University master's degree: options for admission and documentation

If you have a university qualification from a country in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) that makes you eligible for admission to master's degree studies in the country where the qualification was awarded, you must submit:

•  A photocopy of your Spanish identity document, passport or NIE.
• The official university certificate that accredits access to master's degree studies. There are two ways to provide proof of this:
  • With the European Diploma Supplement (DS), which, in its Section 5.1, states that the qualification makes the holder eligible for master's degree studies.
  • With the official university certificate or the proof of your application for the certificate (front and back sides). In this case, you must also attach this certificate of accreditation of studies for admission to a master's degree, completed by your university.

If the documents are in a language other than Catalan, Spanish or English, you will also have to submit a certified translation.

All the academic documentation, i.e. the European Diploma Supplement (DS) and the official university certificate (or proof of your application for the certificate) must be legalized, unless your country belongs to the EU or has signed an agreement with the EU. This Spanish Ministry of Education web page has information on the case for each country and on how to get the documents legalized.

If you have completed official university studies in a country that does not belong to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), your qualification must be equivalent to a Spanish bachelor's degree and qualify you for admission to postgraduate or master's degree studies in the country where the qualification was awarded.

The documentation you have to send depends on the country in which you obtained your qualification. If you obtained your qualification in one of the following countries, follow the link to consult the documentation you need to submit: Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru or Chile.

If you obtained the qualification in another country in Latin American or elsewhere outside the European Higher Education Area, you must send the following documentation:

• A photocopy of your identity document or passport from your country of origin. If it is in a language other than Spanish, Catalan or English, you must provide a certified translation.
• A certified photocopy of the official certificate qualification for your qualification or proof of your application for the certificate (both sides).
• A certified or notarized photocopy of the academic transcript of the higher education programme studied, listing the courses taken and the grades obtained, the number of credits passed, the hours studied, the number of retakes and the overall grade.
• This certificate, completed by your university, certifying that your qualification qualifies you for admission to master's degree studies in the country where the qualification was awarded.

All academic documents must meet the following requirements:

• All photocopies must be certified or notarized, unless they have the Hague Apostille and a valid electronic verification code.
• If the documents are in a language other than Catalan, Spanish or English, you will also have to submit a certified translation of them.
• Any university certificate must be legalized by the country where it was issued. There are two ways to legalize them:
  • If your qualification and certificates are from a country that has signed the Hague Convention (such as Mexico, Ecuador or Argentina), it must have the Hague Apostille. Each individual country determines which authorities can issue the Apostille. The Hague Convention's website has an up-to-date list of the Hague Convention countries and the authorities that can issue the Apostille. If the document has the Apostille and a valid electronic verification code, you don't need to provide a certified or notarized photocopy.
  • If your qualification and certificates were not issued in one of the Hague Convention countries, you will need to legalize the documents through diplomatic channels. To do this, you must submit the documents to the following three bodies so that they can certify their validity with their respective stamps: 

a) the Ministry of Education of the country that issued the documents, b) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country that issued the documents, and c) the Spanish diplomatic or consular representation in the country that issued the documents.

You can find more information on how to legalize documents on this Spanish Ministry of Education web page.