Berklee’s Campus in Valencia Kicks Off Its Sixth Academic Year with a Record Number of Enrolled Students

By Amanda Tornel September 11, 2017

First Year Abroad, Berklee Study Abroad, and Graduate students celebrate the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year. Photo by Tato Baeza.

Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain, has opened its doors to 284 students from 39 countries, including Iran, Syria, Uganda, Taiwan, Morocco, Macao, Serbia, Georgia, South Africa, the Bahamas, Ecuador, Malaysia, Iceland, Cyprus, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, Spain, India, China, the U.S., and Turkey. This represents a 47 percent increase of enrolled students compared to last year, turning this semester’s class into the biggest ever as the campus kicks off its sixth academic year.

This year, 136 master’s degree students are enrolled in one of the four intense and highly specialized graduate programs the campus has to offer: Music Production, Technology, and Innovation; Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration); Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games; and Global Entertainment and Music Business.

In addition to this, the campus has welcomed 148 college students, almost three times more than the 51 enrolled in the 2016–2017 first semester, through the exchange programs Berklee Study Abroad and the recently launched First Year Abroad, which will allow new students to start their professional or bachelor’s degree in Valencia for the first time in Berklee’s history.

Berklee’s new First Year Abroad program will allow students to follow the same core curriculum offered in Boston from Valencia during their first year at university, after which they will transfer to the Boston campus to continue in their declared major.

This academic year, Berklee’s only international campus will offer a wide array of free concerts through the series Un Lago de Conciertos, Discover-i, Synesthesia, and Concerts a la Fundació in collaboration with Fundación Bancaja.

The campus has consolidated itself as an attraction center for international talent every year and will draw musicians and music industry professionals like former chairman of Warner Music UK Rob Dickins, Grammy-nominated recording engineer Steve Genewick, soundpainting inventor Walter Thompson, and saxophonist George Garzone to the city in 2017–2018 to teach and give master classes, clinics, and keynotes. In addition, Paul Pacífico, chief executive officer of the Association of Independent Music, violinist and composer Federico Nathan, and Valencian sound engineer Dani Castelar are among the new professors to join the faculty.

Established as a pioneering place for those who want to pursue an international career in the music field, Berklee’s campus in Valencia is located in the City of Arts and Sciences, and provides its students with the environment, facilities, and faculty expertise to help its talented students develop their skills and succeed as future professionals and leaders in the industry.