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STUDYING IN SPAIN

Spanish government to create new university entrance exams

The Spanish government has taken the first step in introducing a new university entrance exam, known as the EBAU or Selectividad, with pilot tests across 10 regions.

Published: 13 March 2023 13:50 CET
Spanish government to create new university entrance exams
Spain to introduce new university entrance exams. Photo: PhiLippe LOPEZ / AFP

On Tuesday March 14th, hundreds of students from various regions across the country will undertake a pilot test, which includes various models of what the future university entrance exams in Spain could look like.

The results will not be counted towards the final grades of the students, but they will be used to analyse responses and make the necessary corrections for 2024, when it is expected that the new exam will come into force.

The trial will be carried out in 50 schools and institutes in the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, La Rioja, the Canary Islands, Navarra, Valencia, Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia and Ceuta and Melilla.  

The regions governed by Spain’s People’s Party (PP), such as Madrid, Castilla y León, Murcia, Andalusia and Galicia, however, have not wanted to participate. Aragón and the Basque Country have also refused, according to sources from the department led by the Minister for Education, Pilar Alegría.

The changes to the Spanish secondary school education system began in September 2022, when the government announced several changes such as encouraging critical thinking and reasoning over learning by rote, which has been popular in Spain in the past.  

READ ALSO: How Spain is changing its ESO secondary education system

How will the new exams work?

The different pilot exams distributed across the country will all be different as the government intends to test various alternatives to see which one works the best or what aspects of each one can be extracted to make up the new, so-called Selectividad entrance exam.  

The exams have been prepared by teachers and have also involved the “collaboration of associations of mathematicians, philosophers, and linguists”, Ministry of Education sources have revealed.

Since it will be first-year Baccalaureate (Bachillerato) students (ages 16-18) will be tested this way, it will include subjects that students have already taken in their first year and will continue into their second, such as Spanish language, literature, maths, foreign languages, philosophy, Latin, and artistic drawing. There will be no history of Spain, for example, since it is not taught in the first year of Baccalaureate. 

There will also be personnel from the Ministry of Education at each of the 50 institutes where the students will be examined, and once completed, the results will be compiled and an interview process will begin to assess students’ impressions.  

The analysis of the results is due to be published in May 2023. It is important to note that the tests will not affect this year’s university entrance exams, nor will they greatly influence the next school year.

When will the new exams be introduced? 

The main objective of the Ministry of Education was to start with the new entrance exams as early as the 2023/2024 academic year, but it was finally decided to postpone the process for one year.  This means that any changes will not be applied until 2024.  

The four-year transitory phase for changing over to the educational model promoting critical thinking has also been extended until 2028.  

From 2024 to 2027, there will be a test divided into several exercises to be carried out in 105 minutes: one on a subject such as mathematics, or Latin, for example, and another two on philosophy and the history of Spain.  

The fourth exercise, which will make up 60 percent of the final grade, will assess the “academic maturity” of the student, who will have to analyse a dossier made up of images, infographics, texts, tables and graphs on the same topic.

This final fourth part of the test, however, will not be introduced with the new EBAU in 2024, so the changes are not so abrupt and are slowly introduced over the next few school years.  

Details of this model will be released this summer so that teachers can prepare the necessary syllabuses to teach the Baccalaureate students who will take the new entrance exam next year.

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STUDYING IN SPAIN

Who can request a university grant in Spain in 2024?

The Spanish government recently approved changes to its university grant scheme. Whether or not you qualify depends on where you're from, your residency status in Spain, and your family income, among other things.

Published: 26 March 2024 16:14 CET
Who can request a university grant in Spain in 2024?

The Spanish Cabinet last week approved changes to the income thresholds for university grants in the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year, which among other things extends access to victims of sexual abuse and broadens aid for disabled students.

The income thresholds used to give out grants have been raised by 5 percent on average, in order to bring them into line with the rise in the CPI and salaries.

“This is an extremely important measure for hundreds of thousands of families in Spain that clearly advances towards equal opportunities, especially for our young people and, above all, preventing young students from having to abandon their education and studies due to socioeconomic conditions”, said Spain’s Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sport, Pilar Alegría.

READ ALSO: What are the rules and fees for foreigners to go to Spanish universities?

For the upcoming year, the government has allocated over €2.5 billion for scholarships and study grants, an all-time high that will enable all students to receive an education regardless of where they come from and their family’s financial resources.

In Spain, grants are generally given for enrolment and fees (usually referred to as la matrícula) as well as accommodation costs, plus some extra grants for outstanding academic results. These are generally (more on that below) available for most people studying in Spain, though it can depend on your nationality, residency status and family income. 

Who can request a university grant in Spain in 2024?

Firstly, the grants that aren’t available to everyone.

In Spain, a supplementary grant of €400 is available for people with special educational needs due to the following circumstances:

  • Disability (25 percent as legally defined)
  • Serious behavioural, communication or language disorders
  • Autistic spectrum disorder

“The €400 euro grant is a universal grant for all students with special educational needs. We are taking another step in the right direction to continue working towards equal opportunities,” said Alegría.

It is estimated that almost 250,000 students benefit from these grants every year.

Accommodation grants

The government will also increase the residence grant from €1,600 to €2,500 per year for the upcoming academic year.

What are the income thresholds?

The income thresholds (known as umbrales de renta in Spanish) are used to distribute grants, and depend on the number of people in your family unit and the total annual income.

The Education Ministry has a full breakdown of the thresholds on its website, but generally speaking, if your family income exceeds ‘umbral 3’ for your number of family members you won’t be eligible for a full grant but could still receive something.

For example, if the total income of a three-person household exceeds €34,332 per year, you cannot request a university grant.

Can foreigners access university grants in Spain?

This depends on where you’re from and your residency status in Spain.

If you are a foreigner legally resident in Spain and are over the age of 18, you can essentially access Spanish universities under the same conditions as Spaniards.

This means you are also able to apply for the same scholarships and grants as Spanish students, and the vast majority of grants given to foreigners by the Spanish Department of Education are resident in Spain.

If you’re an international student and not resident in Spain, the government does offer different types of grants and scholarships, many of which are open to international students. Your local Spanish consulate should be able to give you information on those that may be available to you, and is often worth approaching universities directly as many give our private grants to international students.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Can I study English-language degrees at universities in Spain?

However, where exactly in the world you come from could make a difference. Spain’s Ministry of Education outlines the requirements here, including academic requirements, but the key ones include:

  • Being a Spanish national or a national of an EU member state
  • If you are an EU citizen, you or your family must reside permanently in Spain or be employed (or self-employed) in Spain in order to receive the full amount of state university grants
  • If you are an EU citizen and you do not meet this requirement, you will usually only be able to receive the tuition fee grant
  • You must not have previously obtained a degree of an equal or higher level than the studies for which you are applying for the grant

What about non-EU foreigners?

Foreigners who are not from an EU country and don’t have residency in Spain are still able to go to Spanish universities and can even apply for some grants, though it is a little more complicated.

Firstly, you will need to go through the homologation process in order to get your qualifications recognised in Spain. This is carried out through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, except if the university you want to attend is in Catalonia, Galicia or the Basque Country, because in those cases you must request homologation in the region itself. You can contact your local Spanish consulate to help you navigate the process.

In addition, once you have received your place at a Spanish university, you must also apply for a student visa in order to legally be able to live in Spain during your studies.

What about accessing grants?

One possible option for non-EU citizens wanting a grant is to consider the MAEC-AECID grants organised by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

These grants are mostly for post-grad students and are given, among others, to African, Latin American and Asian citizens.

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