Study in Spain

About Spain

• Geography-The country of Spain located to the south of France and east of Portugal. The population of Spain is around 48 million. So as you may understand that Spain is quite densely populated. The country is protectively covered by the North Atlantic Ocean. This country is covered by rugged mountains. Pico de Teide of the Canary Island is the highest point of Spain. The climate of Spain is divided into three belts. One of the primary climate zones is a Mediterranean climate.Generally the summers are tolerably hot. The climate is maritime in a few places. Indian people will be able to adjust easily to this climate.
• History-The country of France invaded Spain way back in the 1800s. Spain was in the eye of the invaders due to its huge amount of wealth. This country has seen a lot of wars. Spain was governed by dictatorship during the Second World War. During this Second World War a lot of Spanish people joined the German army as volunteers. They were ordered to do so.This was a strategy to eventually take up the power of the German military to fight Soviet communism in the Eastern European side. There was one more reason for Spain to be on the side of Germany. Spain owed a loan of more than 200 million US dollars to Germany. This huge debt was incurred due to their losing the Spanish Civil War. With Hitler's patronization Spain took the side of Germany during this Second World War.
• Economy-The economy of Spain is on the higher side. There is a constant growth in the economy of this country. Having said this, the public debt of Spain is quite high. The good thing is that the GDP of Spain is increasing and after the year 2017, the GDP has become quite stable. Therefore, the minimum salary of the Spanish people has also increased this year. But this would take another couple of years to see whether the growth in GDP is stable or it takes a downhill. The head of the Spanish government is the president. If you want to start a career in Spain, then you could try for that from the year 2020. By that time, the economy of Spain will hopefully take an even better shape.

  Quick Facts

  • The Spanish name of Spain isEspana.
  • The main reason that Spain is historically so rich is that it consisted of many kingdoms. One of the reasons that this place is so rich in painting, sculpture, dance, etc., is the patronization of the kings of this country. The kingdoms were later unified in the 15th century.
  • If you want to marry early, then you should go to Spain. The government of Spain has set the minimum age to marry at 16. In fact, the minimum age was 14 earlier. It was increased to 16 very recently. The con side of this is that the focus towards the career gets deviated, due to the freedom to get married early.
  • Did you know that the famous La Tomatina festival in Spain started from a street fight in 1945? It happened so, that a group was fighting with each other in a market. Then suddenly someone saw a few tomatoes lying in the market where they were fighting. He immediately started throwing a few at the opponent. The opponent in order to save himself did the same thing. Soon the people started picking up more tomatoes and throwing at each other. The fight was stopped soon, but this thing got popularity. People started throwing tomatoes on the same day in the successive years. It was banned by the government intermittently. But later they had to lift the ban due to excessive popularity of this ritual among common people.
  • If you go to Spain, then you can't return without seeing the bullfighting. In fact the peak time of bullfighting festival is around June-July. This ritual was highly patronized by the emperor Claudius of Spain. Along with bullfighting, Spain is also famous for its bull run. San Fermin of Spain is famous for bull runs. This is a very popular festival over there and the cost of hotels rise during this time of the year.

  Admission Process in Spain

  • You must submit the photocopies of the mark sheets and certificates of class 10,12, graduation/ master's degree as applicable for the course. You have to submit the photocopy of the birth certificate tothe university. You can submit your Adhar card as your birth proof. This will also work as your identity proof.
  • You must submit a photocopy of your passport. The photocopy should show the date of issuance and the validity period of the passport.
  • You need to submit a passport size photograph of yours. It will be a wise decision, if you submit the photographs that you sent for your visa application. These are definitely your recent photographs and taken on a white background.A photograph that is more than one year old is generally not allowed in any university. Always go to a professional studio for the required pictures. Generally two passport size photographs suffice the application.
  • You have to do your blood and urine tests in a private clinic or hospital. The tests should be related to the basic checkups like sugar level, TC DC count, etc. You have to produce this report to the doctor. The doctor will certify, based on the report whether you are fit to study in the Spanish University. There are two categories that you have to fulfill for your fitness. You must not have any contagious disease in you. Secondly, you must be psychologically fit. Your doctor must give you a certificate for both these categories.
  • You must also submit the score of any international entrance or competitive examination, if it is applicable for your course. For example, if you are applying for a management course, then a valid GMAT score will be applicable.
  • You must not have any criminal record. If you were convicted in the past, then your chances of taking admission in that university will become zero. To prove that you didn't have any past criminal record, you will have to get a certificate from your nearest police station. If you can get such a certificate from the commissioner of police, then it is even better. You can also submit a signed and sealed document by your higher secondary principal or college principal praising your academic records and character. It will be more beneficial for you to take admission.

