An entry point to Spain today...
| Gijón and Oviedo comprise a thriving urban area in a beautiful natural setting. The area is home to a university of 28,000 students with an excellent reputation and virtually no programs or exchanges offering American students the chance to study there. Gijón is a city of a quarter of a million people and, combined with nearby Oviedo and Aviles, is the center of a network of some 600,000 residents. |
Asturias is a green, mountainous region with a rugged Atlantic coastline, intensely agricultural and home to a thriving milieu of small and medium-sized enterprises as well as a population of one million. Boasting the historical city of princes, Oviedo, and the modern bustling city of Gijón, Asturias offers a myriad of perspectives by which to understand the modern Spanish experience: autonomous not federal, both agricultural and industrial, a contemporary society built on deep historical foundations that have not been forgotten and, most importantly, a strong regional identity.
One of the great advantages of Asturias as a destination for an education abroad program aiming for significant local contact is that it constitutes an urban area and a region in its own right, not a tributary of a larger metropolitan area. Asturian society is built on its own foundations, economic, demographic, and cultural. Opportunities for field experience are wide-ranging, from social affairs, public health, agriculture, and marine biology, to cultural management and tourism, or business administration in small and mid-sized enterprises. IFE has seized the advantage of a mid-sized city to build ties with the Gijón municipal government and local administration. As elsewhere, IFE’s rootedness as a local actor translates into greater exposure and opportunity for its students.
The presence of the first-rate University of Oviedo adds to the attractiveness of this city and region for serious education abroad purposes. For one thing its European-level laboratories and research centers offer opportunities for research internships. The University is also the source for highly qualified teachers for IFE courses, and advisers for student research projects.
