IT Universities in Spain for African Students
A computing degree at a Spanish public university costs €757–8,186 per year, and which end of that range you pay depends on the region, not the university. UPC in Barcelona charges €1,800 per year; Madrid charges the top tier. Living costs add €700–1,200 per month. English-taught computing is rare at bachelor's level, so most African applicants enter at master's.
Why study IT in Spain?
Spain’s computing faculties cluster in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Andalusia. The fee picture is the unusual part. Public tuition for a non-EU student runs €757–8,186 per year, and the spread is regional policy rather than quality: Andalusia charges non-EU students the same rate as Spaniards, Catalonia’s technical universities apply a small surcharge, and Madrid applies the highest enrolment tier. The same subject can cost ten times more in Madrid than in Granada.
The catches are language and scale. Most computing bachelor’s degrees are taught in Spanish or Catalan, so an English-medium entry point usually means a master’s. Spain is also a thin destination for our markets: of 196,567 international students in 2023/24, 8,625 were African, and 5,151 of those came from Morocco — against 245 from Nigeria and 66 from Kenya.
After graduation you get 24 months of residence to look for work or start a business, one of the longer post-study windows in Europe. Our guide to studying in Spain covers the rest.
Top IT and computer-science universities in Spain
Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) is the country’s main engineering address, covering computer science, telecommunications and data science, and ranks #434 (QS 2027). Non-EU fees are €1,800 per year for a bachelor’s and €2,700 per year for a master’s. It teaches only 2 bachelor’s in English.
Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) ranks #314 (QS 2027) and runs engineering, computer science and data science with many programmes in English. Computing sits in its most expensive fee type: €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year, with master’s at €5,044.20 per year.
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) is the highest-ranked on this list at #211 (QS 2027), with engineering and technology alongside the sciences. Catalonia charges non-EU students the resident rate, so a bachelor’s is €1,061 per year; master’s cost €3,960–6,000 per year.
Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), also in Barcelona, ranks #263 (QS 2027) and teaches engineering and information technologies, with 30 master’s in English. Fees are €6,800.32–7,022.30 per year and €5,610–5,749.80 per year.
Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) ranks #199 (QS 2027) and lists computer science, software engineering, data science and artificial intelligence. Bachelor’s fees are €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year, master’s €5,044.20–10,152.60 per year.
University of Valencia ranks #449 (QS 2027), teaches computer science and data science, and charges €1,774–2,162 per year. Valencia is also cheaper to live in at €800–1,050 per month.
University of Granada is the cheapest serious option: €757 per year for a bachelor’s and €821 per year for a master’s, identical for all nationalities, at #447 (QS 2027). It has 0 English-taught bachelor’s.
University of Salamanca covers engineering and computer science at #560 (QS 2027), charging €1,249.20–2,028 per year.
IE University is the private, fully English alternative at €26,500–43,800 per year. The full list is at Spanish universities.
What an IT degree in Spain really costs
Tuition depends on where the campus is, not what you study. Andalusia and Catalonia sit at the bottom — €757 per year at Granada, €1,061 per year at UAB — while Madrid’s public universities charge €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year. Public master’s run €5,044–10,153 per year. There is no recurring semester fee, only a one-off admin charge of €28–140.
Everything else is predictable. Living costs are €700–1,200 per month nationally, €900–1,300 per month in Madrid and €700–800 per month in Granada. Visa-compliant health insurance is €480–840 per year, bought up front. The visa costs €90, plus €10.94 for the stay authorisation and €16.08 for the residence card. In Granada or Valencia your rent will cost more in one year than your entire degree. Full detail is in Spain study costs.
Can you study IT in Spain in English?
At master’s level, in places. UPF lists 30 English-taught master’s and UAB 52; UC3M describes its English provision as many. Elsewhere the numbers are small: 4 at UCM, 9 at UAM and 3 at Granada.
At bachelor’s level the answer is mostly no. UPC has 2 English-taught bachelor’s, UPF 4, UAB 11 and UAM 0, and few of those are computing. The cheap Spanish computing degrees are cheap because they are taught in Spanish or Catalan. If you want an English-taught computing bachelor’s, the realistic options are a small set of public programmes or a private university such as IE, where teaching is all in English at €26,500–43,800 per year.
How Africans apply: recognition and admission
There is no central application service. 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. For undergraduate entry that means two steps before you apply anywhere: homologación of your school certificate by the education ministry, then a UNEDasiss credential, where PCE subject exams can raise the admission mark that engineering and computing places are awarded on. Register at unedasiss.uned.es.
For master’s entry there is no ministry step — each university assesses your bachelor’s itself, and that assessment confers no official equivalence in Spain.
Documents must be legalised, and an apostille only works for two of our nine origin countries: South Africa and Morocco. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe need consular or diplomatic legalisation, which takes weeks. Unverifiable certificates are a named refusal reason for the student visa, so start legalisation before you start applications.
The intake is Autumn (September). Bachelor’s deadlines vary: Varies by university; representative example UCM 2026/27 ordinary window 5 June-6 July (early-admission track 20 Jan-1 Apr). 2027/28 dates not yet published. The permit side is set out in the Spain student visa guide.
