The best thing about this program, definitely, is the campus, which is located next to Barcelona beaches, as the name says “Campus el Mar”. I like the structure of it since it allows students to dedicate 6 months only doing an internship and writing master project, without the interference of classes. There are many group projects involved, and if you are a person who likes teamwork, this program will be perfect for you! The only bad thing that I would highlight – exams. Exams are taking place in December and there is only one week of this exam period, which I think it’s quite a short period of time to pass 4/5 subjects (depending on the program). But, above all, I would highly recommend this university and Barcelona in general!

Program: Masters in Bioinformatics in Health Sciences

Choosing to enter the Bioformatics program at UPF was a huge disappointment. I have never experienced such an inefficient, unprepared, and undedicated cohort of administrators, secretaries, and program leaders. Everyone takes several days to respond to questions and continually pass you off to other people. The feeling they instill in their students is that they are undependable, and you are just a tuition payment rather than a person.

Especially for non-EU students (who will be paying double the price as everyone else), trust me and spend your money elsewhere.

I studied two master’s at the UPF. The experience was great, with great teachers, a good schedule and nice faculties in front of the sea or next to an amazing Barcelona park. And the exams were always before the holidays! First Christmas in many years that I did not have to worry about studying or a project!
About the teachers, they were quite involved and they cared that you learned the lessons. They were researchers from different labs, many even were PIs in their own groups. They had experience and up to date knowledge, so it felt like we were learning cutting edge information. Overall, everything was good.