Have you considered public universities for your studies in Spain?

Public universities in Spain, everything you need to know and how to get help to get there?

Studying at a private university in Spain is not an option for you?

The question that arises is how to study at a public university in Spain.

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Whether it is because of personal convictions or because of the prices of private universities, you want to study at a public university.

This choice of wanting to study in a public university in Spain is indeed very interesting compared to the budget to be considered. However, it is important to note that they are not free, neither for a Spanish nor for a French student.

The first thing to know about Spanish public universities is that they are selective. Not everyone can get into a university.

 

To enter a public university in Spain, you must have a baccalaureate grade higher than the "nota de corte " of the chosen course at the chosen university.

This is the score of the last candidate admitted to a given course in a given year at a given university. For example, the nota de corte for entry into "Administración de empresas" at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2021 was 10.56. This score varies each year, although it is generally stable.

Attention: the nota de corte is based on 14 points. Having an average of 12/20 in the baccalaureate would not allow a French candidate to be admitted to this program at this university in Spain.

With a Baccalaureate obtained in a French education system, your grade is out of 20 points. A Spanish organization, UNED, is responsible for calculating your grade out of 10 points. The document obtained with the Spanish grade is called the Credencial.

As you have seen with the example of Carlos III, in order to enter the "Administración de empresas" program, you should have a grade higher than 20 in your baccalaureate to enter this program. At this time, there are one or two ways (depending on the university you want to enter) for those who have a baccalaureate to increase their grade and be evaluated on 14 points:

  • Take the PCE (Pruebas de Competencias Específicas). This means taking the Spanish baccalaureate exam on a Spanish program and obviously in Spanish, during May. This procedure exists for all public universities in Spain.
  • Requesting a " Reconocimiento de asignaturas": this process allows you to have certain subjects taken in the baccalaureate recognized, in relation to the studies requested in the university that offers it, and to obtain a maximum of 4 additional points to your grade out of 10 calculated in relation to your initial grades out of 20 in the French system. Please note: this "Reconocimiento de asignaturas" process is not valid in all regions of Spain. Universities are governed by the regions and it is therefore the regional authorities that decide whether or not this procedure is valid. Moreover, since the French system has been reformed, it is not certain that the "Reconocimiento de asignaturas" will be applicable in 2022. The French and Spanish authorities are currently discussing this issue.

Many students choose to enter a bachibac program thinking that it will be "easier" to get into a Spanish public university.

This is not the reality on the ground.

When you study a bachibac, you will receive two different diplomas at the end of your course: the French baccalauréat and the Spanish bachillerato.

In order to access a public university in Spain, you will have to choose a pathway: either the Credencial and the recognition of your baccalaureate in the Spanish system or the passage of the Spanish EbaU (access to the Spanish university). In fact, if you go through your bachillerato, you are like any other Spanish student and you will take the EbaU exams (and not the PCEs, which are reserved for the Credencial).

The bachibac gives you a choice that other students don't have, but it doesn't make it any easier to get into a public university: you will have to take an exam like any other student who wants to enter a public university in Spain. Students from a bachibac stream can apply through the bachillerato and take the EbaU or they can apply through the baccalaureate and take the PCEs or sometimes benefit from "reconocimiento de asignaturas".

Therefore, the bachibac is not a passport for direct access to public universities in Spain because the two diplomas it allows you to obtain, the bachillerato and the baccalaureate, are not passports for direct access to public universities in Spain either.

On the other hand, the bachibac allows you to have a better command of the Spanish language and the habits of working in certain subjects in Spanish and this is not negligible at the time of taking the tests and then to study in Spain.

The deadlines for applying to public universities in Spain are different from those in France. Students apply in June and the process closes at the beginning of July.

Therefore, you must bring your Credencial to the university you are applying to before the admissions close.

If you pass your baccalaureate on July 5 (the date of the baccalaureate results for the 2021 session), the deadline for obtaining the Credencial is extremely short and you will often be out of time to apply. This is why, for example, students from French high schools in Spain take their baccalaureate exams earlier than in France and get their results in time to apply to public universities in Spain in theirfirst year after graduation.

Studying at a public university in Spain therefore often requires a year of preparation, for some to get up to speed in Spanish, and for all to have all the documents in time.

Depending on the region of Spain, the procedures vary and so do the levels of Spanish.

In general, we recommend that you have an official DELE or SIELE Spanish certificate at the B2 level. In some cases it will be mandatory (and eliminatory if you don't have it) and in others it will not. However, sometimes we have seen changes in procedures on this point, and sometimes even late in the year. Anticipating these possible changes allows you to be ready to answer any request, even late, and therefore to be more serene for your application.

FEEDUC is the only French organization to offer specific support to help students enter a public university in Spain.

Step 1 : It all starts with registration on the FEEDUC website (€80). Once you've registered, we'll set up an individual meeting with you. This is when we start to evaluate your project, and in particular its feasibility for studying at a public university.

Step 2 : After the interview, if you are interested in the option of a public university in Spain, we will ask you to send us your grades from yourfirst and second year of high school as well as your transcript from your baccalaureate so that we can make a preliminary study of your file.

  • If your grades would not have allowed you to enter at least one of the public universities that we have selected in Spain for their quality in previous years, we will tell you and we will not offer you our service. This will allow you to focus your energy and time on other options for your orientation and you can also decide to do it on your own if you wish.
  • If you could have mathematically entered at least one of the public universities that we have selected in Spain for their quality in previous years, we will offer you a new interview to present you this specific service that we offer. This new interview will allow us to present you with a quote that could be suitable for you.

Step 3 : Are you interested in all or part of the specific accompaniment service to enter one of the Spanish public universities that we have selected? Then you can subscribe to it. If you are not interested, you can continue the project independently.

