Título propio

A Diploma propio or Título propio (dt. Own title ) is a title awarded by a university in Spain after completing a postgraduate course that is not regulated by the state . The program and content of such a course are developed and regulated by the relevant university (often in cooperation with cooperation partners from business, society or government agencies); the titles acquired only have university-specific, non-governmental status. Therefore, the prestige of such a title depends to a large extent on the professional recognition of the issuing institution.

The autonomy of the Spanish universities enables them, according to Art. 34 (3) of the Ley Orgánica de Universidades of December 21, 2001, to offer courses that lead to a university degree. These are offered as postgraduate or specialization courses, which are designed to complete and complement the regular academic curriculum of the students in the sense of a technical or professional specialization. Since these courses of study have to be fully refinanced through student contributions and support payments from collaboration partners, the costs of such a course are usually significantly higher than those of the regular Spanish university course. In return, lecturers from other universities and from practice are often hired as lecturers.

The students who successfully complete such courses receive the corresponding university titles. Depending on the admission requirements and the duration of the course, the universities award the following titles, whereby the amount of lectures and other work (e.g. in the form of theses) as well as the level vary from course to course and university to university. The numbers of hours shown refer to the guidelines in force at the Complutense University of Madrid :

• Experto Universitario (German expert ) (+ subject area) (often also open to professionally experienced non-academics) (250 hours)
• Especialista Universitario (German specialist ) or Diploma Universitario de Postgrado (German postgraduate diploma ) (+ subject) (300 hours)
• Máster or Magíster Universitario , also Maestría (+ subject area) (500 hours)

In addition to the own titles of the Máster and Magíster, state-recognized and regulated master’s courses are currently being increasingly set up at Spanish universities as part of the Bologna Process .

The títulos propios have not yet been officially recognized by the Ministry of Education and Science, but they are definitely of value within the academic world and for a future employer, as the graduates are characterized by highly specialized knowledge with mostly business management orientation.

Well-known institutions that award such titles are z. B. the Complutense University of Madrid or the University of Deusto.

Web links

• Information on official and non-official postgraduate courses in Spain (span.)
• Text of the Ley Orgánica de Universidades (2001; span.)
• Further information and legal texts on the title , Carlos III University of Madrid (span.)
• University Convention on Postgraduate Studies Leading to University Titles , published by Alcalá University
• Information from the DAAD about the Spanish study system and academic degrees
• Reglamento de Títulos propios of the University of Salamanca

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source: DAAD study guide Spain - p. 52 Wolfgang Kreft - 2008