Uni History Teaching in Spain vs. England: 4 Main Differences

One of the main things I knew I’d face when preparing for my year abroad was culture shock. However, no one had warned me about academic culture shock – i.e., the sudden realisation that your degree subject will be taught in a different way than you’re used to while you’re abroad. Here are the key differences I noticed whilst studying history in Granada, Spain, which will hopefully give you an idea of what to expect when you’re there.

1. Lectures

As a humanities student in the UK, you’ll most likely have two different types of classes to attend every week: lectures and seminars, which ensures a balance between traditional and conversational lessons, and gives students a forum in which to discuss key topics and debates related to their subjects. In Granada, however, history teaching is purely lecture-based, with the professor going through PowerPoint slides for two hours. Fear not, though, it’s not as boring as it sounds. Lectures are usually given in large classrooms rather than lecture theatres, which makes them more interactive than the average UCL lecture, and participation in the form of questions (or even debates!) is encouraged throughout.

2. Contact hours

Another quirk we’re used to as UCL humanities students is reduced contact hours compared to when we were at school and, while you certainly won’t have a whole day’s worth of back-to-back classes in Spain, you’ll probably have a couple more hours than you’re used to. As I mentioned before, there are no seminars, which means that you end up with two lectures a week per module – i.e., four hours in total. On the plus side, as I’m also a languages student, I’ve found it very helpful in improving my understanding of native Spanish speakers (and the Andalusian accent in particular). 

3. Grading

The Spanish grading system can also come as a bit of a shock to us UK uni students – but in a good way! Instead of a grade out of 100, Spanish universities give a mark out of 10, which seems tiny in comparison. However, a big advantage is that unlike at UCL – where getting 80-100 is pretty much impossible – an 8 or 9 out of 10 is generally much more achievable in Spain.

4. Coursework

The final thing I have to mention is the increased amount of coursework. As a history student, I’m used to being assigned one or two big essays per module. In Granada, however, I was given various smaller pieces of graded work to complete in class, alongside a bigger written assignment due at the end of the semester. Whilst this might seem like a much heavier workload, I’ve found that having numerous assessments that are worth less helps take the pressure off of individual tasks and gives you more space to make mistakes and learn from them.  

Ultimately, the best way to deal with these differences is to embrace them (in any case, you’ll be back at UCL for your final year)! Studying abroad is all about discovering a new culture – including its academic culture. Thinking about it as another unique part of the experience will help you make the most of it, and you might even be inspired to continue using any new study methods you might have learned abroad when you return to UCL.