The University of Oviedo has started today the "zero courses" of the bilingual paths which will be taught this academic year following an initiative from the Campus of International Excellence. 134 young people have registered in these preparatory courses aimed to those students who will start one of the ten degrees in which English training is offered. The demand has far exceeded the Asturian academic institution's expectations and, close to the end for the enrolment deadline in university centres, places provided for bilingual paths are almost complete even if there still are vacancies in some studies.

"Zero courses" have just started at the Polytechnic School of Engineering in Gijón, with 50 students; at the Jovellanos Faculty of Trade, Tourism and Social Sciences, with 20 students; the School of Computer Engineering (Oviedo), with 14 registered people; and at the Faculty of Economics and Business, with other 50 students.

These preparatory courses will deal with lexical-semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and phonological contents and, depending on each case, the terms of the disciplines which will then be studied will be emphasized too. "Zero courses" will last 20 teaching hours.

Not only at the Polytechnic School of Gijón but at the Faculty of Economics, the application forms for the bilingual paths have exceeded the offer of posts, that's the reason why the departments will select those students which own the best transcripts. The maximum number of students in each group will be 25.

Bilingual paths, which are taught for the first time at the University of Oviedo after last year's pilot experience, offer the change of studying a great part of the subjects in English and/or developing a mobility exchange in a foreign university where they can keep on learning in this language. Students must complete a minimum number of 120 ECTS credits in subjects which will be taught in English.

The Degrees in which bilingual paths are offered are:

• Degree in Business Administration and Management (Faculty of Economics and Business)
• Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijón)
• Degree in Electrical Engineering (Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijón)
• Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automatics Engineering (Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijón)
• Degree in Economics (Faculty of Economics and Business)
• Degree in Accounting and Finances (Faculty of Economics and Business)
• Degree in Commerce and Marketing (Jovellanos Faculty of Commerce, Tourism and Social Science of Gijón)
• Degree in Tourism (Jovellanos Faculty of Commerce, Tourism and Social Science of Gijón)
• Degree in Chemical Engineering (Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijón)
• Degree in Computer Software Engineering (Computer Engineering School of Oviedo)