Do you need IELTS for IT in Spain?
Spain sets no national English floor; each university decides. UC3M asks IELTS 5.5 for bachelor’s entry and 5.5 for master’s, UPC the same at 5.5, UAB 6 for master’s, UPF 6.5 and IE 7.
The visa adds a different condition. Consulates ask for evidence of Spanish where the course is taught in Spanish; for an English-taught programme, the university’s own English proof goes into the file and nothing extra is required. The language test you need depends on the language your course is taught in, not on your nationality. Alternatives to a test are set out in studying in Spain without IELTS.
Working while you study — and after
Work rights are unusually good. Full-degree students get Up to 30 hours/week, with no separate work permit needed — authorisation comes with the study status itself. The cap does not change in the holidays. Ten hours a week more than most of Europe allows still will not cover Madrid rent, which runs €500–600 per month for a room; the statutory minimum wage is €1,221 per month for full-time work.
After you finish, the job-search and entrepreneurship permit gives 24 months at a fee of €10.94, the same for bachelor’s, master’s and PhD graduates. Since April 2026 you can file from two months before you finish to three months after, and your student status is extended while the case is decided.
Scholarships for IT students
Spain runs two national routes. Erasmus Mundus joint master’s are open to applicants from all nine of our origin countries, and computing is one of the better-served fields in the catalogue. MAEC-AECID is narrower: fully open only to Egypt, restricted for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco, and closed to Uganda and Zambia.
Neither funds many people, and in Spain a scholarship mostly buys living costs rather than fees — at €757 per year in Andalusia there is little tuition left to waive. Start with Spain scholarships, the Erasmus Mundus guide and MAEC-AECID.
What works in your favour
- UPC is the cheap technical route: €1,800 per year at bachelor’s and €2,700 per year at master’s, ranked #434 (QS 2027).
- Computing in English opens at master’s level: UAB lists 52 programmes, Pompeu Fabra 30, Granada 3, and Carlos III teaches many in English.
- Entry English sits at reachable levels: IELTS 5.5 at Carlos III, 5.5 at UPC and 6 at UAB.
- Valencia pairs €1,774–2,162 per year with living costs of €800–1,050 per month.
- After the degree you can stay 24 months to find work or start a business, for €10.94.
The honest downsides
- The cheap computing degrees are taught in Spanish or Catalan. English-medium computing is concentrated in master’s programmes and in private universities charging €26,500–43,800 per year.
- Madrid charges non-EU students the top enrolment tier — €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year — for the same degree Granada sells at €757 per year.
- You must prove €600 per month for every month of your stay, and insufficient or unclear funds is the first-named refusal reason.
- Legalisation is slow. An apostille is accepted only from South Africa and Morocco; the other seven origins need consular legalisation.
- Nothing about 2027/28 is fixed yet: university deadlines for that intake are not published, and Spain publishes no student-visa refusal rate at all.
Our core guidance is free, funded by commission from the universities we work with. We check whether your certificate will clear homologación, tell you which regions charge what before you shortlist, and vet every document — legalisation, UNEDasiss registration, funds evidence, insurance — before it is submitted, because the named refusal reasons are mostly document failures. Where you want the whole file handled, our optional paid Premium Placement does that. We never sell admission or visa outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
At a public university, €757–8,186 per year for a bachelor's and €5,044–10,153 per year for a master's, depending on the region. Granada charges €757 per year, Madrid up to €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year. Living costs of €700–1,200 per month usually exceed the fees.
UPC in Barcelona is the main engineering and computing school at #434 (QS 2027) and €1,800 per year. UC3M at #314 (QS 2027) has the widest English provision. UAB, UPF, UCM, Valencia, Granada and Salamanca all teach computing degrees.
Mostly at master's level. UAB lists 52 English-taught master's and UPF 30. English bachelor's are scarce: 2 at UPC, 4 at UPF, 0 at UAM. Private IE University teaches entirely in English at a much higher fee.
For a bachelor's you need ministry homologación of the certificate plus a UNEDasiss credential; the university then admits on a calculated mark. Sitting PCE subject exams, mathematics included, raises that mark and matters for competitive engineering places. Each university sets its own maths expectation, and those conditions are not published nationally.
Yes, Up to 30 hours/week, and no separate permit is needed — work authorisation comes with the student status for full-degree students. The cap is the same in term and holidays. Full-time minimum pay is €1,221 per month, so part-time work covers part of your costs, not all of them.
Yes. The job-search and entrepreneurship permit gives 24 months, at a fee of €10.94, and applies equally to bachelor's, master's and PhD graduates. It is non-renewable, and you must hold a qualification at EQF level 6 or above. A job offer then moves you onto a work authorisation.
No. That is the common myth. Andalusia does charge non-EU students the national rate — €757 per year at Granada — but Madrid applies its top enrolment tier to non-EU students from year one, at €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year. The region decides, not the ranking.
Two things. Since 16 April 2026 you can apply for the 24-month job-search permit from two months before to three months after finishing, with your study authorisation extended while it is processed, closing the old coverage gap. The proof-of-funds baseline stays at €600 per month; no 2027 figure has been published.