Universities in Spain for African Students

Choosing a university in Spain

Spain has 96 recognised higher-education institutions, and three splits decide where you should apply.

The first is public against private. Public bachelor’s fees for a non-EU student run €757–8,186 per year; private ones run €10,380–26,500 per year and usually add a non-refundable place-reservation charge on top.

The second is regional, and it catches most applicants out. Prices are set by the autonomous community, not by the university. Andalusia charges you what it charges a Spaniard, so a bachelor’s at University of Granada costs €757 per year. Catalonia has unified its bachelor’s price as well: University of Barcelona charges €1,061 per year. Madrid puts non-EU students on its top matrícula tier from the first year, so Complutense University of Madrid charges €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year for a degree at the same level.

The third is language of instruction, and after that comes rent, which varies more than tuition: Madrid runs €900–1,300 per month against Granada at €700–800 per month.

Sort your shortlist by language of instruction first, then by region, then by rent — the ranking is the last question, not the first. The full breakdown sits on the cost of studying in Spain.

Top universities in Spain

Fees below are the published non-EU rates in our dataset, for 2026/27 unless the entry says otherwise.

University of Barcelona is the highest-ranked here at #165 (QS 2027) and was founded in 1450. Bachelor’s costs €1,061 per year and master’s €4,260–6,600 per year, but it lists 0 English-taught bachelor’s.

Complutense University of Madrid, #199 (QS 2027), is the largest on this list with 64,407 students, and covers medicine, law and business. Non-EU bachelor’s is €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year, with 8 English bachelor’s.

Autonomous University of Barcelona, #211 (QS 2027), has the deepest English offer of any public university here: 11 bachelor’s and 52 master’s, at €1,061 per year and €3,960–6,000 per year.

Autonomous University of Madrid, #226 (QS 2027), is strong in sciences, law, economics and medicine. It teaches 0 bachelor’s and 9 master’s in English, at €5,460–10,152.60 per year for a master’s.

Pompeu Fabra University, #263 (QS 2027), is small at 12,713 students and known for economics, law and communication, with 30 English master’s. Unlike UB and UAB it charges non-EU bachelor’s students a premium, €6,800.32–7,022.30 per year.

University of Navarra is private, in Pamplona, and ranked #279 (QS 2027). Bachelor’s runs €9,127–20,400 per year, medicine at the top of that band at €20,400 per year. English-taught provision is limited.

Carlos III University of Madrid, #314 (QS 2027), teaches many programmes in English across economics, law, engineering and data science. Bachelor’s is €6,822.60–8,186.40 per year, master’s €5,044.20 per year, and applying costs free.

Polytechnic University of Catalonia, #434 (QS 2027), is Barcelona’s engineering and architecture school and the cheapest technical route in a big city: €1,800 per year at bachelor’s, €2,700 per year at master’s.

IE University is private, split between Madrid and Segovia, ranked #446 (QS 2027), and teaches entirely in English to a body that is 90 per cent international. Bachelor’s is €26,500–43,800 per year.

University of Granada, #447 (QS 2027), is the cheapest serious option in the country at €757 per year for bachelor’s and €821 per year for master’s, in a city where a room costs €250–350 per month.

University of Valencia, #449 (QS 2027), covers medicine, law, business and engineering at €1,774–2,162 per year and €4,240–4,241 per year, in a city budgeted at €800–1,050 per month.

University of Salamanca, #560 (QS 2027) and founded in 1218, doubles its per-credit price for non-EU students, which still leaves bachelor’s at €1,249.20–2,028 per year. Moroccan nationals are exempt from that surcharge.

English-taught programmes

The English offer is deeper at master’s level than at bachelor’s, and it is concentrated in a few places. Autonomous University of Barcelona lists 11 English bachelor’s against 52 master’s, Pompeu Fabra 4 against 30, Complutense 8 against 4, and Granada 0 against 3. Carlos III teaches many degrees in English; IE University teaches all of them, at private fees.

Outside the lecture room the language is Spanish, or Catalan in Barcelona: the landlord, the part-time job, the extranjería counter. Budget for Spanish classes even on an English-taught degree.

