What is the difference between choosing a recognised degree or an unrecognised degree?
It is not the same to take a recognised university degree or an unrecognised one. The fact that some studies are recognised, and others are not has direct consequences for the professional future of the person who chooses one option or the other. In addition to the fact that recognised degrees offer more guarantees of quality than non-recognised ones, it is also worth highlighting the doors they open with respect to the others. Below, we explain everything you need to know before deciding whether to choose a recognised or unrecognised Bachelor's, Master's or PhD degree, whether from public or private universities. We also provide you with useful tools so that you can check the officially recognised status and quality of the degrees you wish to study in Catalonia.
- What is a recognised degree?
- What is an unrecognised degree or university-certified degree?
- What quality guarantees does a recognised university degree offer?
- How can you know if a degree has passed AQU Catalunya's assessment?
- How can you check the official recognition of a degree?
- How can I find out the quality of an unrecognised degree?
What is a recognised degree
By law, university education leading to recognised degrees must be set out in a Royal Decree. This requirement makes them valid throughout Spain and abroad, as they are recognised in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). They have full academic effect and are essential for access to certain categories of civil servants or public administration employees, to regulated professions (law, medicine, architecture, industrial engineering, etc.) or for access to a PhD degree, which is not possible with unrecognised degrees. Apart from this, another key difference is that recognised degrees are subject to external quality control by assessment agencies. Therefore, taking a recognised degree offers more guarantees in terms of training and professional development.
What is an unrecognised degree or university-certified degree?
Universities can provide courses that are not official and that lead to obtaining their own degrees, which are understood as permanent training. These degrees, which are called unrecognised degrees or university-certified degrees, will never count the same as a recognised one in competitions or contests within the public administration, although they can be considered as continuous training, and will only have validity within the Spanish State. Admission to these degrees is flexible and the requirements depend on each centre. These courses are not required to meet any quality standards by assessment agencies.
Recognised degrees vs. university-certified degrees
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What quality guarantees does an officially recognised university degree offer?
To be considered officially recognised, degrees must pass an external quality assessment, which is not the case with unofficial degrees. This control is carried out by the quality agencies, which assess the degree before it is awarded to ensure that the curriculum it offers is consistent with the educational and professional objective of the degree to be obtained and also with the level educational to which it belongs.
But the quality control of recognised degrees does not take place just once before they start to be awarded. During the life cycle of a degree, the quality agencies monitor it through which they assess the modifications that those responsible want to introduce. Therefore, for Master's and PhD degrees of 240 credits every 6 years, or every 8 years for degrees of 300 and 360 credits, the accreditation is renewed or not depending on whether they meet the minimum quality requirements according to a committee of external experts who carry out an on-site assessment visit. This exhaustive procedure does not apply to unrecognised degrees. Therefore, no public body approved for this function controls whether the syllabus taught matches the needs of the profession that is intended to be practised after completing the studies. In Catalonia, the public body responsible for overseeing that a university degree meets the minimum quality requirements and is therefore finally considered official is the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency, AQU Catalunya.
How can you know if a degree has passed AQU Catalunya's assessment?
The Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Inter-university Council of Catalonia, authorises degrees that can become officially recognised. AQU Catalunya is the independent body responsible for carrying out the assessments of the recognised degrees that can be studied in Catalonia. After the Agency's assessment, these degrees continue their administrative process with the Council of Universities of the Ministry of Universities in order to become recognised. Recognised degrees that pass AQU Catalunya's assessment can be identified by means of an Agency seal. This distinguishes them from unrecognised degrees, which in no case can offer one of these seals as a guarantee of quality to their prospective students. Therefore, any recognised degree awarded by a Catalan university must bear these seals.
In addition to the degree programmes, AQU Catalunya also assesses the institutions that deliver recognised degree programmes in order to accredit them institutionally. Institutionally accredited centres are also distinguished with a seal. When a Higher education institution displays a seal, either in relation to a recognised degree or at the institution itself, it must be accompanied by a registration number and a certificate. You can see them all below:
Titulacions
- Verificació de titulacions
- Acreditació de titulacions, que poden ser amb excel·lència
Centres
- Certificació del sistema intern de garantia de la qualitat (SIGQ) del centre
- Acreditació institucional
How can you check the recognition of a degree?
Universities and higher education institutions must use a specific nomenclature on their website to refer to the degrees they offer if they are recognised. They must present official degrees as "Bachelor's Degree in", "Master's Degree in" and "PhD Degree in". Therefore, when a university or higher education institution offers degrees such as "Graduate", "Master's qualification", "Diploma of specialisation" or other formulas, it is because the degrees are not recognised. If you are in doubt about whether a degree is recognised, a good option is to check whether it appears on the following websites:
- EUC Studies. This website allows you to check whether a specific degree is recognised or not and to check quality indicators. If it is recognised, you can find out what results it has obtained in the AQU Catalunya accreditations it has undergone. In addition to this data, many other parameters related to the studies - Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and PhDs - that have been registered can be viewed. For example, you can access data on the employability of each course. Thanks to the data that AQU Catalunya obtains from people who have previously studied these subjects, it is possible to find out information such as how many of them have a job, what their salary is, how long it took them to find their first job, what roles they fulfil in their job, what type of contract they are offered by employers and how satisfied they are with the studies in question..
- Universities Channel. This website is administered by the Generalitat de Catalunya and provides information on recognised Bachelor's Degrees and Master's Degrees. The search engine provides essential information on the degree programme, such as the cut-off mark, admission pathways, competencies that can be obtained by taking the degree and possible career opportunities.
- Registry of Universities, Centres and Degrees (RUCT). This website is administered by the Ministry of Universities, Science and Innovation, and has a search engine where you can find out which degrees, centres and universities are recognised. The degrees that do not appear here are either in the process of registration or are unrecognised.
How can I find out the quality of an unrecognised degree?
Although the quality assurance required by most public and accreditable institutions in Europe can only be provided by recognised degrees, taking unrecognised degrees can be useful for some particular professions and in some particular work contexts. Although no external assessment body can vouch for the quality of such degrees, one precaution to take is to look at the institution that delivers them.
In particular, it is much safer if the institution is official and therefore registered in the Register of Universities, Centres and Degrees (RUCT).
In addition to recognised status, a distinction should be made between institutions that have passed an institutional accreditation process and those that have not, since an institution can be official and not have been institutionally accredited. Institutionally accredited institutions are awarded a specific AQU Catalunya seal indicating that they have an internal quality assurance system (IQAS) that enables them to independently monitor their quality beyond the external work carried out by the Agency in this regard.
Institutionally accredited institutions go through an external assessment process every six years to check that they comply with all the quality assurance guarantees for their degree programmes. While minimum quality assurance guarantees are only provided when the degree programmes and institutions have been assessed by AQU Catalunya, choosing an unrecognised degree from a higher education institution that has passed institutional accreditation entails fewer risks. In other words, an institution that is recognised for its quality would not jeopardise its image by offering unrecognised degrees that do not meet minimum quality standards. Therefore, students are advised to check whether the institution has been accredited by AQU Catalunya. This can be done on the EUC website, where a report with a "Favourable" result should be included, or in the RUCT, where institutionally accredited institutions can also be distinguished.
For foreign centres that offer training in Catalonia, the Generalitat de Catalunya has established a specific procedure for authorising them, which involves assessment by AQU Catalunya to ensure that they offer minimum quality standards. Authorised centres can be checked here.
Faced with the wide range of recognised and unrecognised degrees on offer, the quality guarantees and the subsequent impact of each type of degree on professional life must be taken into account. Recognised degrees offer the strongest guarantees.