Year of foundation: 1450
Approx. number of students: 90,600
Period of study: Mid September-End January; End January-Early June
MCI partner since: 2010
The City
Barcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of approx. 1.6 million people. The city is located on the Mediterranean coast.
Barcelona is recognized as a global city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts and international trade. Barcelona is a major economic center with one of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports, and Barcelona International Airport is the second largest in Spain after the Madrid-Barajas Airport (handles about 30 million passengers per year). The city is well known in recent times for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona.
People in Barcelona speak usually Catalan, not Spanish.
The University
The University of Barcelona (Officially in Catalan: Universitat de Barcelona, UB; in Spanish: Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Joan Lluís Vives Institute.
With 75 undergraduate programs, 353 graduate programs and 96 doctorate programs to over 90,000 students, UB is considered to be the best University in Spain. Internationally, the 2010 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 148th overall in the world. Its subject rankings were: 72nd in Arts & Humanities, 139th in Engineering & IT, 68th in Life Sciences & Biomedicine, 54th in Natural Sciences, and 118th in Social Sciences.
MCI Tourism students study at the attached University School of Hotel management and Tourism. 