Spain[edit]
Spain's higher-education legal framework includes: Official and accredited education, and Non-official education.
1.1 Official and accredited education.
In Spain, accreditation of official university study programmes is regulated by law and monitored by governmental agencies responsible for verifying their quality and suitability for official approval and accreditation.
Official professional study programmes lead to degree qualifications (Títulos) with full academic and professional effects, and the degrees awarded in accordance with the latest higher-education system are:
1. Bachelor’s Degree (Grado) - 240 ECTS Credits in 4 years.
2. Master’s Degree (Master Universitario) - 60 to 120 ECTS Credits in 1–2 years.
3. Doctoral Degree PhD (Doctorado) - in 3–4 years.
Accredited Bachelor's Degrees and Master’s Degrees qualifications will always be described as "Grado" and "Master Universitario". These qualifications comply with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework. Officially approved and accredited university study programmes must implement this framework by law in order to attain and retain accreditation in Spain.
1.2 Non-official education.
Not all EHEA compliant study programmes in Spain are officially approved and/or accredited by government agencies. Some universities offer proprietary study programmes as an alternative to accredited study programmes for a variety of reasons: attending the continuing education market for individual self-advancement and also providing higher education to individuals that have failed to acquire Bachelor’s Degree qualifications. The main reason for offering this alternative studies, though, is the heavy burocratic process that needs to be accomplished to receive the approval of specific titles, in particular when it refers to new studies or studies about matters that do not fit with the official studies. For historical reasons, the academic system has been very much under the control of the State, and private universities are still regarded with as a threat to the State system.
These programmes fall within the category of "Non officially approved and accredited" or "Estudios no oficiales" and they have no academic or professional effects. This means that they do not entitle the bearer to claim to have any specific academic or professional qualifications, as far as the Spanish authorities are concerned. However, there may be private agreements to recognize the titles.
Universities offering non-official study programmes are legally bound to clearly differentiate between officially approved and non-officially approved qualifications when naming their offer of non-official qualifications. Non-accredited Master's Degrees will be described as "Master" on its own, without the term "Universitario".
Certain non-officially approved and accredited study programmes may acquire a well deserved reputation. However, neither Professional Association, Government Agencies, Judiciary Authorities, nor Universities -other than the study programme provider- are obliged to recognize non-official qualifications in any way.
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