ICS
ICS is recognized by the Government of Andalusia under the Spanish Education Act of 1991, and is authorized by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Junta de Andalucia to offer U.S. college-level courses.
ICS was previously known as Institute of International Studies, an institution founded in 1982 and offering, in cooperation with different U.S universities and colleges and the Faculties of Philology and Geography & History at the University of Seville, a multi-faceted program for students wishing to study in Spain.
ICS neighborhood:
A Brief History
Until the late 19th Century the neighborhood known today as ¨El Porvenir¨, the ICS neighborhood, was open grassy land on which cattle roamed and where stood a lone Mudéjar-style country shrine dating back to the late 14th Century. In the early part of the 20th Century the municipal government privatized a great deal of land in this southern part of the city in order to begin construction in anticipation of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. By 1914 a number of small hotels for the visiting elite as well as homes for the Exposition workers had been built. One of these homes is the present-day site of ICS.
By 1937 , the former country shrine was transformed into the parish of San Sebastián, as it is known still today, and the streets which during the Exposition were private and for names held hand-written posts of the names of the American country participants to the Exposition, were officially urbanized.
Sidewalks were constructed, and trees and bushes were planted abundantly and strategically, giving the neighborhood an air of ¨City Garden¨ as people quickly began to refer to it.
The María Luisa park offers a harmonious blend of architecture and vegetation. The beautiful flower beds, the orange and palm trees, the centenarian elms and Mediterrenean pines, the shrubs, grottos and ponds all give the park a marvelous fairytale quality to it. With its extraordinary blend of bustling European avenues, its peaceful oriental courtyards and its romantic landscaped gardens the María Luisa is regarded as one of the loveliest parks in Europe.
It’s no small wonder that one can easily find ICS students stretched out on the grass reading a book, taking in the sun on a brightly tiled bench, or simply chatting with friends at one of the many outdoor terraces… nearly any day of the week.
