05 February 2025
Bilbao Campus San Sebastian Campus
The University of Deusto celebrated on February 5, at its Bilbao and San Sebastian campuses, the welcoming ceremony for the 509 new international undergraduate and graduate students who will study this second semester at the Bilbao (437) and San Sebastian (72) campuses, in addition to other participants in the Virtual Campus. In addition to all these students, there are 98 who arrived in September and will continue studying at Deusto during this second semester.
A significant part of these students come from the Erasmus + mobility program, which reinforces the University's commitment to international and multicultural exchange. The young people come from the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam and Yemen.
Welcome sessions
The Bilbao event was attended by Juan Mari Aburto; the Director General of Culture of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Begoña de Ibarra; the Vice Rector for University Community and Agenda 2030, Aitziber Irigoras, and the Assistant to the Vice Rector for Research and International Relations, Marian Aláez, as well as several consuls general and honorary consuls based in Bilbao.
The meeting ended with a lunch and the students had the opportunity to get to know the city of Bilbao from the hand of Deusto students participating in the Buddy Program, one of the most outstanding programs where international students are paired with local students to promote their integration and welcome.
The San Sebastian event was attended by Xabier Riezu, Vice Rector of the San Sebastian campus and Language Policy of the University of Deusto, and June Calvo, head of the International Relations Office of the San Sebastian campus. And in the afternoon, in the Plenary Hall of the San Sebastian City Hall, the Mayor of the city, Eneko Goia, welcomed the international students. Among them were Alicia Alexandrine Mascre (Université D'Aix-Marseille, France), Viviana Hurtado de Mendoza (Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Mexico) and Ryan Usprech (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada), who narrated their international experience to the numerous attendees.
Commitment to internationalization
The reception of international students reflects the University of Deusto's commitment to internationalization as an essential element of its academic work. With more than 450 agreements established with international universities, the institution recognizes the importance of overcoming academic and cultural barriers to enrich the educational experience.
This commitment, together with digital transformation initiatives, such as the Virtual Campus, provides diverse modalities to access academic and cultural activities, providing students with a comprehensive education that transcends geographical boundaries, thus promoting a glocal (global and local) learning experience. In this context, all international mobility students can learn both Basque and Spanish and learn more about our culture through subjects and activities on history, language, gastronomy or sports.
