Department of
Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Sciences
Universidad de
Cantabria, Santander, Spain.
Pincha aquí si quieres información para alumnos de la U. C. que desean realizar un intercambio Ersamus en el extranjero. El resto de esta página está pensada para alumnos extranjeros que desean venir a Santander.
Socrates is the name for "the European Community action programme in the field of education". Erasmus is its higher education part, which allows university students from a european country to spend one year in a foreign university and have their studies recognized at their home university. This page is primarily meant to help students (or their home university coordinators) willing to come to Santander via the Erasmus/Socrates program to plan their studies and have a first contact with the University and the region. Please E-mail me if you find any out of date links in this page.
The basic general sources of information for incoming foreign students are the European Credit Transfer System guide of the university and the guide for foreign students (in Spanish) issued by the Office for International Relations. Both contain practical information (registration, accomodation, meals, insurance, etc) and the first one also all the lists of undergraduate courses in the university and precise academic information.
The web pages of the Departamento de Matemáticas, Estadística y Computación contain also travel and academic information. The University of Cantabria is a member of the Santander Group of European Universities, and was in the Galois Network (ICP-96-B-1185/11 of the old Erasmus project, involving academic exchanges in Mathematics among some 40 European universities).
The University of Cantabria is a young university born in 1973, with about 15,000 students. It is located in the city of Santander (pop. 200.000), capital of the region of Cantabria in northern Spain. It offers both undergraduate and graduate studies in many subjects: physics and mathematics, medicine, economy and law, education, humanities, etc.; plus a variety of technological studies (civil, electronic, industrial, mining or telecommunications engineering). Undergraduate studies are organized by Facultades; for instance, Mathematics and Physics are taught in the Facultad de Ciencias. Graduate studies are organized by Departments. Among them, it can be mentioned the Master degree in Computer Science, the Ph. D. program in Mathematics and the Ph. D. program in Applied Mathematics. The Departments of Mathematics, Statistics and Computation and Applied Mathematics and Computer Science are involved in both programs.
I have written a page with some basic facts about the curriculum (updated June 2000). It contains a description of how the studies are organized for a regular student of our university and some particular rules which apply to you Erasmus students. In particular, it describes the changes that the undergraduate curriculum in Mathematics are having in the period 2000-2005.
For specific information on courses you can try the links offered below. Some of the information on courses might not be completely up-to-date, so perhaps you should take it rather as an orientation. However, undergraduate courses change very little from one year to another.
Fine beaches and wild forests and mountains are characteristics of the region of Cantabria. Santander itself is on the sea side, with many wonderful beaches whithin walking distance to the university buildings; ski-ressorts and mountains over 2,000 meters high are just some 100 kilometers away from the city.
About half million people live in the region, mostly along the long coast line (200 kilometers); metallurgical (shipyards, steel mills, domestic appliances, car constituents), chemical, telecommunications, textile, paper and furniture industries; services such as harbour facilities, financial (Santander is the home of the largest spanish bank), computer and engineer consulting; milk produces and fishing; as well as tourism (mainly coming from other regions of Spain) are the main economic activities.
Weather is mild (10 C average temperature in january, 19 C average in august) but rainy (more than 1,200 liters per square meter per year, evenly distributed all through the year), sometimes windy.
Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales
Pabellon de Gobierno, Universidad de Cantabria
Avenida de los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander
Phone: 34-42-201038; Fax:34-42-201078
Contact persons are
castrog@gestion.unican.es, Gema Castro
sancheza@gestion.unican.es, Agueda Sanchez
santosm@gestion.unican.es, Mercedes Santos
The International Office publishes a booklet with relevant information
for visiting students which will be sent upon request. It contains
information on registration procedures, language courses,
accomodation, estimated living expenses, etc. This office is also
responsible for the ECTS guide
of the university.
Departamento de Matematicas, Estadistica y Computacion
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cantabria
Avenida de los Castros s/n, 39071 Santander
Phone: 34-42-201522; Fax:34-42-201402
e-mail: santosf@unican.es
The Erasmus coordinator will help students to solve typical academic problems: deciding the choice of suitable courses, getting official registration as students of the Facultad de Ciencias or of the Department (if the courses belong to the postgraduate program), giving advice concerning examination and certificates, obtaining library or computer facilities, etc... He is also the author of this page and will thank any comments, suggestions or questions that you may have. Electronic mail contact is encouraged, but any other means are also fine.