Academics

Students may choose among Tufts-Skidmore courses taught at our Madrid campus center by prestigious local faculty, and courses offered at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM).  Students normally take 1-2 classes at the UCM and 1-2 classes with the program. Internships may be taken for credit as well, and in certain instances, at private academies.

Program Courses

Tufts-Skidmore courses and faculty provide an academic experience for our students that allows them to study Spain critically and respectfully as a complex, dynamic, heterogeneous society and culture in transition. Program classes offer students the possibility of studying the most pressing sociopolitical issues of the day, issues that are manifest on the streets of Madrid, at the dinner table with their Spanish hosts, on television and the internet, in newspapers, and in the air they breathe here.

All of our program classes in one way or another study the quest for Historical Memory in Spain, the intersectionality of minority identities (gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, migratory status, social class), and their expression in art, literature, architecture, politics and social institutions.

The program grounds academic excellence in intellectual diversity, providing students with the information and intellectual tools they need to analyze the complex and diverse realities of modern and contemporary Spain, and to situate themselves within it as critical thinkers.

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

The Complutense University of Madrid, a public university founded in 1822 (but first established in the 13th century in Alcalá de Henares as a studium generale), is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain and in the Spanish-speaking world. In International and European league tables and surveys, the UCM consistently ranks among the top universities in Spain, together with the University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

The UCM has two campuses: the Somosaguas campus and the Moncloa campus. The Moncloa campus is the main campus of the university and is located in the heart of the city, in close proximity to the Tufts-Skidmore program center.

Our agreement with the UCM will allow our students to choose among two academic options:

  1. Students may take classes in the general curriculum of the UCM (Art History, Fine Arts, Languages and Literatures, History, Geography, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Mathematics, Law, Electrical Engineering, Music, Media Studies, Business, Education, Information Technology, Psychology, Social Work and more) choosing to study in the department or school of their choice. Please use this link to access these course offerings.

  2. Students may also choose courses offered through a special program for international students, Reunidas Program which is supported by the Consortium of North American University Programs. These courses are taken with other students from American programs in Madrid, and taught by UCM faculty. Reunidas operates within three Humanities schools at the UCM: Philosophy, Language and Literature, Geography and History, and offers classes in various disciplines such as Spanish Language and Literature, Geography, History, Art History, Philosophy, Sociology, International Relations and Economics, all courses offered in Spanish. Please use this link to view courses in the Reunidas program.

    Please direct any queries about the UCM to Guillermo Cámara, Academic Coordinator in Madrid.