As a future student in Spain you may have already asked yourself this question:
Where to study in Spain? Today we offer you a clearer view of the two university systems that have always coexisted in Spain.
A public education and a private education, catholic (foundations with rates often cheaper than private non catholic) at first then secular since 1995.
What are the characteristics and what is good to know about public universities in Spain?
- All the information you will find will be in Spanish.
- The administrative processes and schedules are designed for Spanish students. They will often not be adapted to you and sometimes not at all compatible with your own exam dates (baccalaureate, PACES,...) or with your need to have an admission answer before mid-July (date of admission answers in public universities in Spain).
- The staff of these universities will communicate with you (by e-mail, telephone or on site) in Spanish.
- You will be subject to the same selective requirements as Spanish students (nota de corte: lowest average accepted). The French 20-point grading system is a disadvantage compared to the Spanish 10-point grading system. French teachers mainly take mistakes into account and give harsh grades. Spanish teachers are more focused on positive responses and therefore less severe in their grading.
- You will find little collaboration from the staff. The arrival of foreign students (whose studies are then financed by the taxes paid by the Spanish) has never been seen in a very good light in Spain. These same foreigners who ask a lot of questions and don't understand anything they are told can sometimes be badly perceived and badly received.
- You will not find any support offered for your exchange with public universities in Spain. The amount of work that would be required for such an accompaniment does not allow us to propose an offer at a reasonable price. The result of an admission process of a French student in a public university in Spain has, moreover, very little chance of leading to an enrollment.
The main advantage of public universities in Spain is the price, since they are financed in large part by the Spanish state, even though they are still more expensive than French universities.
The main disadvantage of public universities in Spain is that access to the most sought-after courses, such as health sciences, is complicated and sometimes impossible for students who do not come from the Spanish education system.
What are the characteristics and what is good to know about private universities in Spain?
- These are commercial ventures and, as a French student (or family of a French student), you are not prepared for them. We know this in France for business schools, but for health sciences courses, for example, the steps and processes can be surprising.
- What consequences will this have? You will often be in contact with salespeople who are commissioned on the sales they make. In some of them, often the most visible ones, their only objective is to sell! You will then be the target of marketing products intended to make a company profitable and prosperous.
- If your interest corresponds to their offer, you can make a commitment, but remain calm and know how to keep your distance from professional salespeople with well-honed speeches.
- Be prepared for commercial approaches (reminders, numerous e-mails, multiple phone calls, etc.) which can be quite aggressive in some universities or with some intermediaries. Many will not hesitate to use strong arguments that are not always accurate: for example, they may encourage you to enroll in a hurry in January, telling you that there are few or no places left, whereas every year we see that solutions exist, even in these universities, much later in the school year.
- You should always try to keep your cool (and believe me this is not always easy with the levels of pressure you will be facing) and stay on top of your project given the financial and personal consequences.
The main advantages of private universities are: access without a competitive examination, the absence of two years of "preparatory" classes, the operational quality of the courses, which offer a lot of practice and a close relationship with the world of work. Most private universities deliver the same official diplomas as public universities. There are no competitive exams, but rather examinations: you don't fight against others but for yourself, to learn a profession and then be able to practice it with all the necessary skills.
The main disadvantage of private universities is the price, since they are fully financed by the student and a good course, in the health sciences for example, is expensive. If it is not expensive (no matter in which country it is offered) it cannot be of good quality (even if the most expensive are not always the best).
