Thriving Spanish community showcased on ambassadorial visit

This June the Spanish Ambassador to the UK was welcomed to the School of Modern Languages to find out more about the facilities on offer for Spanish language learners.

Carlos Bastarreche visited the School on the 27 June and met with staff from the Spanish department who showed him around the teaching facilities within the School.

Mr Bastarreche was very interested to hear more about the satellite office of the Spanish Education Office (SEEO) which is based within the School. The partnership with the SEEO aims to support students who are learning Spanish and to raise awareness of the importance of Spanish language skills. The partnership is the first of its kind between the office and a Welsh Higher Education provider and allows the SEEO to work closely with our academics to support research and engagement events.

Andrew Dowling, Programme Director in Hispanic Studies said of the visit, “It was great to be able to welcome Mr Bastarreche to the School to see our facilities and to hear from our staff first hand. Spanish continues to be a really popular language within the School and visits such as this alongside our satellite office for the Spanish Embassy are testament to the great work that is happening in the Spanish department here.”

The Spanish Embassy has agreed to support an annual event in the School, either public lecture or conference, entitled Catherine of Aragon/Princess of Wales. The first event will take place in the Spring of 2019.

The School of Modern Languages offers Spanish at undergraduate level as a single honours degree programme or as a joint honours programme with a range of other languages or subjects.