The Cornell-Cantabria Exchange Program was developed by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering with the goal of facilitating Cornell College of Engineering students to spend their junior year in Santander, Spain, at the Universidad de Cantabria, in a truly immersive educational and cultural experience. The program, launched in August 2007 with eight members (pictured above) of the Class of 2009 participating, has now exchanged its 100th Cornell student with Cantabria. In recent years, the majority of students go for one semester, spring semester of their junior year, but the full year option remains available. With careful planning it is possible to go for just the fall semester as well but the Cantabria fall semester ends in January, just after the Cornell spring semester begins, so this option is challenging to make work.
The Cornell-Cantabria Exchange Program is available to any College of Engineering student affiliated with a degree program, who can maintain their academic progress so as to graduate in eight semesters. To date, the program has had participation from civil, environmental, mechanical, chemical, electrical and computer, material science, biological and independent engineering students, including students who have also participated in co-op.