means that class sizes can be as small as two and no larger than 12 students except for specific subjects typically involving a large element of visual arts presentation in which a lecture format is appropriate. Other classes are seminar-style in format which results in a much more effective learning experience. A smaller class also allows ALBA students to become acquainted with each other and so promotes future contacts among our alumni.

Experienced local staff and faculty. ALBA’s staff and support and faculty consist of an international team of local professionals living in Barcelona with extensive experience in study abroad, the Office of International Affairs at Portland State University (Portland, Oregon), local professors from Barcelona universities with long academic and study-abroad experience, and full time on-site Director. The on-site Directors are a married American couple, with three children all born in Spain, who have lived in Barcelona (Catalunya) and have run the ALBA program since 2003. The Director, staff and faculty are uniquely able to provide ALBA students a wide range of interesting field trips, day excursions and extracurricular activities as well as travel advice and assistance (and frequently to their visiting friends and families) in and beyond Barcelona’s city limits. The ALBA team can attend closely, “24/7” if need be, to students’ concerns, which most larger programs with high enrollment (100 to 400 students per term) cannot provide outside of regular “office” hours or due to a rigid and possibly off-site administrative structure.

Value. For 26 years ALBA has maintained competitive tuition, fees and housing compared to the costs of other study abroad programs. Fees include all required textbooks (on a loan basis), faculty-led field trip entrances, ALBA sponsored day excursions and all readers and other reference works, magazines, newspapers and guides in the ALBA library. More often than not the overall cost of the ALBA program is less than other study abroad programs and is usually well below private universities and other public institutions. In many cases we can match a student’s tuition and housing at their home institution or get quite close to it.

Local medical support and services 24/7. ALBA fees include supplementary travel and medical insurance ($50,000 coverage with $100 deductible), together with 24-hour access to an English-speaking doctor with years of experience treating American students.

ALBA follows the North American and Spanish practice for post secondary institutions in doing our absolute best to make reasonable accommodations in order to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in courses, programs, and activities’. It is the student’s duty to duly advise ALBA well ahead of time of any disabilities that need to be accommodated. There may be specific conditions that we cannot accommodate. Ask us for more information.

ALBA classes are held at our own facilities located at Portal de L’Angel 42, which is in the Barrio Gótico in the absolute center of the city. We provide ALBA students with excellent facilities including a study room, a wi-fi lounge and wireless connection throughout the ALBA room and spacious classrooms with good natural light. Being located in the center of the two main universities in town, University of Barcelona and the University of Pompeu Fabra affords ALBA students better opportunities to mix with Spanish and other international students. Our faculty are professors from one of the local universities that come to the ALBA facilities to teach our classes in English, excepting Spanish language which is taught solely in Spanish.

Yes, but absence from scheduled classes is not encouraged any more than it would be at your home institution. ALBA rarely holds classes on Fridays leaving the long three-day weekend for independent travel. Additionally, being Spain there are usually one or two long holiday weekends during which students can travel farther afield for up to four days. More extensive travel is commonly undertaken after the end of a term, or sometimes before a term starts.

VERY IMPORTANT: Students are allowed to travel to wherever they choose, however, we do require students to let us know where they will be traveling to. As well, we ask that students acknowledge any travel advisories that they receive from ALBA and/or the U.S. or any other government entity.

Yes, all students attending ALBA have health insurance, active between the official arrival and leaving dates.

Students attending ALBA will be enrolled at Portland State University for the duration of the program (all except UW students). They will be covered by PSU Study Abroad Insurance (Gallagher). 

University of Washington students are required to purchase UW Student Abroad Insurance (CISI).

All students will have to call the insurance company before receiving medical attention, It is their responsibility to study the policy, know their insurance number and understand how to proceed when medical assistance is required.