The "Consortium for Advanced Studies in Barcelona" (CASB), a collaborative initiative involving six high caliber U.S. Universities provides students with a unique opportunity to have direct access to three distinguished Spanish universities the "Barcelona Group" (BG). The program capitalizes on the already strong academic linkages existing between the Hispanic Studies departments from each of the U.S. Consortium members and their counterparts in Barcelona and fills an important education abroad niche in arguably Spain's most dynamic and avant guard city.

The genesis of the program dates to 2004, when the six US partners observed that, despite the growing interest in Barcelona as a destination city, students with advanced language skills were limited in their program options to “island” programs (which allow for limited integration into the host culture) and Spanish university-delivered programs designed specifically for international students. Few full immersion opportunities existed for students to directly enroll in regular university courses alongside Spanish classmates. The CASB program fills this void and is designed for students who are looking for serious and rigorous academic study alongside local nationals.

Barcelona is a bilingual city, and as such, provides a unique opportunity for students to greatly improve their linguistic skills in a city exposed to continual interaction between different languages. The selection of Barcelona as the host city is by design and the CASB firmly believes that Catalonia's vast historical, cultural, linguistic and artistic legacy to be an ideal looking glass through which students can examine key political, social, economic and cultural issues affecting Spain, the Mediterranean region and the whole of Europe today.