Please visit Global Academic Procedures for detailed credit and other academic information.
The undergraduate business program at ESADE offers courses in Spanish, English, and Catalan. Courses are appropriate for second semester junior and senior BSBA majors and approved business courses will transfer as business elective credit only. ESADE does not offer business core courses for single-semester exchange students. Some students may also elect to take cultural courses in addition to their business coursework, such as Art and Culture in Spain and Catalonia, which may transfer as general elective credit.
You are required to take some of your coursework in Spanish. You can either take a Spanish language course or a course taught in Spanish (business or otherwise).
If you elect to take a Spanish language course instead of taking another course in the Spanish language, you are required to take a Spanish intensive language course during the first days of your exchange that is worth 2 ECTS credits. You will be given a placement level to determine what level of Spanish course you will be placed in. You can also elect to take a Spanish extensive language course throughout your semester also worth 2 ECTS, though you must take the intensive course first.
Students interested in taking courses taught in Spanish beyond Spanish language courses are encouraged to have a B1 level in the Spanish language, according to the Common European Framework for Reference of languages (CEFR).
Courses taken at the ESADE will transfer back to UNC Pass (ESADE grade of 5 and above)/Fail (ESADE grade below 5). Pass grades do not affect your UNC GPA. Fail grades transfer back to UNC as Fs, which will affect your UNC GPA. Though transfer credit for this program is Pass/Fail, future employers and graduate schools will also look at the ESADE transcript, so grades are important.
You will transfer back 3 UNC credits for every 5 ECTS credit course, and are expected to take a minimum of 23 ECTS credits during the semester (maximum number of credits is 30 ECTS). If you earn a grade of 5 or higher in all courses you will receive a total of 13.5-18 UNC credits for your semester abroad.
For students looking to study at ESADE in the Fall of 2024 and beyond, view the ‘Credit Hour Conversions’ accordion on the ‘Academics Procedures‘ page for more information on credit hour conversion from ESADE to UNC as the above guidance is for the Academic Year 2023-2024, and the credit hour conversion is slightly shifting starting Fall 2024.
This program also fulfills the Experiential Education requirement or the High Impact Experience requirement (if you are under the new IDEAs curriculum). Full-time enrollment in this program is defined as a minimum of 12 credit hours.
Language of Instruction: English/Spanish*
*Students are required to study Spanish throughout their stay. You can choose to take a Spanish language course or a BUSI course taught in Spanish. The program offers courses in both English and Spanish; you may enroll in a course taught in Spanish if you fulfill the minimum language prerequisite.