Aula Árabe Universitaria (“University Arab Classroom”) is beginning another year as a journey into the Arab world. Guided by experts on each subject, students and the general public can learn more about the different aspects and places that the conferences in the series will be covering to discuss the Arab world, including everything from history, cinema, and art to current affairs, economics and climate change. 

Throughout the 19 lectures or destinations which make up the series (15 lectures at Casa Árabe Madrid, three at Casa Árabe Córdoba and one at the University of Granada), designed on the basis of the topics and speakers proposed by the associated university programs, Aula Árabe Universitaria seeks to promote knowledge about the Arab and Islamic world, as well as complementing and enriching the education provided in the various university programs connected with it, in an ongoing search to seek inter-university cooperation and exchanges, fostering dialogue amongst different disciplines while giving students, faculty and researchers the opportunity to come into contact with internationally renowned speakers and experts on various subjects related with the Arab world. 

Aula Árabe Universitaria is also twinned with the event series known as Aula Mediterrània, organized by the IEMed with university programs in Barcelona, thus facilitating exchanges of speakers between both conference events, as well as joint meetings between professors and students from the respective university programs. 

In this seventh edition of the conference series, for the 2025-26 academic year, it is also joining forces with the new regional cooperation program with the Arab world, Masar al’an / Masar ahora, run by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), with the common goal of contributing knowledge and dialogue on sustainable development in Arab countries. 

As proof of the journey upon which they are embarking by attending the lecture series, students receive a passport, the “Passport to the Arab World,” which they personalize with their name as of the first time when they attend a session, recording their attendance at each session with a specific stamp. 

At the end of the event series, to demonstrate the experience they have gained during the events, all of the students (regardless of whether they are participating in AAU programs) who have attended more than 40% of the conferences (in other words, seven) 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, using the registration system with a form that will be published on Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel, where the conferences are shown live. 

As in previous years, as a result of the partnership between Aula Árabe Universitaria and Aula Mediterrània, students can also demonstrate their attendance at the conferences in this series organized by the IEMed in Barcelona, either online or in person, up to a maximum of two conferences. In other words, if the students at Aula Arabe Universitaria attend an Aula Mediterrània conference online, this attendance will be acknowledged 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. 

The conferences will be taking place at Casa Árabe during the usual afternoon lecture hours (7:00 p.m., with some exceptions) and are open to the general public, with simultaneous interpretation when necessary. The conferences are also broadcast live on Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel. 

In order to receive notices about the events and any updates on each conference, you must sign up to receive the Casa Árabe Newsletter, stating Aula Árabe Universitaria in the subject line. 

Collaborating in Aula Árabe Universitaria (AAU) are undergraduate and graduate programs (Master’s degrees and PhDs) at universities in the Autonomous Region of Madrid (UAM, UCM, UC3M, Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus, and URJC) and Córdoba (Loyola University and UCO), where Casa Árabe has its two headquarters, as well as nearby cities such as Toledo (UCLM) and Segovia (IE University). New this year are the University of Salamanca (USAL), the University of Granada (UGR) and Spain’s National Distance Education University (UNED). This year, 30 university programs from the 12 universities mentioned above are taking part, with 15 conferences in Madrid, three in Córdoba and one in Granada.

Links to  AAU1 (2019-20),  AAU2 (2020-21), AAU3 (2021-22), AAU4 (2022-23) AAU5 (2023-24) and AAU6 (2024-25).