Spanish University System

[Marbella]

I have a few questions on this subject if you can help me please:

1. Is there a league table of Spanish universities? In the UK we have Oxford and Cambridge at the top of the tree: does Spain have a couple of top universities like this or does it depend on the subject matter? How would I know what is a good uni and what is a bad one?

2. If it does depend on subject matter then what are the best universities for science, arts, technology, engineering etc.?

3. How does the entry system work? I'm aware of 'selectividad' but does that mean a student takes the selectividad exam in the subject that they wish to study at uni e.g. maths? Is selectividad just a fail or pass or is it graded?

4. How do the private universities work? Are they well respected or is it seen as an easy way to get a degree? What uni does an employer like to see on a CV? How much do they cost?

5. Do students pay tuition fees to go to uni in Spain?

6. Are degrees earned in Spanish universities recognised in America (USA) and the UK? Are they valued/respected as equivalents?

Sorry, so many questions but I'd be grateful for your input.

[Marina]

1&2 - I think that it really depends on the subject matter. For example both Barcelona and Madrid politécnicas (engeneering) have a lot of prestige. For other degrees U. Autonoma de Madrid and U. Carlos III are also very good. Anyhow, my opinion is quite Madrid orientated so you might need to do more research here.

3 - Selectividad is an exam that you take in your final year in highschool on the subjects that you chose (It has change a little bit but when I took it was 7 or 8 subjects some of them mandatory like philosophy or foreign language and some others to choose between science (maths, physics, chemistry) or what we call letras (history, lenguage...). Then, when you take the exam you are marked in all subjects and the averge of all of the is your final mark. Then each degree in each University sets the minimum mark that you need to get in depending on demand. This applies manly for public universities, for some of the privates ones is fine with a pass mark and an interview.


Sorry I'll continue later...

[Marbella]

I'm grateful, thanks Marina. Any further info, even Madrid orientated, would be much appreciated.

[Marbella]

I'm struggling to find (on the web) performance related data on Spanish schools and universities. In England we have school league tables which aren't perfect but they at least let you see what kind of exam results a school produces. Some people like them, some don't, but at least it's something to go on.

For universities we have independent guides like The Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,6734,00.html)'Good University Guide (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,6734,00.html)' which shows by subject how universities perform based on a range of criteria.

If this kind of data exists please would someone point me to it. If it doesn't - do you think there could be a market for it? If the education system would release the data that is.

[Victor]

I have found this on the web (sorry, only in spanish), it might be helpful:
http://universidades.universia.es/ranking/espanya.htm
http://www.tugueb.com/e_campus/2002/06/reportaje/ranking/index_.html
http://universidades.universia.es/ranking/el-mundo.htm

[Marbella]

Don't know how I missed that, thanks Victor!

[Victor]

Not at all.:)

[kyle]

3.- (Have a look at bachillerato (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_educativo_de_Espa%C3%B1a) ). Depending on which of those 4 bachilleratos you chose, your selectividad exams will be on the different subjects you studied. When choosing a university, there is a so called 'nota de corte', which is the mark of the very last person who joined that career last year (that depends on the number of places and people trying to attend).

If you're 25+, you can attend a special exam (http://www.uned.es/acceso/) ) with no selectividad involved :)

4.- Private universities, specially "escuelas universitarias", are a bit lax on requirements - IMHO. Many of them do not require a selectividad exam and will only teach 'light' matters such as business administration, marketing and to my shame, computer science :-) (ie: no serious engineering or anything like that - although there are very remarkable exceptions as Marina pointed out).

Difficulty in getting a degree varies from place to place, but in general I could say public universities and private ones is comparing apples to pears (I don't know anyone in a public uni who has got their degree in the supposed time it last - often it is required 50%-70% more time, a 5 year degree easily becomes 8+ years).

Tuition fees vary, but a standard could range between 4000 and 6500€/year depending university and the number of subjects you enroll in (Higher costs if you have to enroll in the same subject for a second time and so on).

Employers are generally not reluctant to seeing private university CVs, as long as the person fits the job and does it OK (at least in what I've seen/experienced, having a degree from a private uni myself).

5.- yes, depending on how many subjects you enroll you may pay something between 500-1000e/year. (That depends on the number of credits each subject is and whether is your first, second, ... time you enroll)

6.- Don't know about usa or UK but the other way round it does work, as long as you follow the (rather tedious and time consuming) process of homologating it. Homologation is only necessary if you intend to get into the public sector (oposiciones), but for private companies are equally respected/valued.

IMHO uni degrees are a bit overrated (perhaps because everybody has one or two now :P), companies are more in a 'can-do' fashion rather than a lengthy CV on scolastic merits :P .

[Marbella]

Many thanks kyle for the valuable information.

One thought just struck me: why are degree courses so long there? Here it is 3 years and many believe that this could, and will in some cases, be reduced to 2 years.

[Marina]

I don't really know the reasons, in my opinion the aproach is much more practical in the UK than in Spain, whereas in here people tend to speciallize much more.
For example I have a Maths degree by U. Autonoma de Madrid. When I studied, maths was a 5 year degree (4 now). From the first year to the third I learnt lots of maths but most useful I build up lots of thechnics of how to solve problems, how to take different paths if one wasn't working, how to give added value to my work by explaining every solution in detail etc, which are the things that I really apply in my daily work. After that, the remaining 2 years only taught me some extra maths which I've never used and were a pain because I was ready for a change and for getting some practical expirience.

[Marbella]

That's really interesting Marina, do you think the extra time on these courses was to keep people in education rather than unemployed? The UK government now bribe young people with money to stay on in education than add to the unemployment statistics. A cynical view I know.

I'm fascinated to know that you took a maths degree. Please tell why you chose it as a subject? It's a great subject but tragically in the UK we are struggling to get high level maths teachers. And, as a woman, how did people react to your choice, what was the ratio men:women on the course?