Recognition of foreign university degrees as Spanish university degrees that grant access to regulated professions

Royal Decree 889/2022 establishes the procedure for the homologation of foreign degrees. This procedure entails the official recognition of the training completed to obtain a foreign degree, which is comparable to that required for obtaining a Spanish degree necessary for the practice of a regulated profession.

Under the current legal framework, the competent authority is the Ministry with jurisdiction over universities, which will resolve applications with the support of the Technical Analysis Commission for Homologations and Equivalences (CATHYDE), which includes the Ministry, ANECA (National Association of Autonomous Universities), and expert representatives from universities. This Commission may propose general measures to resolve applications with similar characteristics (same country, same university, same curriculum) or request specific reports from ANECA (National Association of Autonomous Universities) or other experts.

To prepare these specific reports, ANECA has an external team of experts from different fields who are responsible for evaluating applications for recognition and equivalence received by the Ministry responsible for universities. The composition of this team can be consulted here.

In addition, and to ensure the consistency of the reports, ANECA has established criteria for application in the evaluation processes for the various professions. These criteria are currently under review and will be published through a resolution issued by the Director of ANECA. Consult the resolutions establishing the criteria for each profession here.

As part of the Agency's powers in this process, ANECA may propose the establishment of general measures for application in the evaluation processes, resulting from the identification of similar characteristics in foreign degrees that make them susceptible to the application of homogeneous criteria. These measures can be consulted on the website of the Ministry responsible for universities; however, you can also consult the most recent measures published by ANECA in this section.

Likewise, the Foreign Qualifications Homologation and Equivalence Program has a Homologation and Equivalence Committee whose function is to ensure the consistency of the reports issued and to review cross-cutting issues affecting the Program in order to implement the appropriate improvements. The composition of the Committee can be consulted here.