How to Study in Spain Without IELTS
Yes — several Spanish universities admit you without IELTS, but only with another proof they name. IE University accepts the Duolingo English Test; Carlos III and UPC take TOEFL iBT 72; UAB accepts its own placement test. Published floors, where they exist, sit at IELTS 5.5. The catch: most Spanish bachelor's teaching is in Spanish, so the test you skip is English and the one you sit is DELE.
Can you study in Spain without IELTS? The straight answer
Partly, and more easily than in most of Europe. Spain sets no national English floor: the Ministry and UNEDasiss govern credential recognition, not language testing, and each of the 96 recognised institutions writes its own rule. Two doors are open. The first is an English-taught programme at a university that names an alternative — TOEFL iBT, a Cambridge certificate, the university’s own placement test, or, at IE University, the Duolingo English Test and English-medium secondary schooling. The second, and much the larger, is the Spanish-taught majority, where the certificate asked for is DELE or SIELE and no English test appears at all. At the University of Barcelona, the University of Granada and the Autonomous University of Madrid, bachelor’s teaching is in Spanish or Catalan and English never enters admission. You can avoid IELTS in Spain; you cannot avoid proving a language. The floors you will see quoted — IELTS 5.5 for bachelor’s, IELTS 5.5 for master’s — are Carlos III University of Madrid’s own numbers, not a national minimum. Our guide to studying in Spain sets out the wider picture.
“No IELTS” is not “no English” — the distinction
Agents in Lagos and Accra sell “no IELTS” as “no language needed”. It is not that. An English-taught degree in Spain is examined in English — papers, oral defences, a final project — and universities set the level at B2 on the Common European Framework. Complutense’s English-taught grados, UPC’s engineering tracks and UAB’s International Trade programme all say B2, then list the certificates that prove it. What changes without IELTS is the evidence you file, not the standard you meet. And in Spain the alternative is often not another English test but Spanish, at B2, which takes longer from scratch than a band on IELTS. Read the proof list on the programme page before you pay for any test. Our guide to IELTS alternatives sets out what each option costs.
Typical English requirements at universities in Spain
Where a Spanish university publishes an English requirement at all, it is usually stated as CEFR B2 with a list of accepted certificates behind it.
Carlos III University of Madrid is the clearest case. B2 must be proven within the first year to join English-taught groups, and the accepted evidence is IELTS Academic 5.5 or above — General Training is not accepted — TOEFL iBT 72, or Cambridge First and higher. Its master’s programmes start at IELTS 5.5 and rise by degree, with native speakers and holders of an English-taught first degree exempt.
The Polytechnic University of Catalonia applies Catalonia’s official equivalence table: B2, which that table maps to IELTS 5.5 and TOEFL iBT 72 at the floor. The table names exams only — no medium-of-instruction letter, no WAEC English grade, and neither PTE nor Duolingo is published.
The Autonomous University of Barcelona publishes no university-wide band. Its one documented English-taught track asks for B2 through Cambridge, IELTS 5.5, TOEFL iBT 72 or similar, or UAB’s own placement test. Pompeu Fabra University calls B2 advisable for its English-taught bachelor’s degrees and publishes no number, then sets IELTS 6.5 and TOEFL iBT 90 for master’s. The University of Barcelona publishes a master’s floor of IELTS 6 and the Autonomous University of Madrid IELTS 5.5, with nothing at bachelor’s because bachelor’s teaching there is not in English. The private universities sit far above all of them: IE University asks IELTS 7 or TOEFL iBT 100, the University of Navarra IELTS 7 or TOEFL iBT 95. The pattern reverses what most applicants expect: the cheap public universities ask for less English and more Spanish, and the expensive private ones set the highest English scores on this page. Programme lists are on our Spanish universities page.
Universities that accept students without IELTS
IE University is the most flexible on paper and the most expensive in practice. It accepts the Duolingo English Test, a medium-of-instruction letter, and two or more years of English-medium secondary schooling — which covers the WASSCE systems of Nigeria and Ghana — in place of a test. Tuition is the trade, at €26,500–43,800 per year against €757 per year at the University of Granada.
The Autonomous University of Barcelona accepts its own placement test, a Cambridge certificate or TOEFL iBT, and weighs a medium-of-instruction letter case by case. Carlos III University of Madrid accepts TOEFL iBT or Cambridge, considers both a medium-of-instruction letter and a WAEC English grade case by case, and lets bachelor’s entrants prove B2 during the first year rather than before arrival. The Polytechnic University of Catalonia accepts TOEFL iBT or any exam named on the Catalan table. Pompeu Fabra University accepts TOEFL iBT at master’s level and sets no numeric bar for its English-taught bachelor’s degrees. The University of Salamanca asks for C1 on its English-taught master’s and accepts a Cambridge certificate, TOEFL or a school certificate as evidence.
At Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Granada, the University of Valencia and the Autonomous University of Madrid, no English test is required at bachelor’s level, for the simple reason that the teaching is in Spanish. None of these routes is university-wide: one institution can accept a placement test for a single programme and demand a certificate for the next, so read the programme page, not the admissions page.
Local-language programmes: Spain’s other door
Spanish-taught degrees are the majority of Spanish higher education and, at bachelor’s level, close to all of it. The University of Barcelona runs 0 English-taught bachelor’s programmes and the Autonomous University of Madrid 0. What those degrees ask for is DELE or SIELE at B2, and C1 on some Granada master’s programmes. In Catalonia part of the teaching is in Catalan, so at the University of Barcelona and UAB you may follow lectures in a second local language. The reward is the lowest tuition in Western Europe: €757 per year at Granada and €1,061 per year at Barcelona, inside a national public range of €757–8,186 per year. For an applicant from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe, Spanish from scratch is the slowest route on this page and by far the cheapest. Moroccan applicants have the shortest road: Spanish is widely taught in Moroccan schools, and Morocco already sends 5,151 students to Spain, more than the other eight origin countries combined.
When you still need a recognised English test
Some doors need the test whatever a university allows. Scholarships come first: MAEC-AECID and Erasmus Mundus consortia set their own language evidence, and a school letter will not clear it — see scholarships for Spain. Medicine is the second, though not as applicants expect: it is taught in Spanish, so the certificate that matters is DELE, and the bill is €8,186–21,830 per year. Competitive English-taught master’s programmes with small intakes will take the certificate-holder over the placement-test candidate when they must choose. The visa is conditional rather than blanket: for an English-taught programme the university’s own English proof, folded into the file, is enough; for a Spanish-taught programme the consulate asks for Spanish evidence, as our Spain student visa guide explains.
The honest bit: what “without IELTS” does and doesn’t buy you
It buys a shorter list, not an easier one. Skipping IELTS removes a fee and a test date; it removes neither the level, nor the deadlines, nor the money. Each alternative carries its own price. The institution that accepts the most alternatives, IE University, charges €26,500–43,800 per year where Granada charges €757 per year. A university placement test can only be sat on that university’s calendar. The Spanish-language route costs a year before your first credit. If your target is a public university in Madrid, Barcelona or Granada, learning Spanish is usually a better investment than hunting for an English-taught programme that waives a test — weigh it against the full cost of studying in Spain.
Spain at a glance — key figures
| Work during study | Up to 30 hours/week · holidays: Same 30 hours/week cap year-round - Spanish law does not set a separate holiday allowance |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | SMI 2026: EUR 1,221/month (14 payments) = EUR 17,094/yr, also stated as EUR 40.70/day. Effective 1 Jan 2026, Real Decreto 126/2026. |
| Post-study work | Autorizacion de residencia para busqueda de empleo o para emprender un proyecto empresarial (job-search / entrepreneurship permit): 24 months after graduation — 24 months, non-renewable, uniform across BA/MA/PhD (gate: EQF level 6+). Apply 60 days before to 90 days after study-permit expiry; 20-day resolution, positive silence. Ley 14/2013 Disposicion adicional 17a, consolidated in RD 1155/2024 Art. 190. |
| Intakes | Autumn (September) |
| Application portal | No centralised application portal; UNEDasiss issues the national access credential (after Ministry homologacion of the foreign school diploma), then each university runs its own admisison/preinscripcion process |
| English floor (IELTS) | 5.50 (bachelor's) · 5.50 (master's) |
| Schengen | Yes |
Last verified 2026-09-10 against official sources (ciencia.gob.es · uam.es · inclusion.gob.es · boe.es · unedasiss.uned.es).
What works in your favour
- TOEFL iBT is the widest substitute: Carlos III accepts 72, UPC 72 and UAB 72.
- Where national floors are published they are low: 5.5 at bachelor’s and 5.5 at master’s.
- Individual universities hold the same bar: Carlos III 5.5 and 5.5, UPC 5.5, UAB 5.5, UAM 5.5 and Barcelona 6.
- Even the selective English-taught programmes name an alternative: Pompeu Fabra 6.5 or TOEFL 90, Navarra 7 or 95, IE 7 or 100.
- With 96 recognised universities each setting its own language evidence, a certificate refused by one institution is not a national bar.
The honest downsides
- English-taught bachelor’s places are scarce: UAB lists 11, Complutense 8 and UPC 2. Avoiding IELTS at bachelor’s level usually means studying in Spanish instead.
