Over 25s: general information

The university entrance examination for over 25s is organised in the same manner for all universities in Catalonia with the exception of the UOC.

Sittings
University entrance exams for the over-25s are sat once a year. There is no limit to the number of times a candidate can sit the exam for over-25s.

Once they have passed the entrance exam, candidates may sit it again to improve their results; entrance to university will be based on the highest mark achieved in the different sittings.

Requirements
Candidates wishing to sit the exam must:

  1. be 25 years old before 1 October 2008
  2. not have passed Batxiller (high school diploma LOGSE) or the equivalent
  3. not have passed COU.

Enrolment for examination

Enrolment period
From 18 February to 3 March 2008 for all Catalan universities, except the UOC.

Application for enrolment
Candidates wishing to take the entrance exam for over-25s for any of the seven public universities or the University of Vic should enrol via the Internet, at: https://accesnet.gencat.net, in the section University entrance exams for the over-25s.

Candidates wishing to take the exams at Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia or Abat Oliba University CEU, should enrol at the place stipulated by each university:

  • Ramon Llull University (http://www.url.edu). Central administration. C. Claravall, 1-3. 08022 Barcelona. Opening hours 9.00 am - 1.30 pm and 4.00 to 6.00 pm.
  • International University of Catalonia (http://www.uic.es) . Admissions and Promotion Service. Iradier Campus. C. Immaculada, 22. 08017 Barcelona. Opening hours 9.00 am - 6.00 pm.
  • Abat Oliba University CEU (http://www.uao.es). Academic Secretary. C. Bellesguard, 30. 08022 Barcelona. Opening hours 10.00 am - 1.00 pm and 3.00 to 5.00 pm.

Candidates should specify the following on their application forms:

  1. University where they will take the exam.
  2. Foreign language exam they wish to take (choose from English, French, German, Italian or Portuguese).
  3. Entrance option: scientific-technological, health sciences, humanities, social sciences or arts.
  4. The optional subjects in which they wish to take exams (see section on Examination structure and content).

Cost of exam enrolment
The cost of enrolment for the university entrance exam for the over-25s is €84,85 (Large family Category 1: € 42.43, large family Category 2: € 0.00; in these cases a photocopy of the currently valid large family identity card must be attached).

Candidates enrolling via the Internet must make the payment following the instructions that found in the same web at the moment of the enrolment.

Candidates enrolling directly at Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia or Abat Oliba University CEU, will be informed on how to pay by the universities themselves.

Documents

  • Enrolment form plus a sworn statement (signed by the candidate) that the candidate meets the legal requirements to sit these exams
  • Original and photocopy of ID card/passport
  • Valid large family certificate, if applicable

Where to submit documents
Candidates taking the exam at any of the seven public universities or the University of Vic should submit documents in person or by post to the contact adresses:

  • University Entrance Examination Office (Oficina d'Organització de Proves d'Accés a la Universitat)
    Via Laietana, 33 2º-1ª. 08003 Barcelona. Tel. 93 552 69 80.
    Opening hours Monday to Friday, from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm.
    Department mailbox: coordinaciopau.sur@gencat.net
  • Universitat de Girona - Student Services and Admissions Section
    CIAE building - Campus Montilivi - 17071 Girona. Tel. 972 41 98 54.
    Opening hours Monday to Friday, from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm and Monday to Thursday, from 3.30 to 4.45 pm.
    Department mailbox: acces@udg.es
  • Universitat de Lleida - Academic administration office
    Pl. Víctor Siurana, 1. 25003 Lleida. Tel. 973 70 21 25.
    Opening hours Monday to Friday, from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm.
    Department mailbox: aga@aga.udl.es
  • Universitat Rovira i Virgili - Student Services
    Avinguda Països Catalans, 5-7. 43003 Tarragona. Tel. 977 55 86 08.
    Opening hours Monday to Friday, from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm.
    Department mailbox: mireia.ruana@urv.cat
  • Universitat de Vic - Academic Secretary
    Carrer Sagrada Família, 7. 08500 Vic. Tel. 93 881 55 16.
    Opening hours Monday to Thursday, from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 4.00 to 7.00 pm and Fiday from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 4.00 to 6.00 pm.
    Department mailbox: atencio.estudiant@uvic.es

Those candidates sending documents by post should include a certified photocopy of required documents.

Candidates taking the exam at Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia or Abat Oliba University CEU, should submit the documents at the universities themselves:

  • Ramon Llull University. (http://www.url.edu)
    Central administration. C. Claravall, 1-3. 08022 Barcelona.
    Opening hours 9.00 am - 1.30 pm and 4.00 to 6.00 pm.
  • International University of Catalonia. (http://www.uic.es)
    Admissions and Promotion Service. Iradier Campus. C. Immaculada, 22. 08017 Barcelona.
    Opening hours 9.00 am - 6.00 pm.
  • Abat Oliba University CEU. (http://www.uao.es)
    Academic Secretary. C. Bellesguard, 30. 08022 Barcelona.
    Opening hours 10.00 am - 1.00 pm and 3.00 - 5.00 pm.

Important
Enrolment for the entrance exam will not be valid if the candidate fails to make payment or to submit the required documents by 4 March.

Date and times of exams 2008
The university entrance exams for over-25s will be held on 19 and 26 April 2008.

