How to obtain the Credencial de l'UNED to study in Spain in a public university (Part 2)

In Spain, access to public universities is selective.
So they chose to sort the students on :

• their grades from the last two years of high school(bachillerato)
• their Evau (Evaluación de Acceso a la Universidad) score
• as well as on their grades in the " Fase específica " which allows them to obtain 4 extra points. This is the Spanish equivalent of options in France.

On our blog, you will find a detailed detailed article on the nota de corte.

You obtain it from UNED by completing the Credencial, a mark corresponding to your baccalaureate grade.
All students who have benefited from FEEDUC's support can send us their application to open an account on the UNED website.
You will find the document on our website at this link.

Spanish students are graded out of 10.
On the UNED platform, UNEDAssis, if you simply want to transform your French grade into a Spanish grade, you will have to select the option "Calificación para Admisión a la universidad española".
This is sufficient for the vast majority of private universities.
In public universities, the university of your choice will calculate your "Nota de corte" according to different criteria that we will detail below.

In order to get into a public university, you will often have to try to increase your "nota de corte".

• You will be competing with Spanish students
• Universities will not take into account your high school of origin, the more severe French grading or your strong motivation.
• Only your "nota de corte" will be taken into account.

Therefore, it is important to follow the following guidelines (see 3-1. to 3-4.) to achieve this.
In any case, you will be able to increase your Spanish score by a maximum of 4 points.

In order to increase your admission score to a Spanish public university, the UNED website offers the " Reconocimiento de Asignaturas ".
This means that they will use your high school grades to give you a Spanish grade on the subjects you are applying for.
This is often the best option to increase your grade because you are being evaluated on the results of your studies in French and your educational system.
Obviously, if you have poor results, the grade you receive will only give you a few points.
This service is available to all those who have passed the bac after 2015 and the validity of this recognition is two years.
Only subjects that exist in Spain and more specifically in the PCE can be recognized.

What materials should I choose to do the "Reconocimiento de asignaturas"?

Before applying for recognition, check the website of the university you are interested in to see what subjects are taken into account for the chosen course.

Depending on the subject, the recognition will give you more or less points depending on the weighting set up by the university for the studies you are applying for.

It is always subjects related to the curriculum that are obviously the best weighted (biology for veterinarians or dentists for example). Do not have your drawing option recognized in your baccalaureate to study physiotherapy, even with a 20/20 it will not bring you any points!

In case the requested subject has not yet been validated by UNED, it is necessary to send :

• the detailed program of the subject translated into Spanish by a sworn translator,
• 1st and 12th grade grades with the subject matter indicated, translated by a sworn translator,
• the official French website where the original program can be found.

These documents must be submitted to UNED before May 1st of the current year to ensure a study of the material.

To set up this "Reconocimiento de asignaturas", you will have to check the corresponding box when you "Solicitud" on the UNED Assis website.

Attention! Before applying for the "Reconocimiento de asignaturas", make sure that the Spanish university to which you are applying accepts this modality. Some universities may require you to take the PCE.

The other way to increase your grade is to take the " Pruebas de Competencias Específicas " or PCE. You can take up to 6 subjects, but universities only consider the top two.
Before deciding which ones you want to take, you should first check which subjects are taken into account by the university you want to apply to.
There are usually between 2 and 3 subjects that are likely to be taken into account.
You will find the subjects taken into account on the university websites with their weighting.
Only the two best grades will be kept.
It is therefore not necessary to accumulate PCEs but to choose the subjects that will be taken into account and that will give you more points.

The PCE tests are often held in June and if you take them in France, they are held in Paris.
You can also take them in Spain if you wish.
If you are taking the bac the same year, you will have to take the PCE before taking the bac.
Most importantly, you will need to make the decision to take the PCE before you have your bac results.
You can take the PCE AND apply for the "Reconocimiento de asignaturas". Only the two highest scores will be considered.

• The PCE is like a baccalaureate in Spanish.
• The program is different from the French program.
• Your chances of getting good results are therefore limited, except in the specific case of people with a perfect command of Spanish.
• In most cases, having your baccalaureate grades recognized will be much more effective than taking PCEs. But obviously, this is studied on a case-by-case basis.

To apply to a public university

you will need to :

• contact directly the university that interests you, knowing that you can apply to different universities in Spain.
• Apply in June, once the Spanish Baccalaureate (Evau) exams have been completed.
• connect to the website of the university you are interested in,
• open an account and send the requested documents.

The period to do this usually ends in early July.
You have a period of one month to complete all the steps.
After this period, you will not be able to apply to a public university in Spain.

To apply to a Spanish public university by passing the baccalaureate in the same year

You will need to have sent part of your file (1st and 2nd trimester grades) to UNEDAssis before the baccalaureate.
As soon as you receive your grades, you must either hand in the certified copies at the UNED office or send them by courier so that they can receive them as soon as possible. Deadlines are usually very tight.

It is the public university that contacts the UNED to obtain the final Credencial grade as well as the PCE and/or "Reconocimiento de asignaturas" grades.
Many students go to Madrid the day after they receive their baccalaureate grades to obtain their Credencial.
Once the admission platforms are closed, you have to wait a week to get the results.

As mentioned in point 1 of this article, we have already published information on this subject.

You will find all the minimum grades required to study the course of study you want.

But the grades are often higher than 10/10 because Spanish students do the specific phases of the EvAu.

It is therefore common to see grades as high as 12 or 13 out of 14 to get into certain programs.

A French student with a 20 in the baccalaureate will "only" have a 10 if he or she does not take the PCE or the reconocimiento de asignaturas. And it is rare that a foreign student gets the maximum possible 4 points. This is why studying in the public sector is really very complicated.

FEEDUC cannot currently provide 100% support for a project at a public university. However, we are working on a new offer for the start of the 2020 academic year. All the information will be published on our website in autumn 2019.