Master's degrees in Spain
Official graduate studies
Official graduate studies are meant to provide students with academic, professional or research specialization. They are organized in Graduate Programs or Official Graduate Degrees of second cycle (Master) and third cycle (Doctorate or Ph.D.) in the Spanish university education system. These degrees are adapted to the European Higher Education Space (EHES).
The Bologna Declaration of 1999 set the basis of the EHES, according to principles of quality, mobility, diversity, competitiveness and oriented towards the achievement, amongst others, of the conversion of the European system of higher education in a pole of attraction for students and academics of other parts of the world. The time horizon for the completion of EHES is 2010.
These degrees facilitate automatic recognition and mobility between the 30 nations that make up the EHES. The degrees cover a great variety of subjects, summed up in 5 areas or fields of knowledge:
Requirements to obtain a Master's degree in Spain
University studies of second cycle that lead to an official degree of Master will have a minimum extension of 60 credits and a maximum one of 120.
Students that hold a foreign (i.e. non-Spanish) degree of higher education can enrol in these studies per:
- Official recognition of their degree according to the current legislation.
- Authorization by the host university, after checking that their courses and studies are of an equivalent academic level to the corresponding Spanish ones leading to undergraduate degrees and allowing the same access to graduate studies.