Complete guide to studying in Spain

Everything you need to know about becoming an international student in Spain

A quick introduction to Spain

Located in the south west of Europe and occupying the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain is a country rich in history and culture that is home to over 220,000 international students from around the world, according to the Spanish Ministerio de Universidades.

Spain offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy beautiful countryside and warm sunny weather, with some of the sunniest cities in Europe.

There are 17 autonomous communities, or regions, of Spain, each with its own distinct identity, and your experience studying in the country will vary a great deal depending on the region in which you choose to study.

Spain is an EU country, and academically it follows the Bologna process and is part of the European Higher Education area, so any qualifications completed in Spain are recognized throughout other EU nations through the ECTS credit system.

International students will find a multicultural environment with a mixture of laid back ‘work-to-live’ and bustling busy cultures. Spain is becoming an increasingly popular study destination, thanks to its high quality education and relatively affordable costs of living.

Many international students in Spain come from surrounding nations such as Italy and France, though students are attracted from around the world, with large numbers of students arriving from countries such as Columbia, China and the United States.

Spain’s higher education system

There are 91 universities in Spain according to the Ministerio de Universidades, 50 of which are public universities and 41 of which are private. Some of the privately funded institutions in Spain are non-secular universities, such as San Jorge University, which is a Catholic university.

The standards of education that you will receive will be high regardless of whether your chosen university is privately or publicly funded, with Spain’s top ranking universities including public universities such as Pompeu Fabra University and the University of Barcelona, and private universities like the University of Navarra.

As Spain follows the Bologna process, universities offer degrees in a range of disciplines at the following levels:

• Bachelors degrees, which typically take 3 to 4 years of full-time study to complete, resulting in 180 to 240 ECTS credits.
• Masters degrees, which take between 1-2 years of full-time study to complete
• Doctorates, which take between 3 years to complete when studied full-time

Tuition fees for public universities in Spain are set by the autonomous community in which the university is located, and as such will vary by region and university.

As an example of pricing, as an EU citizen at Pompeu Fabra University, which is a public university based in the region of Catalonia in the east of the country, you may be expected to pay around € 1,200 per year in tuition fees for a bachelor’s degree, whilst non-EU students will be expected to pay fees of around €6,800 per year.

The academic year in Spanish universities typically commences in September and finishes the following year in July. Most universities divide the academic year into two semesters, the 1st beginning in September and finishing in February, and the 2nd beginning in February and finishing in July.

University rankings

If you are choosing to study at a university abroad, you will consider a lot of factors when choosing a university.

University rankings are a useful technique to compare the performance of universities by metrics that you might find meaningful as an international student, such as teaching reputation, percentage of staff to students, and student satisfaction.

Spain has a long history of high quality education at its universities, with some of the oldest universities in Europe, such as the University of Salamanca, which was established in the 1200’s.

This tradition is born out in the high performance of Spanish universities in well-known world university ranking systems, which is shown in our table below, which shows the top 15 Spanish universities.

University	Times Higher Education World University Ranking	Best Global Universities	QS World University Ranking
University of Barcelona	152	79	165
Autonomous University of Barcelona	201–250	133	175
Pompeu Fabra University	201–250	269	265
University of Navarra	301–350	385	249
Autonomous University of Madrid	351–400	277	198
Complutense University of Madrid	501–600	323	164
University of Granada	501–600	352	431
Rovira i Virgili University	501–600	685	731-740
University of Valencia	501–600	251	445
University of the Basque Country	601–800	460	641-650
University of Córdoba	601–800	1012	951-1000
Open University of Catalonia	601–800
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya	601–800	450	371
Polytechnic University of Valencia	601–800	635	436
Universitat Ramon Llull	601–800	935	466