Any good and cheap Spanish Institutes or University Classes in bogota?

Panama says on Sep 7, 2009, 04:55:

Can't help with the visa but In May I stayed in La Candeleria at the Posada del Sol guest house and they had Private spanish classes there.Here is the contact Info. Give them a call for prices.

Posada del Sol
Calle 9 No. 3-71
La Candeleria, Bogota
342-7105
www.posada-bogota.com

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gamm2 says on Sep 7, 2009, 05:41:

Universidad Nacional - good classes and good value. google search on this website and you will find all the info you need.

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pbiemans says on Sep 7, 2009, 18:52:

The cheapest bet would be the University Pedagogica. I took a three weeks course there for 360.000 pesos. There are some things though to pay attention to. Although their site may suggest otherwise, they only offer this course Monday-Friday from 14:00 until 16:00 hours. The site also tells you the course is for 40 hours but since it´s only three weeks you only make 30 in total. The promise that there are nine levels is not true - it just depends on how many students there are. When I was there, in June, there were two levels ´filled´ with approximately four people each.

Since La Pedagogica is a public university, the administration process is a bit unnecessarily complicated and unfriendly - partly not their fault since there seem to be a lot foreigners who only inscribe for the visa and then never show up. I can give you more info on the process if needed.

In any case, for me it was worth the while. The Ministry of Exterior, which is in charge of student visas (so this is not DAS, which does all the other visas), gave me a visa for six months based on the inscription for the course. Which does not mean that they do that with everybody of course, it must have been a combination of the chaotic administration, the different prolongations they give me, people I knew and my impressive appearance.

Another cheap (and quality) option is Universidad Nacional: http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/img/Lenguas Extranjeras/Documentos/programaciondecursosextencion.pdf

Underneath you find more details. NB: the classes are not on the Pedagogica´s central location (C72 con 11), but close to Unilago, slightly more north.

Universidad Pedagógica nacional
Centro de Lenguas
calle 79 no.16-32
bogotá. d.c.
colombia
pbx: 6108000 ext. 211
e-mail: centrodelenguas at pedagogica.edu.co

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roflandr says on Sep 7, 2009, 20:01:

thank u! I know the dean of Pedagogica so I'll see if I can pull some strings :P The colombian way lol

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bickerss says on Sep 8, 2009, 00:47:

pbiemans - great summary; thanks.

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

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span_colombia says on Sep 8, 2009, 14:39:

I think la nacional is cheaper than the pedagogica. and I can personally recommend la nacional.

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gamm2 says on Sep 8, 2009, 14:46:

yeah la nacional is $580,000 for 80 hours and it really is 80 hours. Very Good teachers.

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span_colombia says on Sep 8, 2009, 15:17:

it's also the most prestigious university in the country, so lots of interesting, brilliant people around. and the foreigners who study there are some of the most interesting I've met in colombia. it's also by far the cheapest option, with good quality, serious, academic classes. what's not to like? (only drawbacks: classes are a bit boring/teacher centered sometimes and you occasionally have to walk around campus with your teacher to find an available classroom, no big deal)

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