Spanish department starts program in Toledo

“[The program’s purpose is] to offer the students the academic preparation that they could achieve here ... but at the same time ... [have] the opportunity to be in contact with other cultures to really rethink their academic future,” said Princeton in Spain director and Spanish professor Antonio Calvo.

The program’s courses will be taught by Calvo and fellow Spanish professor Enrique Martinez-Bogo and will be open only to University students, who will take either SPA 207: Studies in Spanish Language and Style or SPA 310: Introduction to Contemporary Spanish Culture and Society for academic credit.

The new program reflects the University’s emphasis on cultivating an international focus in its student body, Spanish department chair Angel Loureiro said.

“From the point of view of a department, the best international dimension is to take students abroad so that they have direct experience not only with the language but also with the culture,” Loureiro said.

This cultural exposure will be achieved through planned excursions into the city and interactions with its residents, Calvo said.

“Through being in the country and combining the academic portion with their interactions with the people of Toledo, the experience could awaken academic excitement for the students,” Calvo said. “It will be an important experience both academically and personally.”

Martinez-Bogo, assistant director of Princeton in Spain, emphasized the advantages of the program’s location.

“With the artistic elements of the course, it’s perfect because Toledo encompasses distinct forms of art,” Martinez-Bogo said. “When we are here in Princeton we have a little piece of Spain, but we can’t really take advantage of our location, while there you can go anywhere you want and benefit from your surroundings,” he said.

Quality of instruction also factored into the program’s creation.

“We thought that in being able to control the syllabus and having Princeton professors, we would have much more control over the quality and success of the courses,” Loureiro said.

Loureiro said he feels that many study-abroad programs run by other universities have not produced the best results. “When students participate in many of these programs, they return, take a placement test and unfortunately have to repeat the class,” he said.

With the Princeton in Spain program, however, Loureiro said this will not be an issue. “In terms of the intellectual development, we have no doubt that the students will finish this course better prepared than they would in any other program,” he said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Princeton in Spain program was designed keeping in mind that few Princeton students go abroad, Loureiro said. Taught by Princeton professors using identical syllabi to those used on campus, the program offers the most familiar intellectual environment students could hope to find overseas, he explained.

“We thought that if it was a Princeton program, the students would feel more comfortable going during the summer,” Loureiro said.

According to a report published by the Institute of International Education, Princeton ranks 34th in undergraduate study abroad participation. Less than 30 percent of Princeton’s student body opts to study abroad, in comparison with the 61, 50 and 48 percent at Dartmouth, Duke and Stanford, respectively, who decide to do so.

Several students have already expressed interest in the Princeton in Spain program.

“I’m excited for this program because the other Spanish study-abroad programs that I have looked at have costly application fees or nonrefundable deposits upon acceptance, and they also don’t seem very good,” said Ledina Gocaj ’11, a 300-level Spanish student.

Some students, though, have expressed concern over the program’s $3,800 price tag, which includes tuition, room and board, and fees for excursions into the city.

“Considering how many students are on financial aid at Princeton, $3,800 is a lot of money,” Rafael Palomino ’10 said.

According to the department website, the Spanish and Portuguese department will offer 16 scholarships of a maximum of $1,000 for Princeton in Spain participants on financial aid.

Study Abroad Program Director Nancy Kanach said she does not feel that the introduction of a new pool of applicants will necessitate additional funding for students on financial aid hoping to study abroad.

“Students have been getting funds to study in Spain in the summer for a number of years now, but they have been using these funds to go on non-Princeton programs because we did not have our own,” she said. “I suspect that now these students will choose to go on the Toledo program, and requests to study in Spain on non-Princeton programs will be far fewer.”

Applications for the Princeton in Spain program are due March 25.