  Student Visa Application Process

  Before applying for a student visa, you must apply in the university or college of Spain, where you want to study. This student visa is even applicable for candidates who are taking up any research project or unpaid internship in Spain. Unlike Spain, some countries consider students on research projects (who are receiving full time scholarships) or international interns (maybe paid or unpaid) to be kind of employees of that country. Just like studying in Italy, here also you require a residence permit. You need to apply for this permit after you reach Spain. You cannot apply for this permit during the visa application. This is because the duration of your stay in Spain will be counted from the time you entered Spain and not from the time you applied for the visa. You have to apply for a no objection certificate (or NOC) or a residence permit from a police station in Spain. The jurisdiction of the police station would matter. This would be taken into account considering your place of stay in Spain. So after you apply for the student visa, you must apply for an accommodation. Based on the locality of your accommodation, you will have to report to the nearest police station for getting the NOC. You cannot stay more than the duration stated in the NOC. If you do stay, then you will be summoned by the police station and interrogated for your extended and illegal stay. You might be deported from the country as well. Always keep the admission letter from the Spanish universities and colleges with you to show the proper reasons for the duration of your stay. You can also submit the proof of the payment of the tuition fee to the Spanish University.

  Lifestyle

  Let us start discussing the life of a Spanish student with food. Spanish cuisine is another popular cuisine in India, besides Italian and other cuisines. A Spanish student loves paellas and tortillas. If you are a good cook and you want to cook at home then there are some recipes you could try to keep your stomach full and that too at a cheap price. You can try Cuban rice at home. You will have a wholesome lunch or dinner with rice, omelette and few other vegetables.The Spanish paella is also a very popular dish among the native students. But, this dish could be a little problematic for a section of students coming from India. This dish has the meat of squid as one of the main ingredients. You can also prepare an Indian version of the popular Spanish paella. Rice, a whole chicken and a few shrimps or prawns are the main ingredients of this dish. If you are looking for a vegetarian dish for breakfast then you can try Spanish white beans with pancetta. So, as you may see that you will not have a problem with food in Spain. If you go to a Spanish restaurant, then you will find a wide range of mouth-watering dishes. If you are a student in Spain for two or three years, then you should give some time to learn Spanish music and dance. In fact, Spanish people used this art of dance to commemorate the losses during various wars. Salsa and Tango are a few of the popular dance arts. You can think of learning either Salsa or Tango or some other dance form on weekends. If you are opting for a local dancing academy, then it would cost you around 150 US dollars. If you think of hiring a private dance instructor, then it can cost you around 50 US dollars. This is the maximum expected cost. You can find dance instructors who would give you one month lesson in just 40 US dollars. You will have to use your day offs for searching an institute or an instructor with moderate cost. If you are a music lover, then you can go to music concerts during the evening time. You can think of taking music classes during the vacations. If you are coming in Spain to study the secondary education, then you will get almost three month summer vacation to enrol in such classes. You can think of joining the special spring or summer sessions of music classes. At this time you will get a series of classes within moderate costs. You will see in the next section that Spanish sculpture and paintings are world famous. You can also think of taking painting or pottery lessons during your off time. In Spain, a lot of workshops are conducted to teach pottery, dance, music and other things. The best thing about these workshops is that it is short term. You can learn the entire subject in a very short span of time. The con side is that the cost of attending a workshop is much higher than that of learning the same thing in regular classes. The cost may rise up to 400 US dollars.

  Cost of Living for Students

  Accommodation-You can think of the most cost effective accommodation in Spain, which are residence halls. You can book residence halls online. You will get a single room or double room, with a separate kitchen or a shared kitchen. If you hire a single kitchen with your own kitchen, then your room will not be shared with anybody. You will have to either hire a housekeeper for this or you have to cook on your own. The latter will be more cost effective. In fact, a double bedroom with a shared kitchen will be even more cost effective. In that case, you can share the rent of the room with your roommate. You can either decide to split the cooking and cleaning responsibilities with your roommate or hire a housekeeper and share the salary of the housekeeper. The cost of a single room with a kitchen ranges between 300-400 Euros per month and that of a double room with kitchen ranges between 400-500 Euros per month. You will get Wi-Fi connection, a wardrobe, a desk, a chair along with the room. The costs of these are included in the room rent. You might get rooms that charge you including the electricity and gas bills. Sometimes, some residence halls charge you only for the room and you have to pay the gas and electricity bill additionally with the room rent. Other than this, there is a facility of taking apartments on rent. The rooms will be bigger. You will get more furniture in the rooms. This will be advantageous if you are coming to Spain along with 4-5 friends. The cost of such apartment varies between 1200-3000 Euros per month. This will be very costly for you to afford. You can only afford this, if you get a job in Spain. This is not possible with a student visa.
  FoodWhenever you come to a new country, it takes time for you to adjust. For this reason, it is not expected that you will start cooking right from the first month. You will have to spend initial two, three months either in experimenting in cooking or in trying to find an efficient yet cost effective housekeeper. So in those initial months it will be better if you eat in cheap restaurants. The cost of a meal at a cheap restaurant would come within 10 Euros. The maximum cost could range up to 60 Euros. This is considering that you will have a lavish and sumptuous meal. You have to eventually shift to cooking at home. The grocery items cost a decent price in Spain. Although items like tomatoes, beans, onions, potatoes are a little costly here. The prices could range between 1.5-3 Euros per kilogram. The price of rice is quite affordable and some of the brands may cost you lesser than the costly rice brands of India. The prices of fruits like apples, oranges, guavas are quite cheap here and not differ much from the Indian price. The price of these fruits, ranges between 1.5 Euros to 2 Euros per kilogram. You can tour a few markets in your locality. This way you can compare the prices of the fruits and vegetables of those markets and therefore, buy vegetables at the cheapest possible price.
  
