Lisbon Courses – 2025 Summer

If you have questions about the academics or courses available on this program, locate the Program Advisor to email them your questions directly.

Studying abroad can be a more meaningful and invigorating learning experience than at home—both inside and outside of the classroom. You may be more curious and alert than you usually are so use this heightened energy to enhance your studies as well as your cultural and geographical explorations. You may also encounter different teaching styles and course processes; be prepared to adapt and to learn.

Academics

USAC's partnership with Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) allows you to focus your studies on Portugal and the European Union, while also prompting critical thinking related to global trends and themes. Students can choose to take either one or two courses during UCP's June session. All courses are taught at the undergraduate level and are offered within UCP's Faculty of Human Sciences. With the exception of Portuguese language classes, courses are taught in English. Each course is worth 6 ECTS, which equates to 3 U.S. semester credits. Courses are subject to availability and approval of prerequisites which are determined by the host university.

Courses at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (subject to change):

Elementary Portuguese Language

This elementary-level course aims at the development of basic communication skills in European Portuguese. The course is designed to enable fast progression in language learning and to provide an introduction to Portuguese culture and society. Course progression is structured around the four communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), which are integrated in authentic communicative scenarios.

Intermediate Portuguese Language

This intermediate-level course enables language learning through listening to oral interactions and speeches, reading written texts related to current and daily language, communicating in daily interactions and other scenarios where language is spoken, and writing both original and reproduced content. Language learning is applied to several real-life topics, including traveling, daily news, interpersonal relationships, small talk in personal and work situations, and more.

Intercultural Communication

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of intercultural communication, which focuses on the importance culture plays in our lives and in our communication processes, both verbal and non-verbal. It explores complex cultural dynamics from different conceptual perspectives, and it is designed to increase sensibility to cultural heterogeneity and improve cultural self-awareness. By combining theory and practice, the course allows students to explore the ways in which intercultural communication impacts our personal, academic, and professional lives in an increasingly interconnected world.

Strategic Marketing

This course allows students to acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge related to strategic marketing. Classroom sessions combine lecture, discussion, group discovery methods, hands-on projects, and case studies. In groups, students will apply knowledge by building a strategic marketing project for a brand, either real or designed. Students also have the opportunity to attend guest lectures from organizations, who present and discuss with students real-life strategic marketing cases.

Travel Photography

This course introduces the basics of visual journalism, including composition, lighting, ethics, and theory, before providing students with the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the field. Students will use Lisbon as their classroom to capture content for their assignment(s). The final segment of the class will focus on how students can edit and process their work for print.

All courses are subject to meeting minimum enrollments to run.

Course Descriptions

Please contact the USAC Advising department to obtain course syllabi.