Validation of studies

Changing from a Foreign University Degree Programme

You can apply for admission to a degree programme through this path if you have partially or totally completed studies at a foreign university that have not been officially recognised as equivalent to a qualification in Spain. (If, on the other hand, your studies have been officially recognised as equivalent to a qualification in Spain, you should apply for admission through the university-qualifications path instead.)

In order to follow this path, 30 or more academic credits need to be recognised for transfer to the course to which admission is requested, and the original academic transcript must not include subjects for which the applicant has registered three times or more and not passed. However, admission cannot be granted through this path if 75% or more of the total credits for the new course are recognised, unless there are outstanding vacancies and the corresponding UAB vice-rector grants permission.

For the purposes of credit recognition and to score the transcript of previous studies, consideration is given to those grades obtained by the student up to the deadline for submitting applications for admission.

The Spanish Ministry of Education currently offers a free online procedure for issuing a document indicating the equivalence between grade averages for university studies taken outside Spain and those of the corresponding Spanish university qualifications. This document can then be used in competitive application processes that require academic transcripts to be scored. Consult this link for further information.

If 30 or more credits are recognised, you cannot use any other path to apply for admission to the university in the same academic year. If between 1 and 29 credits are recognised, you can apply through the university pre-registration path, but only for the degree course and faculty or school indicated in the resolution on recognition of those credits. The grade allocated in this case is a 5 (simple pass). If no credits are recognised, you will need to apply through one of the general procedures for admission.

Every year, UAB faculties and schools publish the number of places available on each of their degree courses, together with the general criteria for admission and the pre-registration dates. The corresponding dates appear in the academic and administrative calendar of the UAB, which is established for each academic year by the Governing Council. The corresponding vice-rector may authorise an extension to the application period at the request of the centre's dean or director, provided that the following conditions are met.

• There are still vacancies on the course.
• The resolution on the procedure is issued before the start of the corresponding academic year.

The application must be submitted through the website: https://sia.uab.es/. If at the time of pre-registration you do not have a UAB User Identification Number (NIU), you must obtain it first. Before applying, consult the specific documentation requested on the website of the center that offers the studies.

Documents on studies taken abroad must meet the translation and legalisation requirements laid down in the regulations.

Applications that do not fulfil the legal requirements will be rejected. Applications that do meet requirements will be ranked according to the following criteria.

• First, applicants from studies within the same field of knowledge as the course they are applying for.
• Second, applicants from unrelated studies.

Within each group, applications are ranked by scores for academic transcripts, pursuant to the criteria laid down in the regulations for admission to the UAB and published by each centre.

Once the resolution on admissions has been signed, the centre publishes a list of the successful applicants on the waiting list, and applicants who have been rejected.

Order EDU/1161/2010 (countries with which international agreements have been signed)
Resolution of July 6, 2010
Legalisation of official documents issued outside Spain (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation)
Legalisation of official documents issued outside Spain (Ministry of Education)
Grade-Point-Average Equivalent Calculator
Support, Academic Recognition Service (SARU)