Teaching Spanish Literature to Chinese Students in Spain in a Bilingual Environment

According to a report published by the European Commission in November 2013, Spain remains the leading destination for European university students in the Erasmus exchange scheme. Both this non-domestic audience and the launch of the European Higher Education Area have caused far-reaching changes in the Spanish university system. A more recent phenomenon to be added to this scenario is the arrival of Chinese students, of whom around 100 chose the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 2014–2015, a university whose first official language is not Spanish, but Galician. This new situation has serious consequences for this university, both in managerial and teaching terms. The aim of this paper is to build on the experience of Chinese students and their teachers by focusing on how Spanish literature is taught and learned at the USC. Managerial aspects will be discussed within the context of current corporatization of universities, and teaching aspects in relation to comparative literature as intercultural pedagogy.