Madrid Courses – 2026 Summer Sessions I & II
Academics
Madrid, Spain’s flourishing capital, offers an ideal setting to explore the intersections of art, media, language, and culture. Home to iconic museums, a thriving creative scene, and a dynamic media industry, the city provides unparalleled opportunities for academic and experiential learning. Immersion in Madrid’s rich cultural life and daily interactions in Spanish create countless opportunities to develop strong language proficiency both inside and outside the classroom.
You will enroll in three to six credits in Session I and/or three to six credits in Session II. At least one 3-credit course is required each session you are enrolled. No prior knowledge of Spanish is required for the program, though taking a language course while you are abroad is encouraged for a richer cross-cultural experience.
Courses Offered
Course availability is contingent upon scheduling constraints, meeting enrollment minimums, and is subject to change. View course details and descriptions.
Courses marked with an asterisk* are taught in Spanish
Summer Session I
Spanish Language Courses
- Elementary Spanish I*
- Intermediate Spanish I*
- Spanish Composition I*
- Advanced Spanish I*
Art, Media, & Society Courses
- Government and Politics in Spain*
- LGBTQIA+ Spain
- Madrid: History, Art, and Urban Identity
- Mass Media and Political Communication
- Masterpieces of European Art I
- Museum Studies
- Travel Photography
Internships
Summer Session II
Spanish Language Courses
- Elementary Spanish II*
- Intermediate Spanish II*
- Spanish Composition II*
- Advanced Spanish II*
Art, Media & Society Courses
- Drawing and Painting in Madrid
- Economic and Political Institutions of the European Union
- Gender and Communication
- Madrid: History, Art, and Urban Identity
- Masterpieces of European Art II
- Photojournalism/Visual Journalism
- Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Spanish History and Cinema*
Internships
U.S. Visiting Professors
While most USAC courses are taught by local faculty, we are excited to have the following U.S. professor(s) teach with us in Madrid this summer:
Tom Grothe, Butte College and California State University, Chico
Gender and Communication, Summer Session II
Professor Grothe teaches Communication Studies at Butte College and serves as a cross-cultural trainer at CSU Chico. He received the first Student’s Choice Award for Teacher of the Year and authored Exploring Intercultural Communication (2020). With extensive international teaching experience, he is dedicated to helping students develop the skills and motivation to become global citizens.
USAC Course Descriptions
Click the course title to view course details, description and availability. To request a course syllabus: syllabus@usac.edu
- Summer Session ISpanish 400-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
This course is designed for students who may manage in daily tasks and interactions, but still need to improve their control over different oral and written registers. In addition, these courses will offer them the opportunity to enhance their vocabulary in specific and technical areas, and to improve grammatical accuracy in their oral and written expression.
Prerequisite: six semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Session IISpanish 400-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
This course is designed for students who may manage in daily tasks and interactions, but still need to improve their control over different oral and written registers. In addition, these courses will offer them the opportunity to enhance their vocabulary in specific and technical areas, and to improve grammatical accuracy in their oral and written expression.
Prerequisite: seven semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Session IIArt 100-level 1 credit Taught in English
Students in this studio course will investigate a variety of approaches, techniques, and processes in the art of drawing. Students will also take advantage of Madrid’s world-famous museums and monuments to learn about the city as it is reflected in its architecture, landscape, paintings and sculpture, and its people.
The objectives of the class are based on the following elements:
• Learning the vocabulary, language, and techniques of drawing.
• Visiting Madrid’s many museums and monuments.
• Putting charcoal and pencil to paper to make drawings related to what we have been viewing in situ.
• Informal critiques as a tool for students to evaluate their own and one another´s work and to learn from each other.
- Summer Session IIEconomics History Political Science 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course will analyze the past, present, and future of European integration based on historical, social, political, and economic factors. The process of European integration and its effects will be assessed at the international level considering the EU as well as examining key differences among European member states.
- Summer Session ISpanish 100-level 4 credits Taught in SpanishDescription not available at this time.
- Summer Session IISpanish 100-level 4 credits Taught in SpanishDescription not available at this time.
- Summer Session IIGender, Race, and Identity Speech Communications Women's Studies / Gender Studies 400-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course introduces students to gender-related communication integrating theory and practice to heighten awareness of the importance of gender as a variable in communication. Emphasis will be placed on perception, verbal and nonverbal similarities and differences in interpersonal, small group, and public settings, with emphasis on the host culture.
- Summer Session IPolitical Science Spanish 400-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
In this course, students will develop an understanding of the actual political circumstances of the Kingdom of Spain through an analysis of the post-Franco democratic process and the creation of autonomous communities.
Visión de las circunsatncias políticas actuales del Reino de España. Especial énfasis se otorgará al análisis del proceso democrático tras Franco, y la creación de la peculiaridad de las Comunidades Autónomas.
Students will analyze the fundamental elements of the Spanish political system and its institutions: The Crown, Cortes Generales (Parliament), government, judicial system, constitutional court, and autonomous communities. Other topics will include the electoral system, the European Union and Spain, constitutional protections for foreigners, and constitutional considerations regarding international treaties.
When possible, we will a make a site visit to one of the institutions studied in class: Congress, Senate, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court.
Siguiendo la Constitución española vigente, analizaremos los elementos fundamentales del sistema politico a través de sus Instituciones Constitucionales; La Corona, Cortes Generales (Congreso y Senado), Gobierno, Sistema Judicial y el Tribunal Constitucional, las Comunidades Autónomas. Asimismo estudiaremos el Sistema Electoral Español, la Unión Europea y España, la protección que la Constitución otorga a los extranjeros, y una visión general de los Tratados Internacionales.
