STUDENTS across Spain have planned a two-day strike in protest over education minister José Ignacio Wert’s plans to shorten undergraduate degrees to three years and extend master’s degrees to two, in order to bring the country in line with the rest of Europe.
Until a few years ago, a degree took five years, or up to six if it involved two subjects, but included the equivalent of the first two-thirds of a master’s.
After Spain adopted the Bologna Plan launched by the European Union, degrees were reduced to four years at undergraduate level and master’s qualifications set at one year, whereas previously they could be as little as six months and were considered by graduates to be little more than a ‘training course’.
As a result, a Spanish degree is more academically intensive than a degree in the UK or many other European countries, meaning it is difficult for a graduate from elsewhere in the EU to have his or her qualification fully recognised by Spain and leaves him or her at a disadvantage to natives in the job market.
But a Spanish master’s degree is the equivalent of 120 UK credits, compared to a British master’s which is 180 credits and normally includes a dissertation or project – and Spaniards who want to go abroad to study a PhD find they do not have enough post-graduate points to enable them to do so.
Wert says reducing first degrees to three years will cut costs for students and their families, and allow them to get a foothold on the career ladder sooner.
Students, however, believe the reform to be a money-making exercise – doubling the length of a master’s, even though it will carry far more academic weight, will also double their costs for completing the course since master’s degrees are much more expensive per academic year than undergraduate degrees.
And a master’s in Spain is considered almost essential to gaining a meaningful job, even though it is not compulsory for most careers, given that it is more geared towards professional or vocational underpinning knowledge than in the UK where an MA or MSc is thought to be more of an academic qualification.
Student union leader Ana García says the reform is a ‘brutal attack’ on the State university system and has called a strike for February 25 and 26 with demonstrations across the country under the slogans ‘no to the 3+2 bill’ and ‘no to privatising the State university’.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com