• 1. General information
• 2. About the educational credential
• 3. How to apply for the credential
• 4. Instructions on how to complete the online application process
• 5. Public fees for verification of documents
• 6. Evaluation and grading process
• 7. Reviewing your grade
• 8. UNED Portal & contact information

If you are a prospective student from an EU education system or from a country with a bilateral agreement with Spain and meet the academic requirements needed to apply to a university in your home country's education system, then you are eligible to enroll at a Spanish university without having to sit the Spanish university entrance exams (“Selectividad” or “Prueba de Acceso a Estudios Universitarios” - PAEU).

You are eligible to apply to Spanish universities through this procedure if you have completed your pre-university studies in:

• One of the member states of the European Union
• Andorra, China, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland, all of which have a bilateral agreement with Spain

Alternatively, you also meet the entry requirements if you have been awarded:

• A European Baccalaureate from one of the 14 European Schools
• An International Baccalaureate from the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

In order to apply via one of these tracks you must:

1. Be in possession of the qualifications, diplomas or certificates that appear in the following document, in which you can find your country/education system and the corresponding equivalent grades needed in order to apply to Spanish universities.

• BOE 10 March 2014: Education systems and entry requirements
• ANEXO I “Sistemas educativos y requisitos de acceso” de la Orden EDU/1161/2010

2. Request that your pre-university educational credentials go through the national accreditation process, which ensures you meet the entry requirements in order to apply to Spanish universities. To complete the accreditation/validation process, you must apply for what is known in Spain as the Credencial (henceforth called “educational credential” or simply “credential”) - a standardized and accredited certificate issued by Spain's National Distance Education University (“Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia or UNED”) which proves that your pre-university educational credentials meet Spanish university entry requirements. Once you have obtained the credential, you can begin the pre-registration process for all public and/or private Spanish universities.

You must apply for the accreditation/validation of the qualifications, certificates or diplomas that prove you have completed the required pre-university education via the UNED, the Spanish National Distance Education University.

IMPORTANT:

• The credential is valid for a maximum period of two years from its date of issue.
• The original credential documents should be kept in the student's possession. It is therefore recommended that you submit certified photocopies, rather than the original credential document, completing university applications. In the case of a lost credential, a duplicate copy can be requested at a cost of €25.
• The credential issued for Spanish university admissions does not include a transfer of academic records or transcripts.
• By obtaining the credential, you do not have to sit the Spanish university entrance exams. However, the mark given through this accreditation procedure will only account for 10/14th of your final mark. If the minimum entry grade for the programme to which you are applying exceeds 10 points, you must complete the “specific phase” of the official Spanish entrance exam for university studies, known as “la Selectividad”. The “specific phase” of the Spanish university entrance exams, which consists of two exams in specific subjects, accounts for the remaining 4/14th of the final mark. By completing this specific phase of the “Selectividad” you can obtain a maximum of 4 additional points, which the recipient university will add to the overall credential score.
• If you wish to improve the mark awarded via the credential accreditation procedure, you can also complete the general phase of the Spanish university entrance exams.
• If you want to sit the specific phase of the Spanish university entrance exams but have not yet received your credential certificate, you will have to submit the document that proves you have applied for the credential.
• If you obtained a credential prior to 2014 and wish to request admissions credentials for the 2016/2017 academic year, you must register to re-apply for the credential. Once registered, in addition to the registration request and payment, you must send a photocopy of the previous credential and a photocopy of a valid national identity document (passport or DNI (Spanish national identity card) or NIE “Número de Identidad de Extranjero”). Please check that the equivalence criteria for you education system has not been modified, in which case you must submit the currently required documentation.

In order to obtain the credential from the UNED, you must fill out their registration form, which will ask you for the following information:

1. Your name
2. Passport or National Identity Number
3. Education system in which the original document was issued
4. The mark/grade providing access the Spanish university system, duly converted to standard Spanish marking and with three decimal points
5. Issue date of the original document

You will also be asked to provide the following required documentation:

1. Photocopy of your Passport or DNI (Spanish national identity card) or NIE (“Número de Identidad de Extranjero”)

2. Certified photocopy of the degree, diploma, qualification or certificate enabling the applicant to meet the University entry requirements in the corresponding education system (Resolution from the 3rd March 2014, of the General Secretary of Universities, (Spanish Official State Bulletin) 10th of March of 2014).

