How to study

All of the courses can be taken fully online by means of the Virtual Campus. In the case of the bachelor's degrees or the open courses, the final assessment of these programmes' courses can generally be done virtually; if it is decided to hold an on-site examination, the UOC will establish local centres in the country of origin. In the case of the university master's degrees and the postgraduate programmes, assessment of these programmes' courses can be completely virtual.

This is the place that can be accessed without physical barriers from anywhere and at any time, where students will find the necessary tools for study and communication. It is a university campus that students can carry with them in their pocket and which they can access from anywhere in the world, enter its classrooms, consult activities or carry out administrative procedures in the Secretary's Office, etc.

Authors, professors and professionals prepare content for the UOC. They are learning resources adapted to the needs of each course and, because of that, they can have very varied formats: text, website, audiobook, videobook, etc.

Through the use of information and communication technologies, the UOC's educational model puts the student at the core of the learning process. In our University, the student is the main player of an education process; he manages his own time, plans his pace of study and builds his own academic itinerary.

Yes, the continuous assessment guarantees students' academic progress, ensuring that they get the most out of the course. During the entire academic process, the course instructor provides personalized guidance to students in their studies.

The bachelor's degrees, university master's degrees and doctoral degrees awarded by the UOC are official university qualifications that are valid throughout Spain and the countries included in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). As such, they entitle their holders to benefit from the rights granted, in each case, by currently valid Spanish legislation.

The validity in other countries of the official university qualifications awarded by the UOC will be determined in each case by each country's laws on education.

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya's Secretary's Office performs the necessary procedures so that the UOC's official qualifications or other academic documents are also official outside of Spain. Until recently, this type of procedure had to be channelled through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and the Ministry of Justice. Now, they can be requested through the UOC's Secretary's Office.

The UOC's Virtual Campus offers two new procedures if your official UOC certificate or other academic documents must be valid in other Hague Convention member countries.

Until recently, this type of procedure had to carried out first directly at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and then at the Ministry of Justice. Now, they can be requested through the UOC's Virtual Campus.

If you want the certificate to be valid in a country that is not a member of the Hague Convention: it must be legalized, taking it first to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. You will find further information at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport's website.

Legalizing an official certificate

The Virtual Campus performs the necessary procedures so that your official UOC certificate will be valid in the Hague Convention member countries. To apply for legalization, you must either have the official certificate or the accepted application for the certificate. You must authorize the University to submit the necessary documentation (included the title signed) and make a payment. You will receive the legalized certificate between 12 and 14 weeks after confirming the shipment option.

Further information at the Virtual Campus: Procedures / Document requests

The UOC-certified master's degree or postgraduate diploma certificate

If you need your UOC-certified master's degree or postgraduate diploma certificate to be valid outside of Spain, you can ask for it to be legalized by a notary. The procedure usually takes about six months. When it is ready, we will notify you by email and you will receive the legalization as an addendum to the certificate.

Further information at the Virtual Campus: Procedures / Document requests

Legalized academic documents

This request must be made to legalize a batch of documents: the provisional certificate, the personal academic transcript, the programmes and the course plans. The procedure includes all the documents; they cannot be requested separately.

 These two procedures are added to the option of requesting preparation of course programmes for legalization that was already being offered.

 Further information at the Virtual Campus: Secretary's Office / Procedures / Document requests

The legalization procedures certify the authenticity of the public documents. They are only done for countries that have signed the Hague Convention. Legalized documents issued in a country that has signed the Convention can be recognized in any other Convention signatory country without any further authentication being required.

Further information about the single legalization or Apostille on the Ministry of Justice's website.

Each country decides the procedure for revalidating or recognizing the university qualifications awarded by foreign universities.

Recognition of official Spanish qualifications in Argentina

The procedure for validation of foreign university qualifications in Argentina is carried out through the country's Ministry of Education.

You can find out more at:

• Ministerio de Educación - Dirección Nacional de Gestión Universitaria

Recognition of official Spanish qualifications in Chile

The revalidation and recognition procedure can be carried out through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile.

You can find out more at:

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Validation of official Spanish qualifications in Colombia

The procedure is carried out at the Ministry of National Education.

You can find out more at:

• Colombian Ministry of National Education website

Recognition and registration of official Spanish qualifications in Ecuador

The procedure is carried out by the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Department of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, SENESCYT).

According to SENESCYT regulations, for the time being the following will be excluded from the list for automatic official recognition: the bachelor's degrees in Telecommunications Technology and Speech Therapy and the master's degree programmes in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Telecommunications Engineering, Neuropsychology, Nutrition and Health, General Health Psychology and Child and Adolescent Psychology.

For more information, please visit this link:

• SENESCYT website

Revalidation of official Spanish qualifications in Mexico

A change to acuerdo 286 of Mexico's higher education law has made it possible to validate official Spanish qualifications with the country's Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education). This applies for all fields of study with the exception of qualifications for regulated professions ¿ such as Health Sciences, Law or Political Science qualifications for which the validation procedure is different.

You can find out more at:

• Mexican Directorate-General for Accreditation, Incorporation and Revalidation website
• List of Recognized Spanish Institutions
• Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport Website

Recognition of official Spanish qualifications in Peru

The procedure is carried out at the National Department of Higher University Education (SUNEDU).

You can find out more at:

• Peruvian SUNEDU website

The UOC's educational model provides constant tutoring to the student.

The university master's degrees are official qualifications that certify a particular professional or academic specialization and also entitle to admission to doctoral studies.

They are official qualifications adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and endorsed by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) and the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya).

The UOC-certified master's degrees (maestrías in Latin America), however, are high-level programmes aimed at professional specialization and the acquisition of the qualified skills. Their study plan encompasses postgraduate programmes and specializations for developing a results-focused career. The UOC-certified master's degrees do not entitle to admission to doctoral studies.

The UOC-certified master's degrees are guaranteed by the application of internal protocols to assure compliance with the quality standards demanded by the European university system.

The Library allows access to all the information resources. The catalogue and the digital collection include both physical documents and digital and electronic documents, which can be accessed directly from their bibliographic record. Access is also provided to other catalogues around the world.

Complementing all this information, the Library also offers research and learning services, bibliographical information, document searches, training in information skills and a variety of personalized services that make students' work easier, enabling them to perform and supplement their work easily and efficiently.

There are no age requirements for studying at the UOC. The only requirement is having completed the prior education indicated for each specific course, in those cases where it is required.

Contact our course advisors if you have any specific questions that are not covered in this section.