A total of 117 bachelor’s students received their diplomas in an academic ceremony on 22 May in the Main Auditorium of the URV’s Catalunya campus. The number of students was higher than the previous year

The URV awarded the diplomas to 117 Chinese bachelor’s students who successfully completed their studies at the University during the 2014-15 academic year. The number of students this year was considerably higher than last year’s figure of 82. The students come from nine universities in China: Beijing (BCU), Binhai, Changzhou, Dalian, Hebei, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hanzghou.

The students had come to the URV to study either the 3rd or 4th year of their Chinese degree programmes in different areas of knowledge (Tourism, Philology, etc.). They were able to follow one of two different study tracks. The 3rd year students received diplomas for the University Course in Language and Culture, and the 4th year students received diplomas for the University Course in Spanish Language or the University Course in Business and Spanish Language.

The diplomas were presented by Mar Gutiérrez-Colon, the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, Esther Forgas, the director of the URV’s Centre for Hispanic Studies and Charo Romano, the director of the Lifelong Learning Centre of the URV Foundation.

During the ceremony, one student from each Chinese university gave a speech on behalf of everyone, which was followed by a play written by the students entitled: “This is mad, mad, mad, madhouse”.

The 2015-16 academic year will mark 10 years since the first Chinese students arrived at the URV.