Comillas Pontifical University: An international education in the Spanish capital

Text: Esme Fox | Photos: © Universidad Pontificia Comillas

Increasingly, students from across Europe are looking to leave their home countries to study at foreign universities or spend a term or year abroad to explore different languages and cultures.

The Comillas Pontifical University, just north of the city centre in Madrid, offers students the chance to experience life in one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan and vibrant cities, paired with excellent educational programmes.

The university also regularly ranks highly in the Times Higher Education lists, and has one of the highest rankings of any university in Europe.

Comillas has the highest ratio of international exchange students in Spain and has agreements with more than 600 universities worldwide. Students attend from some 41 different countries, including a high proportion from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.

Students don’t need to be fluent in Spanish either. More than 500 subjects are taught in English, while 114 are taught in French. However, the university also offers excellent language training, and has connections with foreign universities through exchange programmes.

“We offer courses that best respond to the interests of the students, and aim to internationalise our degrees through training and preparing them for working life in a globalised context,” says Antonio Obregón, vice chancellor of Academic Organisation and Teaching Staff of the Universidad Pontificia Comillas.

A private, Catholic university, Comillas offers Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s programmes and research courses in a variety of subjects, from law and business to engineering and theology. It is also part of the CFA University Affiliation Program – a global investment qualification.

Benefitting from 25 agreements with law schools across the United States, it is also the first university in Spain to sign an agreement with the prestigious Columbia University in New York.

Not only are the students and courses international, but the staff are too. “The university’s professors also teach terms abroad. For example, several of our professors teach at MIT every year,” says Mariano Ventosa, vice chancellor for Research and Internationalisation.

As well as the usual lecture theatres and libraries, the university has a range of top-notch facilities to aid learning, including workshops and robotics, mock hospital rooms and engine rooms.

Comillas aims to offer its international students the perfect combination of academic excellence with a broad range of social programmes and facilities.