Spain

With a well developed educational sector, prestigious universities, and low tuition fees and living costs, Spain is a firm favourite with international students, attracting nearly 40,000 each year to its higher educational institutions.

Basic information

Located at the South Western edge of Europe, Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula, and has two large archipelagos - the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, as well as two autonomous cities in North Africa – Ceuta and Melilla. Its capital is Madrid. A parliamentary monarchy, Spain has a population of 46 million. Catholicism is the main religion in the country. The county is also the world’s 13th largest economy, and the 5th largest in the European Union by nominal GDP (2012) and Spain is the biggest investor in Latin America, aside from the US. Spanish companies are internationally recognised for their leadership in clean technologies, health and biotechnology, engineering, infrastructure, ICT, manufacturing technologies, financial services and tourism. Spain is also the 10th ranked scientific power based on number of publications (2012), with a contribution to world’s scientific output of 3.2%. Culturally Spain is mainly a Latin country with a strong Roman heritage, but through its long history there have been many influences from countries across Europe and the Mediterranean. Spain’s great cultural diversity is reflected in the variety of the languages spoken in the country. The official language is Spanish. Some Autonomous Communities have their own languages, such as Catalan, Valencian, Galician and Euskera, which are also official in their respective regions. With almost 400 million speakers, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after Chinese Mandarin.

The Higher Education System

Spain has 82 universities, 50 public and 32 private, 322 research institutes, and 78 science and technology parks distributed throughout the country - although many are concentrated in the 3 cities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. All Spanish universities facilitate the admission of foreign students to their full range of university undergraduate and graduate studies. Spanish university titles are recognised in more than 30 member countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA); this facilitates as well the approval and recognition of Spanish qualifications in other countries outside Europe, like the U.S.A., Asia and Latin America. University studies in Spain are grouped into three different degree levels: Grade degrees (undergraduate studies - total of 240 credits and average duration of 3 to 4 academic years), University Master degrees (graduate studies - total of 60 to 120 credits, public defence of a thesis and average duration of 1 to 2 academic years) and Doctoral degrees (3 to 4 academic years). Spain is a leading destination for European university students in the Erasmus exchange scheme – with 39,300 Erasmus students coming to study in Spain in the 2011/2012 academic year. Tuition fees are competitive and as a very general guide Master’s and Doctoral degrees cost 80,000 -150,000 INR per academic year. Fees at private universities vary. Average monthly accommodation and living costs are about 70,000 INR per month. Nine Spanish universities made the Top 400 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Rovira i Virgil, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Universidad de Valencia, Universidad de Vigo and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). In the top 100 under 50 HIE ranking (THE 2014): Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Rovira i Virgil, Universidad de Vigo, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña. In the top 25 Global MBA ranking (FT 2014): IESE, Instituto de Empresa and ESADE. In the top 10 European Business School ranking (FT 2013): Instituto de Empresa, ESADE and IESE.

Scholarships

Spain offers a wide variety of scholarship programmes to foreign students and specialists. Among the most important ones are the scholarship programmes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación) through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional) – Programas de Becas MAEC-AECI. Other ministries and administrative and territorial entities (Autonomous Communities) or private companies also offer programmes. There are also several Scholarships of interest to Indian students.