NYU announced on Friday that it intends to expand the university's academic program in Madrid.
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The exact details of the plan were not released, but the statement said that NYU President John Sexton signed an agreement with the president of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, on Friday to "begin a study of ways to expand NYU's academic program in Madrid."
Though the proposed expansion would change NYU's current study abroad site, NYU spokesman John Beckman did not rule out the possibility that the site could eventually evolve into a degree-granting campus.
"We have been frank in saying that were NYU to have a fourth portal campus, we'd look to have it in Europe," he said in an email. "Could this at some point in time become another portal campus? I don't think we can foreclose that possibility."
Beckman added: "The plans announced today express an aspiration for Madrid to be the home of our most robust and networked Study Away program, and that that might over time evolve into the granting of some degrees, but not at the scale of our portal campuses."
When the university reached an agreement with China's Ministry of Education in March to build a portal campus in Shanghai, Sexton told WSN that a portal campus in Madrid "has logic to it."
NYU's site in Madrid is the university's oldest study abroad site, and Sexton said NYU has a "compelling symmetry" with the city.
"Here in the city where NYU took its first steps in providing global educational opportunities over half a century ago at the dawn of the study abroad movement, we now return with a new architecture for the modern university — the global network university — and a mutual desire to create an important hub in the NYU network here," he said in the press release. "We are thrilled to have found partners who share our vision and outlook, and with whom we have shared so much of our history."
This announcement comes just a day after Sexton announced that the university's study abroad campus in Madrid will be moving to the Summer Palace of the Queen, which will be renovated as a school.
Friday's agreement marks the promise of discussions regarding an ongoing partnership between NYU and the government of Madrid. The press release said such conversations will hopefully lead to a final agreement in the coming months that would lead to the "establishment of a significantly expanded NYU presence in Madrid."
Some students currently attending classes at NYU Madrid said they were unaware that any changes would occur.
"Unfortunately, the first I heard about this was from an NYUNews tweet," Stern sophomore Bill Bokoff said.
Silver School of Social Work sophomore Haley Feldman also said she did not know about any expansion plans, but backed the idea.
"The current campus, while quiet, is in an entirely boring and ultimately small location," Feldman said. "The older, more cultured area of Madrid, where the new campus would be located, is beautiful and centrally located, and close to at least two of the greatest and most expansive museums perhaps in the world. Educationally, it's a much more preferable place for the new campus. I'm happy that at least future students will be able to enjoy studying in a better location."
Additional reporting by Stephanie Lin. Kelsey Desiderio is managing editor for print. Email her at
kdesiderio@nyunews.com.