- The market is thin for Anglophone Africa: 245 Nigerians, 87 Ghanaians, 66 Kenyans and 7 Zambians, inside 196,567 international students in 2023/24. Alumni contacts and precedent are few.
- Documents fail more applications than language does: an apostille is valid only for South Africa and Morocco, the other seven origin countries need full consular legalisation, and a school diploma needs Ministry homologación plus UNEDasiss before a university will look at it.
- Public tuition follows the region, not your English: Madrid bills non-EU students €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year where Andalusia bills €757 per year for the same degree.
- The 2027/28 application dates are not yet published, so a language certificate that arrives late can cost a whole intake, and Spain has one intake a year: Autumn (September).
We are paid by university commission, so our core guidance is free: shortlisting programmes whose published language rules you already meet, telling you whether your certificates need an apostille or consular legalisation, and steering the homologación and UNEDasiss steps that come before any application. We vet every document before it reaches an admissions office or a consulate. Premium Placement is optional and paid — full application handling, deadline tracking and visa preparation. We do not sell guaranteed admission, and we say so when a programme is out of reach. See [how we work](/how-we-work/).
How to apply to a university in Spain without IELTS
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Decide the language of your degree
Choose between an English-taught programme, concentrated at master's level and private universities, and a Spanish-taught degree that asks for DELE or SIELE at B2 instead of any English test.
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Read the programme's accepted-proof list
Each university sets its own rule, and it can differ between programmes. Check for TOEFL iBT, Cambridge, Duolingo, a placement test, a medium-of-instruction letter or a WAEC English grade.
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Sit the proof you can supply
Book TOEFL iBT or a Cambridge exam, the Duolingo English Test for IE University, the university's own placement test, or a DELE or SIELE exam for a Spanish-taught degree.
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Legalise and homologate your certificates
South African and Moroccan documents take an apostille; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe need consular legalisation. Bachelor's applicants then need Ministry homologacion.
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Get the UNEDasiss access credential
Undergraduate applicants apply to UNEDasiss for the national access credential, and sit PCE subject exams where the degree requires them, before any university application.
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Apply to each university separately
Spain has no central admissions portal. Submit a preinscripcion to each institution inside its own window, and track each deadline separately.
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File the student visa with matching language proof
Apply at the Spanish consulate with admission, funds, insurance and a medical certificate. English-medium applicants file the university's English proof; Spanish-medium applicants file Spanish proof.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, at several universities. Spain sets no national English floor, so each institution decides. IE University accepts the Duolingo English Test and English-medium schooling, UAB accepts its own placement test, and Carlos III and UPC accept TOEFL iBT 72. Spanish-taught degrees ask for no English test at all, only DELE or SIELE at B2.
Sometimes, and the common claim that one replaces a certificate everywhere is wrong. IE University accepts a medium-of-instruction letter. UAB, Carlos III and the University of Valencia weigh one case by case. UPC and the University of Salamanca do not accept it, because their rules list named exams only. Check the programme page before you request the letter.
Only at IE University, which exempts applicants with two or more years of English-medium secondary schooling. Carlos III considers a WAEC English grade case by case. UPC, UAB, Salamanca and the University of Valencia do not accept it. Your WASSCE still counts as your school-leaving qualification for admission; it simply does not stand in for a language certificate.
TOEFL iBT is the widest alternative: 72 at Carlos III and UPC, 90 at Pompeu Fabra, 95 at Navarra and 100 at IE University. Cambridge certificates are accepted at Carlos III and UAB. The Duolingo English Test is published only by IE University. PTE Academic is not published by any university on our list.
No, not as a separate item. Spain's immigration law contains no language clause; the requirement sits on the consulate's document checklist and follows the language your course is taught in. For an English-taught programme, the university's own English proof inside the file is enough. For a Spanish-taught programme, consulates ask for Spanish evidence, often DELE or a university placement result.
For most bachelor's degrees, yes. The University of Barcelona runs 0 English-taught bachelor's programmes, and Spanish-taught degrees ask for DELE or SIELE at B2. English-taught options are concentrated at master's level and at private universities. In Catalonia, part of the teaching is in Catalan, so plan for a second local language there.
Yes, because medicine in Spain is taught in Spanish, not English — so the certificate you need is DELE at B2, not an English test. Cost is the real barrier: €8,186–21,830 per year, with public places in Madrid at the top non-EU tier and private faculties higher still. Entry is competitive and taught entirely in Spanish from the first year.
Nothing yet on language, and nothing confirmed on money. The IPREM, which fixes the proof-of-funds figure at €600 per month, has been frozen through 2026 because no national budget law was passed. As of September 2026 no 2027 figure has been set or published. Budget on €600 per month as the safe planning number.