  TransportationThe cost of bus tickets ranges between 1.5-3 Euros. The price will differ based on the fact that whether it is a round trip or not. You can buy a monthly pass. This will be much cheaper thanbuying a bus ticket every day. You can also buy a European youth card from the European Youth Card Association. You will get cheaper bus fares. You will even get discounts and special offers. But as the name of this organization suggests, this card is created for the youths of Spain. If your age is above 26 years, then you will not be considered as a youth by this organization. Hence, you will not be able to buy this youth card. This card is specially created for the youths.

  Documents for University Admissions in Spain

  1. You must take admission in a university or college of Spain first. Do check the official website of the university before selecting it. The institute must be approved by the Spanish Department of Education. While applying for the visa, you will have to provide the signed and sealed invitation letter from the Spanish University.
  2. Along with the invitation letter, you must provide a copy of the proof of submission of the tuition fee. This is a very important document. Without this, your visa application will not be processed.You must download the visa application form and submit the filled up form, along with the visa processing fee. The visa processing fee is around 160 Euros.
  3. The validity of your passport must remain for at least three more months
  4. At least two of the visa pages must remain empty before your student visa application.
  5. You need minimum 2 passport size photographs. The photographs should be taken in such a way that your full face, that means, ears, nose, eyes are clearly visible.
  6. You may have to submit your latest CV. Here you must mention your academic qualifications, marks obtained, expertise in extracurricular activities, etc. This is required if you are called for the visa interview.
  7. You have to submit a photocopy of a proof that you were not convicted in the past and you have no prior criminal records. Approach your nearest police station for this.
  8. You must have a health insurance to cover any probable health hazard or accidents during your stay in Spain.
  You need yourphysician or a doctor of a certified hospital to certify that, you are physically fit. The certificate should say that you don't contain any contagious disease. It should also certify that you are psychologically fit.
  9. Last but not the least, you will have to submit the photocopies of your bank statements. Your bank balance should be sufficient enough to make you sustain the years of your education. If you are taking someone else's help to finance your education, then the bank statement of that person should be provided during the visa application.

The younger generation definitely knows how passionate Spanish people are about football. You cannot study all the time. You need good sports for relaxation. Spain provides such relaxations through their football games. You can find a certain area of Spain without schools, but you will never find a town of this country that doesn't have a football ground or a football club. The Champions' League, the UEFA cup and the Spanish Cup are some of the popular football tournaments in Spain. Spain won the football world cup in the year 2010. Other than football, basketball and volleyball are widely played sports. The students of the schools in this country are encouraged to play these sports during their leisure. Some schools have dance sessions included in their curriculum. Spain has a rich heritage of dancing styles.
Here is a list of few of the popular universities in Spain and the subjects taught in the corresponding universities.

1. University of Granada-Spanish Language Studies, Ecology and Environment, Climate Studies, Psychology, Geography, Information Technology, etc.
2. University of Seville--Subjects taught-This institute is popular for courses in the field of arts. Some of the widely enrolled undergraduate courses are Arabic and Islamic studies, Fine Arts, Hispanic Philology, teaching Humanities and Natural Sciences. Those who are willing to become archaeologists in the future can think of pursuing a master's degree in Archaeology. Spain has such a rich heritage in History that it is an abode for historians and archaeologists. There are various master's programs in creative writing. This university also provides an interesting form of a degree. This university offers double degrees in undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
University of Cadiz-Subjects taught-Classical or Spanish Philology, Arabic and Islamic Studies, French Studies, Finance and Accounting and various medical courses. One interesting program that this university offers is an exchange program. This is basically a student exchange program from any other country to Spain and vice versa. Such students could also be exchanged from one university of Spain to some other university. This is a program where, generally in the last lap of the course, students of a university in India or another country get a chance to study in this university. The courses offered for student exchange programs in this university are generally related to science and technology. The duration of the program varies between 6 months to 1 year.Loyola University or Loyola University Andalusia-Subjects taught-Economics, Political Science, various MBA programs, dual MBA programs and lots more.This is a Catholic university. This university not only patronizes education, but has dedicated departments for cultural and sports activities.
3. University of Burgos-Subjects taught-Political Science, Economics, Business Management. Like a few of the Spanish schools, this university conducts excursions to various beautiful places of Spain. Among the various cities, one common place for excursion is Madrid. The students get to see a new city. They have to visit those areas which are related to their course curriculum. Mostly, such excursions are conducted to encourage students to face the real world scenario.
4. The Catholic University of Ávila-Subjects taught-Law, Economics, Business Studies, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, etc. It is obvious that this is a catholic university. This university provides double degrees in subjects like Law and Business Administration, Economics, etc.