There are 76 universities in Spain, most of which are supported by state funding. 24 Spanish universities are private, of which 7 are affiliated with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Former degrees were: *''Licenciatura'' or ''ingeniería'', can last four, five or six years. *''Diplomatura'' or ''ingeniería técnica'', degree courses of shorter duration, 3 years. Under the new

European Higher Education Area The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was launched in March 2010, during the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Bologna Process. As the main objective of the Bologna Process since its ince ...

, these former undergraduate degrees are being replaced by the ''título de grado'' (

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

) or the ''título de máster'' (

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

History

The origins of higher education in Spain date back to

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...

, the period of Islamic rule.

Madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s were established in the Andalusian cities of

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

, Toledo,

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

(

Madrasah of Granada The Madrasa of Granada ( es, Madraza de Granada, also known as the Palacio de la Madraza or the Madrasa Yusufiyya, ) was a madrasa in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was founded in 1349 by the Nasrid monarch Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the List of municipalities of Spain, seventh largest city in the country. It has a ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

and

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

during the

Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and part ...

. Problems of definition make it difficult to date the origins of universities. The first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars, the word "

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

" being derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''universitas'', meaning ''

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

''. Nonetheless, the University of

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half ...

appears to have been the first high education institution in Spain, while the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is ...

(Universidad de Salamanca) is the oldest existing Spanish university. Founded in 1218, during a period of expansion that had begun in the 11th century, this University is considered to be one of the oldest in Western Europe. The university was founded as a "General School of the kingdom" by King Alfonso IX of León in 1218 so that the Leonese people could study at home without having to leave for Castile. The reign of Ferdinand, King of Aragon, and Isabella I, Queen of Castile, saw a professionalisation of the apparatus of government in Spain, which led to a demand for men of letters (''letrados'') who were university graduates (''licenciados''), of Salamanca, Valladolid and

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality. ...

. These men staffed the various councils of state, including, eventually, the ''Consejo de Indias'' and ''Casa de Contratacion'', the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the

, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarily sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. University of Salamanca Fray Luis de Leon edited

University of Salamanca Fray Luis de Leon edited

In Europe, young men proceeded to university when they had completed their study of the ''

trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...

''–the preparatory arts of

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

, and

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

–and the ''

quadrivium From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the ''quadrivium'' (plural: quadrivia) was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in the ...

'':

arithmetic Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th c ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

, music, and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. (See degrees of Oxford University for the history of how the ''trivium'' and ''quadrivium'' developed in relation to degrees, especially in

anglophone Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

universities). Several of the world's oldest universities are located in Spain or were founded by Spanish scholars across the world at the time of the

. The

, founded by King

Alfonso IX Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

of Leon in 1218 is the world's 8th oldest

. The oldest existing universities both in Asia (

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Mig ...

) and the Americas ( University of Santo Domingo) were founded by Spanish religious orders in the 16th century. The creation of the Spanish Empire brought a significant expansion in royal positions for university-trained lawyer-bureaucrats who were not nobles and were dependent on and loyal to the crown. The multiple royal councils needed university-trained men, as did royal government in the Indies. These were men who had studied Roman Law. "The law schools of universities were the training ground of the Crown's advisers." The first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars, the word "

" being derived from the

''universitas'', meaning ''

''. The

University of Palencia The University of Palencia was the first university of Spain. It was founded by Alfonso VIII at the request of Bishop Tello Téllez de Meneses. It was the model upon which the University of Salamanca was patterned. Study began to flourish in Pa ...

appears to have been the first high education institution in Spain and the third in the world, after

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, while the

is the oldest existing Spanish university. Founded in 1218, during a period of expansion that had begun in the 11th century, Salamanca is considered to be the third oldest in Western Europe. The university was founded as a "General School of the kingdom" by

in 1218 so that the Leonese people could study at home without having to leave for Castile. From the Imperial School to St. Bartholomew's College or Our Lady of Mount Zion, the Spanish set up a solid educational system as well as one of the first prominent fee-paying schools in Europe.

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, was one of the many English boarding schools founded by Spanish Jesuits under the Empire, and was originally established in the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

in 1593. The aim of these schools was to provide English boys with a Roman Catholic education during the rule of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

. High-ranking army men and senior administrators of the empire usually pursued a rigorous education for their sons in Spain. The aim was to continue producing future leaders to serve the Spanish Empire and its interests, often resulting in a well-developed final product of colonial governors. Most of these schools were established by Catholic orders such as the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, with the intention of emphasizing catholic values at heart, since the Catholic Church was arguably the greatest promoter of the Spanish Empire.

Admission

Admission to the Spanish university system is determined by the ''nota de corte'' (literally, "cutoff grade") that is achieved at the end of the two-year ''

Bachillerato The Spanish Baccalaureate ( es, Bachillerato) is the post-16 stage of education in Spain, comparable to the A Levels/Higher (Scottish) in the UK, the French Baccalaureate in France or the International Baccalaureate. It follows the ESO (compuls ...

'', an optional course that students can take from the age of 16 when the period of obligatory

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

('' Educación Secundaria Obligatoria'', or ESO) comes to an end. A number between 1 and 10, the ''nota de corte'' is a combination of the grade achieved from the Bachillerato exams which the students take at school, and the average grade (''nota de media'') obtained from the university selection exam (commonly known as ''la

Selectividad is the popular name given to the Spanish University Admission Tests ("", E.v.A.U.), a non-compulsory exam taken by students after secondary school, necessary to get into University. Students must take six 90-minute written exams over three days ...

