General Measures of Approvals and Equivalences

CATHYDE may adopt a general measure when any of the following three situations arise:

  • Existence of an international agreement between Spain and another country, for the mutual and reciprocal recognition of academic levels (declaration of equivalence) or that mutually recognise university degrees whose attainment is a requirement for access to the exercise of the same regulated profession in both countries (homologation), always taking into account those requirements provided for in the specific regulations both national and of the European Union.
  • Existence of an agreement between ANECA or the quality assurance agencies of the Autonomous Communities and those present in another country, which mutually recognise the quality of the curricula of the official university courses of a given country, or of a given university or group of universities in the country, in relation to the fundamental knowledge they provide and the competences to which they lead, according to the academic levels in which the respective degrees are framed, which are obtained on passing these courses, always in accordance with the requirements of the specific regulations of both the national and the European Union.
  • Corroboration of applications to which homogeneous criteria can be applied, when it is corroborated that certain applications for recognition and declaration of equivalence of a specific foreign degree come from the same university, the same syllabus and from a specific country, and that they also contain generic aspects, such as duration or level or any other generic aspects, which make them in any case susceptible to the application of homogeneous criteria.

The general measures adopted by CATHYDE can be consulted on the website of the Ministry of Universities, menu "University system > University degree management > Foreign university degrees", by accessing the links:

In the list of menus that appears on these pages, the general measures are published under "Other information".

General measures adopted at the proposal of ANECA

During the period 2015 - 2022 in which Royal Decree 967/2014 regulating the procedures for the recognition and equivalence of foreign university degrees was in force, ANECA has been preparing general technical reports, which establish general criteria relating to:

  • Generic aspects, such as duration or level or any other generic aspect of the recognition or declaration of equivalence.
  • Certain foreign qualifications that present similar characteristics that make them susceptible to the application of homogeneous criteria.

A number of these ANECA technical reports have been adapted as general measures adopted by CATHYDE under the third of the situations envisaged in Royal Decree 889/2022.

On the other hand, the agreements between ANECA and the national quality assurance agencies that make up the Ibero-American Higher Education System (SIACES) promoted within the framework of the Ibero-American Knowledge Space (EIC) by the Summits of Ibero-American Heads of State and Government, have enabled CATHYDE to adopt general measures for the resolution of applications for the declaration of equivalence of study plans accredited by SIACES agencies.