862 international students from all continents have come to Barcelona at the start of this 2016-2017 academic year to pursue their academic studies at Pompeu Fabra University.

448 of them are involved in exchange programmes, and have come through Erasmus + (296), bilateral agreements (90), the Exchange System between Spanish University Centres, SICUE (32) and visitors (30).

The remaining 414 are following Education Abroad Programmes. These figures are higher than at the start of last year, when there were 415 exchange students and 330 Education Abroad Programme students.

The students belong to 43 different nationalities, with the highest representation coming from the United States (405), the United Kingdom (73), Italy (64), Germany (44), France (40) and the Netherlands (26). As a novelty, this is the first time that Pompeu Fabra University has received a student from Indonesia, a country in South-East Asia.

The UPF faculties receiving most students involved in exchange programmes (without taking into account the Education Abroad Programmes, which have a tailor-made programme) are Economic and Business Sciences, with 155; Translation and Interpretation (80), Law (76), and Communication  (44).

Institutional welcome to the new students

Between 19 and 23 September, the Mobility and Reception Office (OMA), linked to the University's International Relations Service, organized several welcome and orientation sessions with a whole host of activities.

The main event was held on 20 September, presided over by Josep Ferrer, vice-rector for University Internationalization and International Relations, and Antoni Luna, professor of the Department of Humanities, who gave a talk on the city of Barcelona.

The event was rounded off with sessions to present the different services of UPF, such as language volunteering, the University Community Assistance Service (SACU), Languages UPF, and the Erasmus Students Network (ESN) association, as well as a guided tour of the campus.