Catalan is the official and institutional language of the UB and is therfore used in all the University's academic and administrative affairs. For the purposes of teaching, both Catalan and Spanish are used, as these languages hold co-official stauts in Catalonia. According to the specific requirements of each faculty, some subjects may also be taught in English. In addition, the UB seeks to establish a multilingual working environment and to improve its student's language skills by actively promoting the learning and use of other languages.
Teaching staff and students have the right to express themselves, orally or in writing, in the official language of their choice. For example, students may write assignments and complete exam papers in either Catalan and Spanish, irrespective of the language used by the teaching staff. Incoming exchange students are also offered the chance to use other language for assessed course activities, provided that an agreement is reached beforehand with the teaching staff.
Each center announces the language of instruction before the start of the academic year, so when formalizing enrolment, students can consult the language in which the class groups of each subject are taught. The language indicated is not changed and is maintained throughout the course.
To help exchange students deal with the use of Catalan, the UB offers an intensive beginners' course, which starts ten days before classes begin each semester, and the Welcome programme, which includes a variety of activities organized by Language exchange service. You can check the course calendar, the centres where they are taught and the registration system on the website of the Language Services.