  • The detailed study of your file:

This study will allow you to know in detail which of the public universities we have selected are likely to admit you and under which criteria (certified level of Spanish, passing of PCE tests, etc.). With this study, you will save a lot of time because you will be able to target the universities likely to admit you. You will obtain a detailed list of the universities to which you have been admitted in previous years and, above all, the practical conditions under which you could have been admitted (PCE subjects, PCE grades, reconocimiento subjects, reconocimiento grades, etc...). This individual and precise advice will ensure that you know what you are getting into and what conditions you need to fulfill in order to have the best chances of success.

  • La Credencial:

The free support offered by FEEDUC enables you to apply for a basic credencial, which is all you need to get into a private university in Spain. The credencial application, which allows you to increase your individual grade, by being evaluated on 14 points and integrating your level of Spanish, is completely different and much more complex. Registration for the PCE exams, which may sometimes be compulsory to enroll in a public university in Spain, has a deadline and can vary depending on the university you wish to attend.

You can decide to entrust us with this very precise process, which can therefore be complex, or you can decide to do it yourself. On the other hand, if you decide to do it yourself, we will not be able to take over your current file since some options and choices are irreversible once they have been validated.

  • Implementation of an admission process in a public university in Spain:

This is the 3rd service offered by FEEDUC. We can take care of submitting your applications to the university(ies) of your choice. A service fee will be charged for each application process you ask us to carry out for you. We will take care of your application until you receive your admission decision. If you are accepted, it will then be up to you to finalize your enrolment at the university of your choice, under the conditions and within the timeframe indicated by the university.

You will only be able to subscribe to this service if you have previously entrusted us with the creation of your credencial application, which is a condition for the implementation of your admission requests.

The budget will vary according to your choices of subscription since each service listed above costs 1.000€. An individual exchange on the estimate will be made with you. Each service can be subscribed independently but some of the services are subject to the subscription of the previous service since it conditions it.

Sound expensive? If you evaluate the time saved in research, understanding of documents and processes, delays, and the increased chances of admission by applying only to the right place, you may quickly realize that this is a well placed investment.

Moreover, if you compare the cost of our support with the financial benefits you can get from the difference between private and public university tuition fees, you will realize that it is also worthwhile to optimize your chances of admission to the public university system in Spain.

Choosing FEEDUC's support in Spain's public universities means :

  • Gain peace of mind
  • Gain in serenity
  • The guarantee of a timely process
  • The guarantee of the respect of the procedures
  • Maximizing your chances of admission.

Your admission to a public university in Spain will therefore depend solely on your application and not on your understanding or on the correct implementation of the procedures.

FEEDUC can help and advise all students who are planning to study in Spain, both in private universities and in conditional public universities.

As previously mentioned, the candidate's file must have been eligible in previous years and to know this we need the transcript of the high-school diploma results:

  • A senior in a high school abroad will sometimes get his or her high-school diploma transcript as early as the previous December (if his or her school is in the southern hemisphere) or in June in some countries. In this case, we could offer them our help under the same conditions as those we offer to students who are already in post-bac.
  • If the student is a senior in a French school , then we will not be able to accompany him or her for a "classic" application to a public university in Spain because the deadlines do not allow us to offer a reliable and quality service and we therefore do not offer it. However, there are solutions.

Two options are available:

  1. Either the student wishes to carry out a year of preparation, a "gap year", also called "Gap Year", to optimize their chances of admission the following year. to optimize their chances of admission the following year and we can help and advise them with a 2-step plan: Spanish language refresher + PCE preparation;
  2. Either the student is eligible for one of the two UC3M proposals (Universidad Carlos Tercero located in Madrid) and we will accompany him/her for the implementation.

There are 2 options:

  • The Foundation Year : This is a transitional year where you prepare subjects in the field of engineering or social sciences. This year is conducted either in Spanish or English. A B2 level in the chosen language is required to enter the program. This course is not free but gives access to the licence directly afterwards if all the subjects of the course are validated. It is therefore a different way to access one of the best Spanish and European universities. You will attend classes with the same professors who teach at this prestigious Spanish public university. The program is composed of 60ECTS, like any other university program. This will allow you to validate subjects as you continue your studies because some of the subjects are the same as those studied in a Grado program.

Finally, it is also the best way to get into a program that is difficult to get into if you don't have the nota de corte (baccalaureate grade) necessary for direct access for students wishing to study at a public university in Spain. And of course, you will be in contact with students from all over the world.

  • Early Admission This system is reserved for excellent students who have a very good high school record. Based on academic performance and various program evaluation criteria, Carlos III may offer you direct admission. And as the name suggests, you must apply early, before the end of April.

In summary:

Trust us not only for your admission to a university in Spain, but also and above all for your success in Spain.
The accompaniment of several thousand students over the last 10 years gives us the necessary hindsight to advise you in the best possible way.

FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE A PLAN TO STUDY IN SPAIN NEXT YEAR, WHAT TO DO?

Contact us as soon as possible and let's start working together on your project!

The sooner you have access to information, the longer you will have to prepare yourself and the better prepared you will be to succeed in your studies in Spain !

It is never too early to have time to prepare for admission, especially by doing a gap year.

It's also in the preparation that FEEDUC brings you its real added value.

What about September? Later will be too late.... Register as soon as possible on the FEEDUC website to start receiving support and access to the best individual advice for your study project in Spain.

It's our presence in the field that makes FEEDUC: we know what we're talking about, and we only talk about what we know.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE FEEDUC TEAM:

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Opportunities and preparation for your studies in Spain? FEEDUC of course!

Article updated on 03/11/2022

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