# Non-university higher education in Spain?



## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Hello.

Me and my girlfriend are considering studying in Spain. We both have high school diplomas from Denmark, which in most cases will allow us to do so. 

We have no problem finding information about the universities in Spain, but none of us are interested in taking a regular university degree. Through google I have come to the conclusion, that there is other forms of higher education in Spain, but I have a hard time finding out more about these.

So if anybody knows something about this topic, I would greatly appreciate it.

Best


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Do you mean completely outside of the university system, or within the university system but not leading to a degree? If within the university system, my impression was that the Spanish system is pretty inflexible. I'm not an expert, though. If outside of the university system, could you be more specific or give an example?


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Hey Xolo. 

To give you an example, in Denmark we have ordinary university educations consisting of a bachelor and a masters degree. But besides that we have something called profession bachelors grouped in other education institutes leading to a specific job like teacher, nurse or socialworker fx. 

And furthermore we have shorter higher educations wich take 2 years to complete. These also focus on specific industry sectors.

I was wondering if there are similar options in Spain.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Soulprovider said:


> Hello.
> 
> Me and my girlfriend are considering studying in Spain. We both have high school diplomas from Denmark, which in most cases will allow us to do so.
> 
> ...


Try Googling "formación profesional" - you can either do a "grado medio" or "grado superior".

However, I think these are generally in Spanish. Do you both speak Spanish fluently?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

I'm not sure if you could be referring to _Formación Profesional _which is education for 18+ students. to be a teacher you have to have a degree, but FP offers a huge selection of programmes from speech therapist to car mechanic, outdoor pursuits monitor to hairdresser and courses in IT for the office, graphic arts, administration, economics.....
Courses are for one or two academic years and are at 2 levels _medio_ and _superior_


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I'm not sure if you could be referring to _Formación Profesional _which is education for 18+ students. to be a teacher you have to have a degree, but FP offers a huge selection of programmes from speech therapist to car mechanic, outdoor pursuits monitor to hairdresser and courses in IT for the office, graphic arts, administration, economics.....
> Courses are for one or two academic years and are at 2 levels _medio_ and _superior_


Actually, it's 16+ - my son, who is 16, started a course last year.

He's taking an IT course which may or may not be office based.


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

That looks exactly like what I was searching for.

But no, we don't speak Spanish fluently, so we hope to find something in English, we have that in Denmark.

Thanks alot for the help!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

By way of an example - many more sites exist.
Portal Todo FP Grado Superior en inglés


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

@ Snikpoh,

That link looks very interesting. Do you know if these educations are offered in English, or is it simply an overview of all FP's translated into English? If they are offered in English, do you know where they are offered?


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

That's the ministry of education, culture, and sport. I just looked around a tiny bit and it looks like it is Spanish only. (Hopefully I'm wrong for the OP's sake). Pretty interesting link. I *think* the OP would qualify for _Grado Medio_ and so he has to be at least 17 years old.


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Xolo, 

are you referring to the link Snikpoh provided? If so, according to google translate, those courses are actually in English. It could be a translating mistake of course.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> Actually, it's 16+ - my son, who is 16, started a course last year.
> 
> He's taking an IT course which may or may not be office based.


Yes, sorry 16+
IT office based was just one example of of dozens of IT courses available at FP level. 
Of course only a selection of courses will be available at any one educational centre so if anyone is interested in FP education they have to decide how they are going to locate a course. Look first at location and which courses are available, or decide which course they want to do and find a centre that offers it.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xolo said:


> That's the ministry of education, culture, and sport. I just looked around a tiny bit and it looks like it is Spanish only. (Hopefully I'm wrong for the OP's sake). Pretty interesting link. I *think* the OP would qualify for _Grado Medio_ and so he has to be at least 17 years old.


No, as I said before it's 16+ - my son is still only 16 and started a course last September.


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Pesky Wesky,

What are these educational centres called in Spanish? I will try to find them on google!


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Snikpoh,

Does your son speak Spanish fluently, or is he taking a course in English?


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Yes, I was referring to the link provided by Snikpoh. Snikpoh, I just took a quick peek at the material and if your son is in _Basicas_, then 16 years old, _Medio _requires 17 yearz old, not that such a detail is too important or that I'm any kind of expert. I didn't know these programs existed, are they widely attended? Well, SoulProvider, if you are referring to the "currently in English" translation from the top of the Snikpoh provided link, that is describing the program summaries on that linked page. If you follow the links to the programs themselves it looks like monolingual Spanish to me. I would be curious to know for sure, though.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Soulprovider said:


> Pesky Wesky,
> 
> What are these educational centres called in Spanish? I will try to find them on google!


At least in Andalucia, there aren't any separate educational centres dedicated to the teaching of these types of vo-tech courses. They are taught in state high schools. 

The application process is done through each automous region, so you don't apply to an individual centre for any one course. Around here getting into a course is _very _competetive. Admission is based on your marks from previous studies, or alternatively for an upper level (advanced) course, the mark on an entrance exam.


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## Soulprovider (Jul 20, 2015)

Kalohi,

thanks for the usefull info! Right now the main issue is to find out, if any of these courses are offered in English. We have directed an email to the ministry, if we get an answer I will update this post.

Any further info is warmly welcomed!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

My son speaks English, Spanish and Valencia fluently so is taking the course in Spanish and Valencian. 

He is taking a Grado Medio at 16!

As @kalohi says, they are taught at secondary schools or 6th form colleges.


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Soulprovider, why are such vocational courses offered in English in Denmark? Are there that many non-speakers of Danish in Denmark or is there a different reason?

And do please let us know about language requirements in Spain.


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