Record 85,500 foreign degree recognitions in Spain in 2025

85,500 degrees recognised in a single year: the back door to the public health system

The figure is unprecedented. In 2025, Spain's Ministry of Universities recognised 85,500 foreign university degrees, 63% of them belonging to Latin American students. For perspective: around 200,000 students graduate from Spanish universities each year. Seen that way, recognitions amount to 43% of the domestic output. But the truly striking figure comes when you cross-reference these numbers with MIR places (the competitive exam required to practise medicine in Spain): barely 8,000 a year. The ratio suggests that, in healthcare alone, more professionals may be entering via degree recognition than through the ordinary route.

What quality control applies to recognised degrees?

The recurring question in these analyses is whether recognitions are granted to the same standards demanded of a Spanish graduate. Critics argue that in other EU countries the requirements are far stricter and that Spain has become a sieve. Some maintain that simply requiring the MIR to work in the public sector would be enough, letting the private sector filter by efficiency. But the reality is that many of these professionals end up in emergency departments of public health centres and hospitals, where care pressure is at its highest and supervision at its lowest.

The business of Latin American private universities

Behind the phenomenon lies a growing market. Universities in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico offer degrees in Medicine, Physiotherapy or Nursing at prices far below Spanish ones. Students, often with entrance grades too low for Spain, go abroad to study and return home with a degree in hand. With rents at record highs in cities like Madrid or Barcelona, the maths works out: it is cheaper to live in La Paz than in a decent neighbourhood of the Spanish capital. The result is a constant flow of new graduates who sit civil service exams or land public-sector posts without ever having gone through the Spanish system.

The consequences for healthcare and patient trust

The accounts gathered reflect a mixed experience. On the one hand, some argue that many foreign doctors are competent and cover structural shortfalls. On the other, complaints abound about professionals who do little more than prescribe paracetamol and ibuprofen for any symptom without digging into the diagnosis, or who react with hostility when questioned. Training at academically low-level universities — some compared to primary schools — leaves doubts about their real qualifications. The risk is that the pressure to fill vacancies will lower the bar irreversibly.

The figure nobody wants to face

While Spanish students face ever-higher entrance grades, soaring tuition fees and a labour market that fails to absorb overqualified workers, recognitions keep growing without the public debate addressing the heart of the matter. 86,000 degrees in one year represent an increase in labour supply that appears in no skilled-employment statistics. The question is not whether these professionals are needed, but whether the recognition system is guaranteeing the minimum quality a developed country should demand.

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