Primary and secondary education

In Spain, primary education (educación primaria ) is compulsory for 6 to 12 year olds. Secondary education is for students aged 12 to 18 and consists of 2 phases:

• compulsory secondary education (educación secundaria obligatoria, ESO), concluded with exams for a Título de Graduada/o en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO);
• non-compulsory secondary education (educación postobligatoria), which consists of 2 streams:
  • the general education stream, concluded with exams for a Título de Bachiller;
  • the vocational education stream, concluded with exams for a Título de Técnica/o.

In Spain, primary education and compulsory secondary education together form 1 phase: the basic phase. Education is compulsory for children aged 6 to 16, so this applies to the entire basic phase (educatión básica). Students aged 16 and over do not have to attend school.

Students can attend educación básica at public and private schools. These schools have different names, for example colégio or Instituto de Educación Secundaria (IES).

This is the diploma of compulsory secondary education (educación secundaria obligatoria). This educational phase is for students aged 12 to 16.

• Duration i : 4 years.
• Content: in the first 3 years, students take general education subjects and at least 1 art subject (e.g. music). The general education subjects are:
  • biología y geología y/o física y química (biology and geology and/or physics and chemistry);
  • educación física (physical education);
  • geografía y historia (geography and history);
  • lengua castellana y literatura (Spanish language and literature) and sometimes lengua cooficial y literatura (semi-official language and literature);
  • lengua extranjera (foreign language); and
  • matemáticas (mathematics).
    In the 4th year, students choose general education or vocational education.
• Function of the diploma: access to non-compulsory secondary education (Título de Bachiller or Título de Técnica/o). Students who do not get the Título de Graduado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) cannot continue studying for the Título de Bachiller.
• Diploma: Título de Graduada/o en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO).

This is the diploma of the general education stream of non-compulsory secondary education. This educational stream is called bachillerato in Spanish.

• Duration: 2 years.
• Content: general education subjects. The following subjects are compulsory for all students:
  • educación física (lichamelijke opvoeding);
  • lengua castellana y literatura (Spanish language and literature);
  • lengua extranjera (a foreign language);
  • only in the 1st year: filosofia (philosophy);
  • only in the 2nd year: historia de España (Spanish history).
    In addition, students take subjects from 1 of the following subject clusters:
  • artes (art);
  • ciencias (science subjects, including mathematics);
  • humanidades y ciencias sociales (lassical languages, literature and, among others, geography, psychology and business economics).
• Function of the diploma: admission to higher education after passing the entrance exam (EBAU or EVAU).
• Diploma: Título de Bachiller.

Please note: 'at least a HAVO diploma' means that a Título de Bachillerhas a higher level than a HAVO diploma, but a lower level than a VWO i diploma. The level of a Título de Bachiller is between a HAVO diploma and a VWO diploma.

In Spain, a Título de Bachiller gives access to the university entrance exam, EBAU or EVAU. The level of this entrance exam is comparable to VWO. If students pass the EBAU or EVAU, they will have reached the level of a VWO diploma.

This is the diploma of the vocational education stream of non-compulsory secondary education. In Spanish, this educational stream is called Ciclo Formativo de Grado Medio de formación profesional (CFGM).

• Duration: minimum 1 year and maximum 6 years (for study programmes in art).
• Content: profession-oriented subjects.
• Admission requirements: the Título de Graduado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) or a Cualificación Profesional that the student got by passing a course of the Programas de Cualificación Profesional Inicial (PCPI).
• Function of the diploma: access to work, access to the bachillerato and access to the Título de Técnica/o Superior after passing the entrance exam.
• Diploma: Título de Técnico of Título de Técnica.

To be admitted to a Spanish university, students must have a Título de Bachiller (bachillerato). In addition, they have to pass the entrance exam (selectividad) in June.

Spanish universities use a set grade to decide which students to admit. This grade is a combination of the average final mark of the bachillerato (60%) and the result of the entrance exam (40%). Prospective students can get between 0 and 14 points (notas de corte).

The official name of the entrance exam is:

• Evaluación de Bachillerato para el Acceso a la Universidad (EBAU); or
• Evaluación para el Acceso a la Universidad (EVAU).

Please note: before 2018 it was called Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad (PAU).

The EBAU/EVAU consists of 2 parts:

• a compulsory part (fase obligatoria);
• a non-compulsory part (fase voluntaria).

Compulsory part of the entrance exam

Spanish universities only admit students who have passed the compulsory part of the entrance exam (EBAU/EVAU). This compulsory part consists of an exam in 4 or 5 subjects.

In any case, all students have to take exams in 3 subjects from the common part of the bachillerato and in 1 subject from the chosen subject combination.

Common part:

• lengua castellana y literatura (Spanish language and literature);
• historia de España (history of Spain);
• lengua extranjera (foreign language: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese).

Chosen subject combination:

• 1 subject from one of these subject combinations:
  • artes (art);
  • ciencias (science subjects, including mathematics);
  • humanidades y ciencias sociales (classical languages, literature and, among others, geography, psychology and business economics).

In some regions, students may also take an exam in lengua cooficial y literatura (semi-official language and literature).

Non-compulsory part of the entrance exam

With the non-compulsory part of the exam, students can improve their grades. This increases their chances of being admitted to university.

Students with a Título de Técnica/o Superior, Técnica/o Superior de Artes Plásticas y Diseño or a Título Deportivo Superior have not had to take the entrance exam since 2010.

More information about subjects

You can find more information about the subjects of the entrance exam under 'Estructura EBAU' (EBAU structure) at the bottom of the page Evaluación de bachillerato on the UNEDasiss website (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia - UNED).

Entrance exam for foreign students

Spanish universities also admit foreign students, usually through an entrance exam. At some Spanish universities, students from EU member countries do not have to sit an entrance exam. This is only the case if these students have a diploma that allows them to go to university in their own country. Students with the European Baccalaureate or International Baccalaureate may also not need to take an entrance exam.

Requirements per country

On the UNEDasiss website, you will find an overview of the requirements per country:

• Click under ‘selección de país del sistema educativo’ (select education system country) on the country where you got the diploma.
• Under ‘Tipo de estudios’ (type of studies), select ‘Estudios secundarios que permiten obtener la homologación al Bachillerato español’ (secondary school diploma that is equivalent to the Spanish secondary school diploma).
• Click on ‘criterios de admisión en la universidades españoles’ for the table of the admission requirements of Spanish public universities.

Please note: check with the university whether the admission requirements are still correct.