As if it were a journey to the Arab world, through this annual set of conferences, designed to explore the topics and speakers proposed by the associated university programs, students get the opportunity to take a closer look at a whole series of aspects involving the Arab and Islamic world, from ancient history up to the present day, in order to deepen their knowledge about these geographical locations and their realities with the help of experts and well-known authors.

As proof of having taken this journey, participating students receive will a document known as their “Passport to the Arab World,” in which they are given stamps to certify their attendance at each conference. It will be personalized with their name the first time they attend.

In order to receive announcements and updates on the many AAU conferences, you should subscribe to Casa Árabe’s weekly newsletter, indicating “Aula Árabe Universitaria” as the subject of interest.

At the end of the conference series, as proof of the experience gathered on the trip, all those students (whether or not they are from participating AAU programs) who have attended more than 40% of the lectures (i.e. 7) can apply for the Aula Árabe Universitaria certificate.

Those students from the Autonomous Region of Madrid must demonstrate that they attended in person, by using the Passport to the Arab World.

Those students from other autonomous regions, including those from programs associated with Aula Mediterránea, must demonstrate that they attended online by using the chat feature on Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel, where the conferences are broadcast live.

As in other years, as a result of the relationship between Aula Árabe Universitaria and Aula Mediterrània, hosted by IEMed, they can also demonstrate attendance at the conferences in this series, both online and in person, for up to no more than two conferences. In other words, if the students at Aula Arabe Universitaria attend an Aula Mediterrània conference online, this attendance will be acknowledge for the purposes of acquiring the Aula Arabe Universitaria certificate. Similarly, Aula Mediterrània students who attend one of the Aula Mediterrània conferences online will be given acknowledgment for the Aula Mediterrània certificate.

Aula Árabe Universitaria (AAU) is an inter-university cooperation program organized by Casa Árabe with the cooperation of undergraduate and graduate university programs (Master’s and PhD programs) at universities in the Autonomous Region of Madrid (UAH, UAM, UCM, UC3M, UCLM, Universidad Nebrija, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Saint Louis University - Madrid Campus and URJC), Cordoba (Universidad Loyola and UCO) and Segovia (IE University). This year, 28 university programs from 12 partner universities will be taking part, with 13 conferences in Madrid and 3 in Cordoba.

The goal is to promote knowledge about the Arab and Islamic world, as well as complementing and enriching the training provided within the various university programs, encouraging cross-disciplinary disciplines while offering the students, faculty and researchers of these programs the chance to come into contact with speakers and relevant international experts in different subject areas and topics related with the Arab world.

The conferences will be held at Casa Árabe’s facilities during the usual schedule for evening conferences (7:00 p.m., with some exceptions) and are open to the general public, with simultaneous translation when necessary. The conferences are also broadcast live on Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel.

Links to AAU1 (2019-20), AAU2 (2020-21), AAU3 (2021-22), AAU4 (2022-23) and AAU5 (2023-24)