02 September 2026
Bilbao Donostia-San Sebastián
The University of Deusto begins its academic year on 3 September with welcome receptions for international students and welcome sessions for first-year students. A total of 700 exchange students, most of them from the Erasmus + mobility programme, from partner universities in 50 different countries, will study in Bilbao (554) and San Sebastian (133) this first semester, with a further 43 participants joining online through the Virtual Campus.
The students come from the following countries: Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela.
As for undergraduate students, more than 2,500 will begin their degree courses this year across the two university campuses. Classes for all courses will begin on 7 September, and the official opening ceremony for the academic year, marking the start of Deusto’s 140th anniversary celebrations, will take place on 24 September at the Bilbao campus.
Welcome Reception for international students in Bilbao
The welcome event for international students in Bilbao will take place on Thursday, 3 September at 12:30 in the Ceremonial Hall. The ceremony will be attended by Councillor for Culture and Governance Gonzalo Olabarria; Begoña de Ibarra, Director-General for Culture of the Provincial Council of Biscay; Aitziber Irigoras, Vice-Rector for University Community and Agenda 2030; and Javier Arellano, Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations. During the event, an international student will share her story about her experience at the University of Deusto and how she has settled into life in Bilbao.
The event, which will be attended by several honorary and career consuls based in Bilbao, will conclude with a lunch. Students will then have the opportunity to get to know the city of Bilbao with the help of Deusto students taking part in the Buddy Programme, one of the university’s leading initiatives, which pairs international students with local students to promote their integration and welcome.
Welcome Reception for International Students in San Sebastian
The San Sebastián campus, meanwhile, will welcome 133 students from 24 countries this academic year. The welcome event will take place at 15:30 at the Loiola Centrum and will be attended by Mari Jose Aranguren, Vice-Rector for the San Sebastián Campus and Institutional Relations; June Calvo, from Deusto Global; representatives of San Sebastián City Council and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa; and several international students, who will share their experiences at Deusto. The day will end in the Foro Room with a cocktail reception, followed by a Meet & Greet.
New programmes this academic year
The highlight for the 2026/27 academic year is Deusto’s strong commitment to cutting-edge formats. It is worth highlighting the new “Audiovisual Creation” programme, linked to the Communication degree, which will be offered entirely in Basque. In addition, the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences is launching the “Language & Technology” programme for students on the Modern Languages and Basque Language and Culture degree programmes. It combines linguistic studies with artificial intelligence tools, chatbots and machine translation, preparing specialists who will lead the digital transformation.
