Who we are: International Academic Programs.

Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

International Academic Programs is born with the firm conviction of offering the best possible service to parents looking to send their children to study abroad at the best schools in ther world for academic year programs.

The academic year abroad program results as a life turning point for every student participating since they not only acquire a bilingual English level (crucial in their professional careers), but also the level of maturity, self confidence and personal growth the students obtain after completing the program, way ahead their classmates left at their home countries.

Studying an academic year program away from their parents makes students get out of their comfort zone and start to make their own decisions and choices. For the first time in their lives, students will learn how to do things on their own not having their parents monitoring every single step they take. In order to do so, the students must overcome themselves, and improve their self esteem in order to learn a series of essential skills they will apply not only at the school, but also while in university or later in life at their jobs.

When I was 17 years old I studied myself my 12th grade in the Unitades States in year 2000, the last academic year program before college and lived there for an entire year with an American family. Due to this knowledge I know first hand what actually means to participate in an academic year program abroad and every single aspect of the experience.

Selecting the perfect program, destination and school for each candidate it’s essential to guarantee the success of the experience and in order to do so we will based the selection on a series of key parameters like: academic performance, English level, envorinment, and sports, music and arts interests.

In order to select the best schools in each destination we promote at International Academic Programs: USA, Canada, England and Ireland, every year I travel and visit myself every school and area to customize a list of the best schools in the world. You will find all the details, photos and reports of each area at the interactive map included at the website section called Travel Blog (enlace a la sección en inglés).

There you will find every single report we have done so far for each area of the United States like our last September’s visit to the best private schools in Florida, with boarding and homestay options, and all our trips to New England, New York, California, Texas, Arizona, Alabama, New Hampshire or Hawaii.

In Canada you will also be able to check our trips to the cities of Vancouver in British Columbia, Calgary in Alberta, or St. Johns in Newfoundland.

Regarding European destinations you can review our boarding schools in England report, or the one for public schools in Ireland.

During my entire professional career with over 7 years of experience at the international education field, I have selected the best schools, arranged VISAS and transfers for hundreds of students in every country we promote at International Academic Programs. In all these years I have stablished a close relation with every school and their admissions directors, teachers and staff members, so I can provide a very efficient, close and familiar service.

Unlike any other big company in the field, every student and parent will always have my personal email and phone number to reach me at any moment they need during the entire length of the program.

Furthermore, it’s essential and a complete differential factor to emphasise the experince I also have as a host family: For over 19 years and still today, I host at my house American Students for semester academic programs in Madrid, Spain. Thanks to these experience I also know every need students have while studying abroad and how to fulfil their expectations as international students.

For parents, their main concern is having the conviction their children are in the best possible hands and therefore, our main priority will always be selecting the best possible school for each individual candidate to guarantee the success of every single aspect of the program.

At the following link you will find all the details: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/who-we-are/

Borja Pérez-Mínguez Escobar

Founder and CEO International Academic Programs

Private boarding schools in England.

Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

Studying an academic year program at a boarding school in England constitutes a true turning point for the students who participate in it. After completing the program, all parents can verify their child’s personal growth and acquired self confidence.

The key aspects of the program in the British academic system are the prestige of their institutions with hundreds of years of tradition, the high level of supervision and formality administered by teachers and staff members, and the state of the art facilities in academics, sports, arts and music programs. These features combined with the proximity of England’s main airports (London, Liverpool or Birmingham) to any European country make the program one of the best destinations for students wishing to study abroad for academic programs.

All the private boarding schools we have selected at International Academic Programs share similar trademarks like being located in very safe environments, having great feedback from former international students and offering all kind of cutting edge programs according to the student’s main interests. The possibilities are endless since we can find small sized schools where everybody knows each other, big schools with plenty of different offerings, mixed schools, single sex schools, located in rural settings or close to major cities like London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Oxford, Bath or Manchester, to name a few.

The academic year program at the best private boarding schools in England is undoubtedly a spectacular choice for young students who haven’t traveled abroad on their own yet (summer programs) or for the kind of candidate whose parents want to keep in a traditional and well supervised environment very close to their home countries with just a couple of hours away by direct flights.

Every student we met at the school’s visits highly recommended the experience they were having since they had all mentioned a vast improvement in their self confidence and personal growth thanks to the amazing wide range of opportunities they had in academics, sports, music and arts programs, much superior to the ones the schools had at their home countries. Many of them were involved in outstanding equestrian, robotics, programming or coding programs. Like at any of our programs, we will select the best school possible according to the candidate’s main interests.

In order to do so it’s completely essential to know in advance the main parameters we should base on to select the perfect mach for each specific canidate. Some students are looking for strong soccer programs, others prefer tennis, swimming or golf options, and others are more interested in performing arts or proximity to main cities for weekend activities. Anyhow, all the schools we promote have been selected as the best in each area so they all share state of the art facilities in every specialty so students can pursuit their passions and get out of their comfort zone to reach their true potential.

Thanks to all the trips we have done to England, we have selected the best private boarding schools at the following areas, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bath, Bristol and Brighton and you can see in detail the results of our visits at the following photo and video report.

At the following link you will find all the details of the program: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/england/

Public schools with host family in Canada: Vancouver.

Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

British Columbia is undoubtedly one of our favourite destinations for the academic year programs in Canada. Their climate is the warmest in the entire country with very mild winters, and the unparalleled environment combines medium size safe and quiet towns surrounded by spectacular beaches, forests, lakes and ski resorts located barely 30 minutes away to the center Vancouver.

Thanks to this idyllic location, every kind of student can participate in the academic year programs since we get to choose the type of environment, school population, academic subjects, sports, proximity to the city, etc.  The schools are also located at amazing nature settings and therefore we always recommend parents to visit their children while they study in Canada so they get to see the incredible sourroundings of this amazing country.

Regarding the centers we have selected at International Academic Programs,  all schools offer state of the art facilities in academics, sports, music and arts programs, so we can find science labs, interactive boards, 3D printers, laser cuts, and cutting edge technologies like robotics, engineering, drone design, etc.

About sports the wide range of opportunities each school offer in British Columbia includes the best facilities you can find at any public school program: soccer, rugby and football fields, tennis courts, basketball and volleyball programs, badminton, golf and some schools even offer olympic size pools with incredible swimming or water polo programs.

For students with arts interests all schools offer amazing performing arts options with incredible drama programs and famous plays like: The Wizard of Oz, Cats, Chicago, Beauty and the beast, etc. Some students are comfortable performing, others prefer costume design, and others want to be involved with the broadcasting, video editing, etc.

One of the suggestions we always make to our students is going out of their comfort zone and try new programs such as theater, or even oratory classes like public speaking since those have proven to be a great way for students to experience a great personal growth and also to improve their self confidence.

At the following link you will find all the details of the program: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/canada/

Boarding schools in USA: California.

Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

For those students who prefer a warm weather all year long or passionated by marine sciences, sailing, and surf programs, or spending time at the beach, the academic year program at the boarding schools in United Sates has spectacular options in the following destinations: California, Florida and Hawaii.

In this trip we were able to visit the best private boarding schools in California. Some of them where located in rural environments, some in the country side, others in medium size towns right by the ocean and a few in urban environments like Los Angeles or Santa Barbara.

The centers we selected for academic year programs are very different: small ones, big ones, mixed schools, single sex schools, with military background, specialized in different arts or specific academics or sports, etc.  One of them is currently considered one of the best in the entire country in performing arts like theater, drama, singing, musical or even dancing programs.

The last day of the week we were lucky enough to attend a spectacular show prepared entirely by the students at the worlwide recognized Roxy Thatre in Beberly Hills and most of the students who performed there will become soon authentic stars in their respective disciplines. Therefore this option is idyllic for candidates who want to pursuit their passions and learn from the best teachers and directors of every field: classical music, drama, dancing, painting, photography, ceramics, ballet, etc.

Regarding academics every school we promote at International Academic Programs in California offers as well all kind of different specialties such as engineering, environmental science, astronomy, or everything related with new technologies like app development, virtual reality, 3D printers, laser cuts, graphic design or web coding with internship options thanks to the proximity to Silicon Valley, the most prestigious technology area of the world, home base of the top cutting edege companies in the world like Google or Apple.

At the following link you will find all the details of the program: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/usa-boarding/

Boarding schools: Sailboat across the world.

Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog

Undoubtedly the most special academic year program at boarding schools we promote at International Academic Programs. Due to it’s unique features and the maturity level needed to participate in the program, the directors only consider students of 17-19 years old for their 11th, 12th grade and PG (Post Graduated) programs.

This incredible academic year experience on a sailboat allows students to study, live and work as proffesional sailors since they will learn to do every single task on board like cleaning and maintenance of the ship, lookouts every two hours (even at night), and all kinds of navigation responsabilities. It’s essential for the candidates thinking about joining this program to understand they will work very very hard during the entire length of the program since it’s not a cruise ship experience at all and they will have to consider themselves as crewmembers with daily chores. At the end f the academic year the results will be outstanding for every student since they will learn ledership skills, experience an exponential personal growth and greatly improve their self confidence.

The academic method is the most practical and experimental available on the market since the students sail on high seas for 3 consecutive weeks without internet connection and they are taught classes at the own ship. Once they dock at the 20 assigned harbours, the sailors will spend one week at each destination doing all kinds of field work activities: in History class they will visit cities such as Rome or Athens, in Marine Biology they will study whales at Barbados, in Politc Sciences they will visit Cuba, for volunteering works they will travel to African countries, etc.

During the entire length of the program, as we have just mentioned, the sailboat will visit and spend one week each time at 20 different exciting countries and locations: Norway, Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Namibia, Azores, Cape Verde, Cuba, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Bermudas, United States (Florida), Argentina and Brazil.

It’s important to keep in mind the students won’t return to their own countries for any vacation periods like Christmas or Spring Break. The program is one entire academic year without breaks. A couple times a year, parents visits to specific ports will be allowed and those will be the only times to meet their families in person.

Besides the field works at each destination, during the navigation periods on high sea, the students follow a rigurous College Prep academic system with challenging AP classes (Advanced Placement) that prepare them to get acceptances at the best universities of the world.

As you can see this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for very mature students who want to live and incredible adventure, with a very practical academic system. After completing the program all students always mentioned it has meant a true turning point in their lives and an experience they will never forget.

The cost of the academic program is 62.900€ + our fees (4.000€ + VAT). For families with limited budgets, the program offers up to 20% financial aid for very academic students, but we must provide as always financial proof.