Official degrees and own degrees: main differences

When considering taking the step of studying a university degree, it is not only important to choose very well between the existing academic offers, but also between the different types of degrees. In the European system there are official degrees and own degrees. Very different from other countries in the world where only the universities offer their own degrees. Being themselves the ones who design the degrees endorsed by their prestige.

It is important to mention that when hiring a professional, companies do not take into account whether the degree is official or their own. But rather they look at the prestige of the programme and what it contributes to the knowledge and skills of the profile they are looking for.

European accreditation

An official degree is regulated by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation, also known as ANECA. Which is an entity that depends on the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, so its design depends on certain official quality standards.

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In the case of the degree itself, it is independent and only requires the approval of the university councils, which means that its standards are more sensitive.

National and international accreditation

A UB-specific degree is valid within Spain, being a non-regulated curricular qualification, covered by the Organic Law on Universities, and subject to a more flexible regulatory procedure than the official ones endorsed by ANECA.

When an official degree is awarded, it is homologated in the member countries of the European Higher Education Area. When they are presented in public administration competitions, they score more points as they are classified as postgraduate degrees. While the own degrees are considered to be continuous training with lower scores.

The majority of the own degrees have internal support programmes, but in order to be eligible for the general grants offered by the Ministry of Education, students must study and complete masters or official degrees.

Access to the degree

In order to gain access to an official degree, unique requirements must be fulfilled. An example of this is in the case of a bachelor’s degree, because you have to pass the selectividad exam and you must have an official bachelor’s degree or a bachelor’s degree.

However, in the case of a UB-specific degree, admission is much more flexible and the requirements only depend on the centre or university itself.

Grants and funding

For official degrees there is both public and private funding, i.e. the state subsidises part of the tuition fees and the student pays the rest. This partial public funding applies only to citizens of the European Union or foreigners with permanent residence.

The prices of each programme are different; for a student who wants an official degree and is resident or belongs to the EU, the price is much cheaper than for a foreigner.

In relation to the own degrees, these are self-financed, which means that they are financed by the students’ enrolment fees. The enrolment fee is the same for residents and foreign students.

It is also worth mentioning that there are official degrees that are self-financed. But in these cases the enrolment fee is not publicly financed, and the average price is the same as that of the own degrees.

Duration

The duration of the official degrees is one year and 60 credits, while the duration of the UB-specific degrees is shorter.

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