The mayor of Marbella, José Bernal, inaugurates the new academic year at The American College Spain

80 students, mostly from the U.S., have began their studies at the affiliate center of Broward College in Marbella Marbella, October 20th, 2015: Today, the mayor of Marbella, José Bernal, inaugurated the 2015-2016 academic year at The American College in Spain, the center affiliated with Broward College, the second largest university in Florida and the fifth largest in the United States. The mayor was accompanied by campus Director of The American College in Spain, Melissa Butler and by soccer coach and director of Marbella United F.C., Bobby Lennon. Prior to the press conference, the representative for the U.S. Consulate in Fuengirola, Ms. Roberta Aaron took the opportunity of welcoming the 80 students who will be studying in ACS and especially to the American soccer players who have chosen Marbella as their place of study both for cultural and educational reasons. Bernal on the other hand, thanked the American College in Spain for the impact these kind of initiatives have on tourism. These North American students have chosen Marbella specifically to receive their soccer training at a semi- professional level at the same time they pursue their university education. This is another aspect that the American College in Spain puts heavy emphasis on, and which is one of the fundamental pillars of the U.S. education system: the combination of education and sports. The training will be supervised by expert coach Bobby Lennon, who expressed that one of the main reasons for choosing Marbella was the availability of a U.S. university program, the climate, but most importantly the fact that “Spanish soccer is the best in the world” Melissa Butler gave a brief description on the American system and explained that students who register in The American College in Spain may begin their university studies in Marbella and complete 2 years of a four-year university degree. Once the two first years have been completed, students can transfer to the campus in Broward College (Ft. Lauderdale) or any university in the state of Florida in order to complete their degree, thanks to Broward’s agreements with other institutions in the area. Moreover, Butler announced that ACS will be offering two scholarships to the Marbella Town Hall, and they will be the ones in charge of allocating them to those students who wish to obtain an American degree.