What is the Spanish equivalent to a British BSc Degree?

Question

BSc Bachelor Of Science

I know on the site there are a number of questions vaguely similiar to this, but i was seeing if anyone knew what the Spanish (Catellaño) exact translation is. I know for a lot of paper work in Spain you have to put the exact equivalent of your degree in Spanish, or also to apply for jobs. I see there is Diplomatura and Licenciatura given as translations, but from this i can´t work out the exact differences between them also.

So was seeing if anyone knew the answer, or if anyone had had their degree reviewed and translated to the Spanish equivalent?

Many many thanks.

Answer 1

Diplomatura/Licenciatura are the current (and soon to be extinct) names of the degrees offered by Spanish Universities. 'Diplomatura' was 3 years, and 'Licenciatura' was 4-6, depending on the profession (and it also had different names, so you would need to specify exactly what you studied). In your case, a Bachelor's degree is probably a Diplomatura, and if you had a Master's degree it would probably be the equivalent of a Licenciatura, with many 'if's attached, as the English and Spanish systems are pretty different. If you just need to fill in a paper form, just to give an idea about your qualification, this is probably enough, but if you want to look for a job in a particular field related to your profession, you would probably need to get information from a more authoritative figure, as I'm sure it won't be a straightforward process with many degrees. Many jobs have legal restrictions about the type of college degrees required to perform them -especially doctors, engineers, architects.. - and a loose equivalent from a different country may not cut it in certain cases.

In any case, all this is about to change very soon, as from now on, courtesy of the Bologna Process, it will be more or less the same in most of Europe (título de grado > master > doctorado)

Absolutely great answer. Would you happen to know when the Bologna Process will come / came into affect? - tomasollie, Dec 28, 2010

It is an ongoing process, well underway, at least in Spain. A few years ago, many universities -including mine- started to phase in the new curriculum, at the same time they were phasing out the old one. There are already 'titulados de grado' in some. - bill1111, Dec 28, 2010

Answer 2

Hi Tom, welcome to the forum. I think it is licenciado en Ciencias as an adjective and Licenciatura en Ciencias as a noun.

'en ciencias' isn't really a term used in Spain though. It would have to be in something specific (like economics, history, etc..) - bill1111, Dec 28, 2010