-Intentaremos visitar alguna de las sedes de las Instituciones más representativas: Congreso, Senado, Tribunal Constitucional, etc.
Prerequisite: four semesters of college-level Spanish
- Summer Session ISpanish 200-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
This course is designed to help learners of Spanish to develop basic communicative competence and critical thinking skills. It offers an intensive study and practice of the productive and receptive language skills in the oral and written modes. The main emphasis of this track is on communication.
Prerequisite: two semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Session IISpanish 200-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
This course is designed to help learners of Spanish to develop basic communicative competence and critical thinking skills. It offers an intensive study and practice of the productive and receptive language skills in the oral and written modes. The main emphasis of this track is on communication.
Prerequisite: three semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Sessions I & IIInternships 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
USAC skills-based internships abroad are designed to complement a student’s program of study while providing a structured work or field experience under the direction of a professional supervisor and with the oversight and support of an on-site USAC internship coordinator.
USAC internships facilitate the academic and professional development of students through:
1) the practical application of knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to a professional work environment.
2) the further development of practical competencies essential to the ongoing work of the placement site.
3) the cultivation of a network of professional contacts.
USAC internships will expose students to the workplace culture, norms, and expectations of their respective placement site and host country, deepening cross-cultural understanding and helping students develop intercultural communication and language skills in an internationally focused organization or other professional work setting.
Through the consistent participation in the processes and practices of a professional field, students will acquire a working knowledge of that field and will apply that learning to their own career and academic choices and goals.
This course has an additional fee
- Summer Session IGender, Race, and Identity Sociology 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course introduces foundational concepts of human sexual diversity and cultural attitudes towards certain manifestations and interpretations of gender and sexuality. Students will explore how the regional and international human rights standards seek to define and guarantee the rights of LGBTQIA+ persons, and to what extent the current global and Spanish American contexts reflect this. Zooming into the regional LGBTQIA+ movement, we will focus on the path to equality in Spain, with a direct dialogue with activists of a local LGBTQIA+ organization and LGBTQIA+ rights public institution.
- Summer Session IArt History 200-level 3 credits Taught in EnglishSummer Session IIArt History 200-level 3 credits Taught in English
We’re excited to introduce this new course option as course details are being finalized. Please check back after 1/15 for full course details.
- Summer Session IJournalism 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course examines the interaction between media and politics. By studying different media forms, we will explore such issues as the information needs of active citizens, the impact of partisan media, charges, and countercharges about “fake news,” professionalism and accountability in journalism, the use of social media as a tool for bypassing the press, the rise of polarization in the electorate and gridlock in government, and the depictions of American politics in other countries.
- Summer Session IArt 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
The aim of this course is to analyse the fundamental masterpieces that define the evolution of European art from the classical Greek period to the renaissance. The famous Diadumeno of Policleto, The Garden of Earthly Delights of Hieronymus Bosch, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz of El Greco, and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, will be some of the pivotal pieces studied within this course and the instruments we will use to understand the different aesthetic changes in the history of Europe from the 5th century B.C. to the end of the 16th century.
- Summer Session IIArt 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
The aim of this course is to analyse the fundamental masterpieces that represent the important changes in European art after renaissance. The baroque culture in the 17th century can be seen as the transition to a more modern definition of art building to the contemporary age: impressionist painters recognize in El Greco and Velázquez their predecessors on the brushstrokes techniques, Caravaggio paintings represent for the first time the physical truth of the common people, and the Classics helped the revolutionaries of all Europe at the end of the 18th century for their new political purposes.
- Summer Session IAnthropology Art History 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course explores critical debates on museums in society and the core functions of museum practice. This course will take several approaches to studying museums as an interdisciplinary course. Readings and lectures will provide perspectives on such topics as the history and philosophy of museums, types of museums, exhibit design, collections acquisition and management, the staffing and financing of museums, educational programs, and more.
- Summer Session IIArt Journalism 300-level 3 credits Taught in English
This course will introduce students to the technical and creative aspects of visual journalism, allowing them to apply these in practice by creating photographic compositions that convey information or tell a story. Critical feedback will be provided directly by the instructor and by peers in collaborative critiques. Students will also produce a long-term narrative story based on a topic of their choice.
- Summer Session ISpanish 300-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
The focus of this course is to improve learners´ written abilities through the analysis and the production of different types of texts. In addition, several grammatical topics will be reviewed in order to enhance and refine the learners´ grammatical competence.
Prerequisite: four semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Session IISpanish 300-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
The focus of this course is to improve learners´ written abilities through the analysis and the production of different types of texts. In addition, several grammatical topics will be reviewed in order to enhance and refine the learners´ grammatical competence.
Prerequisite: five semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent
- Summer Session IArt Journalism 200-level 1 credit Taught in English
In this course, we will look at what it takes to go beyond the typical travel photograph. Using techniques from photojournalism, portraiture, and fine art, each student will learn to get the most from their camera and create compelling images of Madrid by developing personal perspectives of the city through photography.
- Summer Session IIArt Film History 400-level 3 credits Taught in Spanish
The course explores the history of twentieth-century Spain through the study of selected texts and the analysis of relevant films of the period in Spanish culture and society. We will examine such questions as women´s roles, dictatorship and censorship, exile and migration, experience of war and repression, economic development, democracy, social movements and globalization, and how these issues are represented through cinema in Spain.
Prerequisite: four semesters of college-level Spanish, or equivalent