There is no national English rule; each university sets its own. Carlos III asks IELTS Academic 5.5 at bachelor’s and 5.5 at master’s; UAB 5.5 and 6; Pompeu Fabra 6.5 for master’s; IE University 7. If you pick a Spanish-taught programme, the consulate will also want proof you can follow teaching in Spanish, usually DELE or the university’s own placement result. English-medium applicants satisfy that with the university’s admission proof. See studying in Spain without IELTS.

Entry requirements for African students

There is no central 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. Recognition runs through Ministerio de Educacion, FP y Deportes (homologacion of the foreign secondary diploma to the Spanish Bachiller) plus UNEDasiss (national access credential/PCE exams) for undergraduate access; for master's, each university evaluates the foreign bachelor's degree itself and this confers no official equivalence.

None of the main African school certificates has a reciprocity agreement with Spain. WASSCE and NECO, KCSE, the South African NSC and the Moroccan Baccalauréat all follow the same route: homologación of the certificate, then UNEDasiss accreditation, then application to each university. PCE subject exams are formally optional at most universities but decide your access grade, so treat them as compulsory for competitive degrees — Granada allows them to add up to four points, and University of Barcelona weights the homologated average at 0.6 against the exam score at 0.4.

Legalisation is where files fail: the Hague apostille covers only South Africa and Morocco, and applicants from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe need consular or diplomatic legalisation instead. For master’s entry there is usually no full homologación: UAM asks for a Ministry declaración de equivalencia, Complutense runs its own level check, and Pompeu Fabra assesses equivalence directly.

Medicine is taught in Spanish at every university in our dataset. Public medicine costs €8,186–21,830 per year across the range. Country detail sits on the corridor pages, for example studying in Spain from Nigeria.

Tuition and scholarships

Public tuition is €757–8,186 per year at bachelor’s and €5,044–10,153 per year at master’s. Spain has no recurring semester contribution of the German kind; instead new students pay one-off administrative charges of €28–140. Private universities are a different order: €10,380–26,500 per year at bachelor’s and €30,000–50,000 per year at master’s.

Where you land inside the public band is set by the region and your nationality, not by your grades. Andalusia and Catalonia charge non-EU bachelor’s students the resident price; Madrid charges its top tier; Salamanca doubles the per-credit rate for non-EU students but exempts Moroccan nationals under the Spain–Morocco agreement.

There is no general non-EU tuition waiver, so the fee you see is the fee you pay. The two national routes worth applying for are MAEC-AECID scholarships and Erasmus Mundus joint master’s, both set out on Spain scholarships. Tuition is rarely the largest line: living costs run €700–1,200 per month.

How to apply

1. Shortlist three to five programmes by language of instruction, then region, then rent. Confirm the non-EU price the university actually charges, since it varies by community.
2. Start recognition first, not last. Apply to the Ministry for homologación of your school certificate, with an apostille if you are South African or Moroccan and consular legalisation otherwise.
3. Register with UNEDasiss for the national access credential and book PCE subject exams, generally four subjects, to build a competitive access grade.
4. Apply to each university’s own preinscripción within its window. Bachelor’s: 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. Master’s: Varies by university, multiple rounds; representative example UCM 2026/27: 28 Jan-20 Feb, 27 Apr-22 May, extraordinary 1-4 Sept. 2027/28 dates not yet published.
5. Prove language. Submit the English test your programme accepts, or Spanish evidence for a Spanish-taught course. Application fees range from free at Carlos III to €150 at IE University.
6. Accept the offer and pay enrolment. Private universities charge a non-refundable place reservation before term.
7. Apply for the National (Type D) long-stay student authorisation ('estancia de larga duracion por estudios') at the consulate: €90, proof of funds of €600 per month of stay, insurance covering at least 30,000 euro, and a medical certificate. Processing takes 1 to 6 weeks. The document list is on the Spain student visa page.
8. After arrival, apply for the TIE foreigner ID card within one month, at €16.08, plus the domestic stay-authorisation fee of €10.94.