Glossary
Glossary
1) UNEDasiss Accreditation:
A digital certificate that enables international students to apply to most universities in Spain. Once the student’s accreditation has been granted, universities can access it through UNEDasiss’s digital platform.
2) Admission criteria:
They are a set of prerequisites that students must meet in order to be enrolled in specific degree programmes at various Spanish universities. Admission criteria usually include a number of documents to be submitted, tests to be taken, deadlines, cut-off scores, etc.
3) Admission procedure:
The steps students must take in order to be admitted to specific undergraduate programmes at university. A successful application is contingent upon the students’ meeting specific admission criteria.
4) Admission Score for the Spanish University:
This is one of the features that the student may want to have in their accreditation. It consists in giving students a mark ranging from 5 to 10, which may be used by universities during the selection process.
5) Academic Transcript:
An official document that details the subjects taken and scores/grades obtained by a student during a course of study.
6) Bachillerato:
The name given to the last two years of secondary education in Spain, as well as the certificate that is obtained right before higher education. Similar appellations in other education systems include, GCE Advanced Level (UK), Maturità (Italy), Baccalauréat (France), Abitur (Germany), High School Diploma (USA) etc.
7) Bachillerato modality:
This is information relating to the fact that a student took specific upper secondary school subjects (for EU students) or has passed Specific Competency Test subjects that are considered to make up a bachillerato modality in Spain (the so-called modalidad de bachillerato)
8) Document Certification:
Consists in getting a document recognised as a true copy of the original by an authorized person or institution (solicitors, public institutions, diplomatic missions, etc.).
9) Period:
The time when certain activities may be carried out. For example, during the UNEDasiss application period, prospective students may apply for accreditations. The PCE registration period is when students state their desire tests to sit the June or September sessions of Specific Competency Tests. Finally, a university application period is established by the universities and refers to the time students are expected to seek enrolment at university
10) Session:
A period of time for specific exams to be held . There are two session of exams. Ordinary session is celebrating in May/June and Extraordinary session is celebrating in September.
11) CRUE (Conference of Spanish University Rectors):
CRUE is a non-profit association made up of 76 Spanish higher education institutions, namely, 50 public and 26 private universities. CRUE is the main representative of universities at government level, and also serves as a platform for debate and decision-making amongst member institutions.
12) Cut-off score:
This is the minimum score to be admitted to a degree programme. Previous years’ cut-off scores offer valuable information about what universities may require of you. Your admission score is determined by the universities, and depending on their admission criteria , they may take into account the UNEDasiss admission score, Specific Competency Test scores, subjects that have been recognised, just to name a few.
13) EBAU:
This acronym stands for Evaluación del Bachillerato para el Acceso a la Universidad and is the exam upper secondary school students in Spain are required to sit in order to apply to university.
14) Education system:
This is a set of courses, subjects, learning and assessment methods leading to the obtention of a certificate, diploma or qualification. As a general rule, educational systems vary from one country to another, though there are transnational education systems such as the International Baccalaureate and the so-called European Schools
15) External exam:
An exam or any other type of test which is conducted by institutions different from the students’ education centres. External exams are often official tests that students living in the same region take in order to either obtain a certificate or apply to university
16) Destination University:
A public or private Spanish university where a student wishes to start undergraduate education.
17) Homologation:
A procedure which leads to Spanish authorities’ recognising that a student’s pre-university certificates are equivalent to Spanish Bachillerato. Prospective students from outside the EU or from countries that do not have a reciprocal agreement with Spain regarding university enrolment are required to go through this procedure.
18) Informative Document (non-official):
It is a document that students who have applied for a UNEDasiss accreditation can obtain, once their application has been successful. This document includes the same information as the UNEDasiss accreditation but has a merely informative value, as universities can directly access prospective students’ accreditations through UNEDasiss’s digital platform.
19) Upper secondary average score:
A mark that is calculated by taking scores obtained by the student in their home education system and applying formulae approved by Spanish authorities so as to come up with a score ranging from 5 to 10 points, in accordance with Spanish scoring traditions.
20) Pruebas de Compentencias Específicas-PCE (Specific Competency Tests):
These are exams conducted by UNED and aimed at international students who wish to apply to Spanish universities. Specific Competency Tests target the competencies and skills that students who complete the final year of secondary education in Spain are expected to have mastered.
21) Provisional Accreditation:
This is a document issued by UNEDasiss when students do not submit definitive documents at the time when applying for an accreditation. There are two situations that may cause provisional accreditations to be issued:
- When the applicant’s school leaving certificate is in the process of being homologated.
- When an applicant from UK and Irish education systems provides predicted grades.
22) Recognition of subjects:
The recognition of subjects consists in featuring subjects taken in a foreign education system on the UNEDasiss accreditation for their subsequent assessment by Spanish universities. Subject recognition is possible only after a careful analysis of the foreign subject’s syllabus so as to find out whether it is equivalent to a subject taught in the final year of secondary education in Spain.