Oviedo is the capital of the Principality of Asturias, one of the most historically significant regions of the country. It has a population of just over 200,000 people and rests at the foot of the Sierra del Aramo, just 23 miles from the coast. Historically, the city dates back to when it was the capital of the Asturian Kingdom and an important stopover point on the Camino de Santiago.
Today, Oviedo’s urban design promotes equity and inclusion in public gathering places, parks, and historic sites. It is filled with public squares, car-free livable streets, and a culture of sidewalk cafes, markets and bars.
Students live within the urban core, in a collection of intimate, 5-minute neighborhoods, where all the amenities of civic life are available. Oviedo is safe, welcoming, and inclusive, a place where students feel at home right away.
The hospitality and warmth of the Asturian people, coupled with the absence of mass tourism and the low presence of English-speaking visitors in the region, are the keys to Oviedo’s strength as a student learning environment for cultural and linguistic immersion. Oviedo has a reputation for being one of the safest and cleanest cities in Spain, where one can walk just about everywhere. As such, it offers a great quality of life for our students.
You can study abroad here during the fall and spring terms or for the entire academic year. There are also intensive Spanish sessions in Maymester, July, and August. Many students enroll in a combination of these terms. Academic coursework is conducted at the University of Oviedo. It includes special language and culture courses for non-native speakers and opportunities to enroll directly in regular courses offered through one of the University’s undergraduate degree programs.
The academic program is complemented with local field trips, overnight excursions to other regions of Spain, and an array of extracurricular experiential activities (placements with host families, internships, service learning, language partners, intercultural training) that make learning a 24/7 activity for our students.
Surrounded by the city’s impressive medieval quarter and 400-year-old University, students have easy access to a full agenda of cultural events, museums, significant historical monuments and entertainment activities in Oviedo and the nearby cities of Gijón and Avilés (just 30 minutes by bus or rail).