For students from the United Kindgom's education system, the GCSE and GCE certificates should be issued by accredited examination bodies.

• BOE 10 March 2014: Education systems and entry requirements
• Official State Bulletin, BOE 10th March 2014 containing equivalent certificates and grades

3. Certified photocopy of academic certificates from the last two years of secondary education. In education systems employing more than one approved minimum to maximum grading scale, the grading scale to be used must be stated in the academic certificate.

4. A copy of the UNED registration form with the corresponding bank deposit slip or receipt indicating payment of the corresponding public fees for the verification/accreditation of pre-university certificates enabling access to Spanish university admissions (copies no. 1 and 2 of this printout must be validated and duly stamped by any office of the Banco Santander network or you must provide receipt of the online payment transaction or you must provide the receipt of transfer stamped by the bank from which it has been paid).

The certified photocopies of the documents to be submitted to the UNED should be completed in centres that are associated with the UNED, or in any of the departments of the UNED Student Support Centre in Madrid (Paseo Senda del Rey 7, Calle Juan del Rosal 16 and Calle Bravo Murillo 38). Certified photocopies made in the Departments of Education in Spanish Autonomous Communities, notarized documents, as well as those made in the Departments of Education of Spanish Embassies in foreign countries and in the Embassies/Consulates of other countries within Spain, will also be valid (in the latter case you must first speak individually with the Embassies and Consulates in advance to confirm that this is possible).

In order to complete the online application process for the credential, please consult the following step-by-step instruction manual in English and Spanish (also available in Chinese), which will guide you through the entire process from start to finish:

• Instruction manual for the University Admissions Credentials Application (PDF IN ENGLISH & SPANISH)
• Instruction manual for the University Admissions Credentials Application (PDF IN CHINESE)

European studies and students from countries with bilateral agreements (2016)

Renewals

The Large Family unit certificate (valid at the time of the request) must be issued by the corresponding Spanish Autonomous Community. Certificates issued by foreign offices/organisatioins will not be considered valid.

Renewing the “credential”

Fees for the renewal of the “credential” will be applied in the event of receiving a request with the same ID or passport number that was used in the first request. If you already submitted an ID or passport, but its number has since changed, a scanned photocopy of the previously issued “credential” or a written statement declaring that this is the renewal of a “credential”, must be attached to the request.

Once you have obtained your accredited certificate, you may apply for a place at the University of Granada, or any other Spanish university. This admission procedure allows you to access any undergraduate programme.

Admission priority is determined by two factors: 1) when you apply and 2) your final mark.

Priority is given to those students who submit their pre-enrolment application in the first phase of the admissions procedure. This first phase is usually in mid-July. Click here to find out the deadlines for this year’s admission procedure.

• Admissions procedure deadlines

The second factor that determines priority is your final mark, which is calculated according to the mark that appears in your validation certificate (which must be from 5 to 10 points) and the mark that you have obtained in the specific phase of the university entrance exams (which account for 4/14th of your final mark).

Note that the subjects that are more directly related to the degree you want to apply for (as specified by the university) have a higher weight in the formula that is used to calculate the entrance mark for each specific undergraduate degree. The formula is the following:

Entrance mark = mark on validation certificate + (a × M1) + (b × M2)

- M1 and M2 are the two best marks given in the specific phase of the university entrance exams
- a and b are the multiplication weights that are specific to each degree, and they vary from 0.1 to 0.2, as established by the university

Remember that your mark must be a pass (minimum 5/10 in the Spanish education system) or higher in order to be included in the formula.

If you disagree with the grade that you have been awarded, you can request that it be reviewed by sending a printout for grade review, which you can fill out via the following link. The review request should be sent to the following email address: accesoei@adm.uned.es. The deadline for the request of the credential grade review is one month from the initial date of receipt of the credential.

• UNED Portal: Reviewing your grade & printout

*Disclaimer: The information offered on this webpage is only intended to orient applicants and is subject to modification. The information does not entail any legal rights or entitlements. Please check the UNED website to ensure this information not been modified (contents available in both Spanish and English):

• UNED website: Admissions to Spanish universities

*Disclaimer: The information offered on this webpage is only intended to orient applicants and is subject to modification. The information does not entail any legal rights or entitlements. Please check the UNED website to ensure this information has not been modified (contents available in both Spanish and English):

• UNED website: Admissions to Spanish universities