At the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the concept of “English Friendly” courses refers to subjects that, although taught in Spanish, offer additional support in English for international students or those with a low level of Spanish.

These are the key points:

  • Classes are taught in Spanish, but students may request materials (slides, exercises, bibliography, etc.) in English.
  • Tutorials, exams, and assessment activities can also be conducted in English.
  • For these “English Friendly” courses, incoming students do not need to certify a level of Spanish.
  • According to the course syllabi, lecturers are willing to offer supervision (tutorials) in English, accept assignments in English, and allow exams in English, even though the instruction is in Spanish.
  • Usually, a minimum level of Spanish A2 is recommended so that the student can follow the course with the additional support in English.

Examples:

In the Computer Engineering degree at the Alcoy campus, there are “friendly” subjects such as Development of Applications for Mobile Devices or Organisational Behaviour and Change Management, which offer English support for the elements mentioned above.

Another example in Robotics Engineering: courses such as Internet of Things or Industry 4.0 Networks are offered as English Friendly subjects.

In summary, “English Friendly” courses are designed to help international students who are not proficient in Spanish by allowing them to use English for key aspects of the course (materials, tutorials, assessment), even though the main language of instruction is Spanish.

If you want, I can also check the updated list of “English Friendly” subjects offered by UPV for the 2025–2026 academic year.