Differences between “oficial/official” Master and “propio/specific” Master.
There are two types of master’s degrees in Spain. Those taught by universities and certified by the Ministry of Education (Oficial/ official) and those taught by universities or collaborating centres and certified by the university itself (Propio/ Specific).
Our Master is organised by SAERA and certified by University Isabel I, and you will receive a Master Certificate equivalent to 1,500 hours of study (60 ECTS) in the field issued by University Isabel I.
| Official Master’s Degree | Specific Master’s Degree |
Recognition in the labour market | Essential requirement to work in the public service. | Oriented towards an advanced professional specialization. |
Duration | Between 60 and 120 ECTS credits. | Between 60 and 120 ECTS credits. |
Access requirements | Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. | Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. |
Access to PhD | Allows access to PhD. | In Spain, this type of degree does not allow access to PhD programmes. |
Recognition in other countries | * Recognized by all universities within EHEA. | Depends on each country’s legislation. |
Endorsement | Counts with the Ministry of Education and University´s endorsements. | Counts with University´s endorsement. |
Grants and public employment announcements | Necessary for applying to job offers announced by public administrations. | Depends on the announcement: in public announcements in Spain official master’s degrees are often prioritized. |
Academic staff and professionals of the sector | Mostly University lecturers. | Lecturers from other universities or professionals from the field of study. |
Academic Design | Based on the requirements for official degrees with a research focus | Based on the needs and demands of the labour market |
Our Masters are legal and valid degrees, but this type of degree is not recognized as formal in the Spanish Education System or in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Aspects such as the duration of the programme or the access requirements are the same for official and specific master’s degrees and both are fully adapted to the EHEA.
Specific Master´s degrees are specially geared towards the application of the knowledge acquired to the student´s profession, rather than to research, as in a doctoral program. For this reason, students will find this type of Master suitable depending on their career objectives.