'' but officially named "Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad" or PAU) that the students will take at the local university. International students need
visa to study in Spain
The most popular courses at public universities demand the highest ''nota de corte'', while for private universities cost is normally the factor that determines which course a student will follow (that is, the most popular courses are inevitably the most expensive).

Ranking

There are several rankings for Spanish Universities. The best known ones are the Shanghai Jiao Tong, QS and THE Ranking. These are international rankings, however, there are also some national rankings comprising the "50 carreras" (50 degrees) from the " El Mundo" newspaper, the CSIC or the IAIF ranking of the UCM. Spain's Higher Educations system has been ranked top-5th by the Spanish CSIC only after the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada.

National Rankings

U-Ranking 2020

It was published in 2020 and done by the

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas.

50 Carreras (El Mundo)

It is a well known ranking in Spain and it is published every year by the national newspaper "El Mundo". :

International Rankings

The Times Higher Education Ranking

QS Ranking

Published annually since 2004, QS World University Rankings® is one of the most complete and trusted university ranking in the world. :

Shanghai Ranking

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is first published in June 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities (CWCU), Graduate School of Education (formerly the Institute of Higher Education) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and updated on an annual basis. Despite its prestige, many people criticize them because they don't take into account the size of the universities for their rankings. :

Round University Ranking

List of public universities

* University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco
University of the Basque Country
* Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

* Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
UC3M
* Universidad Complutense de Madrid

* Universidad de Alcalá
Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) Madrid
* Universidad de Alicante
University of Alicante
* Universidad de Almeria]
UAL - Universidad de Almería
* University of Burgos, Universidad de Burgos
Universidad de Burgos
* Universidad de Cádiz
Portal UCA – Portal principal de la Universidad de Cádiz
* Universidad de Cantabria
Universidad de Cantabria Inicio
* University of Castilla-La Mancha, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Universidad de Castilla - La Mancha
* University of Córdoba (Spain), Universidad de Córdoba
Inicio
* Universidad de Extremadura]
Portal de la UEX - Bienvenido a la Universidad de Extremadura
* Universidad de Granada
Página de inicio
* Universidad de Huelva

* Universidad de Jaén]
Inicio , Universidad de Jaén
* Universidad de La Laguna
Inicio
* Universidad de La Riojabr>Universidad de La Rioja
* Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
ULPGC - Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
* Universidad de León]
Inicio , Universidad de León
* Universidad de Málaga
Home - University of Malaga
* Universidad de Murcia
Página Principal - Universidad de Murcia
* Universidad de Oviedo
Universidad de Oviedo - Inicio
* Universidad de Salamanca
Universidad de Salamanca , Universidad de Salamanca
* Universidad de Sevilla
, Portal Universidad de Sevilla
* Universidad de Valladolid
Universidad de Valladolid
* Universidad de Zaragoza
Inicio , Universidad de Zaragoza
* Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
Inicio
* Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo
Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo - UIMP
* Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
UNED , Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia - Enseñanza Online
* Universidad Pablo de Olavide]

* Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena]
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
* Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
* Universidad Pública de Navarra
UPNA - Portada - home
* Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Inicio - Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
* Universidade da Coruña
Universidade da Coruña
* Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Inicio , Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
* Universidade de Vigo
Inicio , Universidade de Vigo
* Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona]
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
* Universitat d'Alacant]
University of Alicante
* Universitat de Barcelona
* Universitat de Girona">Universitat de Barcelona
Universitat de Barcelona
* Universitat de Gironabr>Universitat de Girona > UdG
* Universitat de les Illes Balears

* Universitat de Lleida
Inici
* Universitat de València

* Jaume I University, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló
Universitat Jaume I
* Universitat Miguel Hernández d'Elx

* Universitat Oberta de Catalunya]

* Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

* Universitat Politècnica de València

* Universitat Pompeu Fabra

*

Universitat Rovira i Virgili University of Rovira i Virgili ( ca, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; , es, Universidad Rovira y Virgili; URV) is located in the Catalan cities of Tarragona and Reus, Spain. Its name is in honour of Antoni Rovira i Virgili. The University of ...

br>

List of private universities

* European University

* Barcelona Technology School

* Graduate School of Management (GSM Barcelona) * Universidad de Deusto

/ Deustuko Unibertsitatea * Mondragon University

* Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio

* Universidad Antonio de Nebrija

* Universidad Camilo José Cela

*

Universidad Cardenal Herrera - CEU CEU Cardenal Herrera University (in Spanish: ''Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera'') is a private university located in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is part of the CEU Foundation, being the first private school of Law ever founded in Vale ...

br>
* Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir

* Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murciabr>
*

Universidad Católica Santa Teresa de Jesús de Ávila Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatema ...

br>
* Universidad de Navarra

* Universidad Europea de Madrid

* Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantesbr>
* Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

* International University of La Rioja

* Universidad Pontificia Comillas

* Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca

* Universidad San Jorge

*

Universidad San Pablo-CEU Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatema ...

br>
* IE University

* Universitat Abat Oliba CEUbr>
* Universitat de Vic

* Universitat Internacional de Catalunyabr>
* Universitat Ramon Llull

* Valencian International Universitybr>

References

External links

Top Universities in Spain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higher Education In Spain Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Universities and colleges in Spain">