University entrance

University admission depends on the results obtained from the AS / A Level examinations at the end of the academic years in higher secondary education, Year 12 – Year 13. At this level, the subjects are considered as passed with an A* (not available at AS level), A, B, C, D and E grade.

In general, for University admission in the United Kingdom, depending on Universities and/or Faculties, at least two GCE (General Certificate of Education) Advanced Levels (A levels) must have been passed. Nevertheless, in many cases, such as the most prestigious Universities, at least three subjects must have been passed with a B grade or higher. In recent years, in order to unify criteria, the United Kingdom has established the points obtained according to the “UCAS Scale” as the scale for university admission, which assigns a numeric value to the marks obtained on the AS/AL examinations. Access to Spanish universities for students who have studied in foreign centres in EU member educational systems also require obtaining a mark from 0 to 10. How this is achieved is explained below.

Nearly all pupils who have attended the English School of Asturias have successfully continued their education at university. Although the majority of our former pupils have enrolled at a university in Spain, some have gone on to study in a variety of other countries around the world. Below is some general information about the various admission processes our pupils will encounter.

• A level examination results become available in August at the end of year 13. As this is quite late for most countries university admission requirements, A level predicted grades are used instead. These predictions are set by each pupil’s teacher during year 13, and are accepted globally instead of the actual grades.

• Universities around the world will use the predicted grades to decide whether to reserve a place for the pupil. However, the predicted grades will need to be confirmed when the final results become available. If the predicted grades are not achieved then the university may still offer the place to the pupil, or the pupil will have to find a different university that will accept their grades.

American Universities

• Admission requirements vary for American universities. Most accept predicted A level grades, but some universities do require that all international students sit the SAT examinations, regardless of other qualifications they may have;

• SAT examinations are available in Spain and take place monthly from October through to June every year. However the nearest centre in which the SAT examinations can be sat is in Madrid. For more details go to www.collegeboard.com;

British Universities

• British universities use an organisation called UCAS to facilitate their entry process, and any pupil wishing to attend a university in Britain must apply through UCAS, this is coordinated by the school staff during year 13;

• Besides academic achievement, the application process for British universities involves a reference from the school as well as a personal statement written by the pupil. This is to ensure that universities know why a pupil wishes to study the course they have chosen, and why the university should want them as a student. The impact this has on the pupils during their time in year 12 and 13, is that they learn to value extra-curricular activities more and become deeply involved in school life.

• More details on applying to British universities can be found on the UCAS website at www.ucas.com;

Spanish Universities

• Since June 2007 pupils who have studied in the British educational system have been able to apply to Spanish universities using their predicted A-level grades, through a process called direct access;

• Direct access uses the points system assigned to AS and A level grades by UCAS (see British universities above) and the equivalent points system assigned to these grades by UNED. This is shown below:

Here are the points awarded by UCAS for A levels (A2) and AS levels

The table below shows UCAS points and the equivalent ‘nota de corte’.

More details can be found at:
http://portal.uned.es/portal/page?_pageid=93,932663&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

• Below are listed some possible combinations for certain corresponding points scores. It assumes that all pupils taking the Spanish A2 will achieve at least an A grade, something which every pupil entered for it so far has managed to achieve.

• The table above only shows a few of the possible combinations for some certain equivalencies. In reality, there are up to a hundred different combinations for each one.

• Although some students may only require a ‘5’ to enter on to a university course, universities will expect students to show a high degree of ability in their A2 subjects, and achieve reasonable grades.

• Regarding the admission process, during term 3 of Year 13 we will send the predictions of the final grades for each pupil, along with all their personal details, to UNED. UNED then process this information and send to each pupil a ‘direct access’ document which pupils can then use to apply for a place at university. These documents contain the pupil’s academic information, including their predicted grades and the equivalent ‘nota de corte’.

The ‘Specific Phase’

• Some university courses have a limited number of places, and to improve access to these courses the Spanish ministry of education has changed the system for all schools in Spain. This system is called the Specific Phase. See BOE No.283 published 24th November 2008 for more details.

• The Specific Phase requires that a pupil wishing to study on a course with limited places must first achieve (or be predicted to achieve) the necessary ‘nota de corte’ through their A levels. If this is the case, then the pupil can add up to an extra 4 points to their ‘nota de corte’ to achieve a final admission grade, through the specific phase examinations, which will improve their chances of being successful with their application.

• The specific phase examinations take the style of the usual PAU examinations, and take place in the first week of June, at an examination centre in Madrid.

• A pupil can choose to sit 2 or 3 examinations in their main subjects but if a pupil sits 3 examinations, then only the best 2 grades count.

• The subjects in which a pupil can be examined carry different weightings, some have a weighting of 0.2, while others carry a weighting of 0.1. The weightings vary slightly between different universities, however, the main subjects of the ‘via de acceso’ usually carry the larger weightings.

• As an example, if a pupil wishes to study Physiotherapy at Oveido University, and they achieved an 8.6 through their AS and A levels, then they should sit specific phase examinations in Química and Biología, as both have a weighting of 0.2, all other subjects being weighted 0.1. If they achieved an 8.1 and 7.2 in these examinations respectively, then their final admission grade would be:

• To ensure the pupils who wish to enter university through the specific phase are fully prepared, we will offer extra classes in the subjects they wish to be examined in throughout year 13. Whether they wish to sit an examination in Biología or Economía, our aim is to give them the opportunity to achieve the best grade that they are able to.

• More information of the specific phase can be found at:
http://www.consumer.es/web/es/educacion/universidad/2010/02/19/191228.php