Spain

Compulsory education runs from 6 to 16: primary school (6 years) and compulsory secondary education (ESO, 4 years). In the autonomous communities, a regional language — Catalan, Galician or Basque — is used alongside Spanish.

After the compulsory stage you can either continue the academic route or move into vocational secondary education.

The academic route is two years of upper-secondary school (Bachillerato). It ends with a single state exam (EBAU, formerly Selectividad), whose score, together with the average grade, decides your place at university.

Entry scores for popular subjects (medicine, aviation) are high; for most subjects they are moderate.

Public universities charge fees that depend on the region and the subject — usually €1,000 to €2,500 per year, sometimes higher for non-EU students. A bachelor’s (Grado) takes four years, a master’s one to two.

Strong areas are tourism and hospitality, architecture and design, Romance philology, and international relations. The number of English-taught master’s programmes is growing, especially in business schools.

Spanish-taught programmes require a DELE certificate at B2 level; English-taught ones require IELTS/TOEFL. A Russian school certificate goes through a recognition procedure (homologación) via the ministry of education.

Applications are made through the admissions office of a specific university; for some regions, through a joint pre-registration system.

Spain hosts more Erasmus+ students than any other country in Europe, so semester exchanges and language courses here are especially accessible and well organised.

The cost of living is lower than in Western Europe; students may work up to 30 hours a week. Scholarships are offered by universities, regions and the La Caixa foundation.