19 April (Saturday)
Common test
9.00 - 9.30 am: verification of candidates’s details
9.30 - 11.30 am: commentary on a text
12.00 am - 1.30 pm: three language tests (Catalan, Spanish and foreign language).

26 April (Saturday)
Specific test
9.00 - 9.30 am: verification of candidates’s details
9.30 am - 1.00 pm: three tests on the subjects of the chosen option.

Exam venues
The venues for the entrance exams to the Catalan public universities and the University of Vic will be printed on the exam enrolment sheet.

Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia and Abat Oliba University CEU will inform candidates of the venue during enrolment.

On the day of the exam, candidates should show their ID card or passport and the printed copy of the enrolment form.

General rules

You are not allowed to bring any king of information to the exam (notes, books, etc.). You are not allowed to bring mobile phones to the exam.

Absolute silence and appropriate personal behaviour must be maintained at all times while the exams are in progress. The examination board is legally authorised to expel from the examination room any candidate who fails to do so, and to annul that candidate's exams.

When candidates arrive at the examination room on the first day, they will be given a set of adhesive bar code labels which identify each candidate and ensure anonymity in the marking process. Candidates must carefully stick two of these labels on each exam: one in the boxed area on the front of the answer booklet and the other on the back.

The chairman of the examination board will leave only one answer booklet for each exercise. Exam booklets must be handed in with the labels attached even if no answers have been completed (if any exam booklet is not handed in, it will not be possible to calculate an overall average for the examination).

Exercises for Catalan and Castilian language subjects and for other language subjects must be answered in the corresponding language.

Special Tribunal
A special central tribunal has been set up in Barcelona, for those candidates who provide adequate proof that they are unable to sit the exams on the Saturdays designated. The venue for this tribunal is given on the internet at https://accesnet.gencat.net.

The inability to sit an exam should be justified as follows:

  1. Prior to the exams
    Candidates who, on enrolling, provide proof of :
    • a disability that prevents them from taking the entrance exams by ordinary means and who require special personal attention  (by means of a certificate issued by the Institut Català d’Assistència i Serveis Socials (ICASS), specifying the degree and cause of the disability),
    • the inability to sit the exams on the Saturdays designated for legally established reasons (religious, work, etc.),
    may take the exams in circumstances adapted to suit their needs or before the Special Tribunal.

Candidates should request this via Internet at https://accesnet.gencat.net when enrolling, and submit the necessary documents as proof, and for their needs to be met within the period established for enrolment.

  1. Day of the exam
    Candidates unable to sit the exams on the dates and at the times designated, may request a transfer to the Special Tribunal. This transfer shall be made only for the exam or exams that have not been sat and for which the certificate is submitted, the remaining exams shall be taken at the time and on the Saturday designated. When applying proof should be provided of:
    • Illness, accident or indisposition of the candidate during the sitting of the exams.
      Documents to be submitted: original or attested copy of the certificate of admission to hospital or a medical certificate issued by the appropriate public health centre or emergency department of a public hospital specifying that the candidate is in no fit state to sit an exam on the date or for the number of days the doctor considers appropriate.
    • Death or urgent admission to hospital of a first or second-degree relative.
      Documents required: original or attested copy of the admission or death certificate.
    • Delay due to a traffic accident .
       Documents required: original or attested copy of a police certificate as proof.
    • Delay to due incidents on public transport.
      Documents required: original or attested copy of the certificate issued by the head of the relevant service (stationmaster, route supervisor or equivalent).
    Documents may be submitted :
    • on the Saturday to the Head of the Tribunal,
    • on the Monday following the exam at the University Entrance Examination Office

    Resolution of requests:
    On the Monday following each Saturday of the examination the requests received shall be resolved and the interested parties notified. These  candidates should go to Barcelona on 30 April, at the time designated for exams still to be sat.

Date and times of Special Tribunal exams
Special Tribunal exams will take place in Barcelona on 30 April (Wednesday) at the following times:

30 April (Wednesday)
9.00 - 9.30 am: verification of candidates' details .

Common test
9.30 - 11.30 am: commentary on a text
12.00 am - 1.30 pm: three language tests (Catalan, Spanish and foreign language).

Specific test
3.00 - 6.30 pm: three tests on the subjects of the chosen option .

Results and final mark
Thursday 15 May 2008.
Candidates who enrolled for the exam via Internet may enquire in the same way; other candidates should enquire at the place specified by each university.

  • Each exercise is marked on a scale of 1 to 10.
  • It is obligatory to complet and hand all the exercises to obtain the final mark.
  • In order to pass the entrance exam candidates must obtain a minimum of five points as their final mark.
  • The final mark is the result of the arithmetic mean of the overall mark of the general examination and the specific examination.
  • The mean cannot be obtained if either of the overall marks, of the general examination or the specific examination, is less than four points, therefore, in this case the candidate would fail.
  • The result of the text commentary exercise counts for 55% of the overall mark for the general examination, the Catalan language exercise 15%, the Spanish language exercise 15% and the foreign language exercise 15%.
  • The specific examination mark is the average of all three exercises.

Review of examinations
Candidates may request a review of results on 15, 16 and 19 May.

If the candidate took the exam at the public universities or the University of Vic, they may request a review via Internet at: https://accesnet.gencat.net, in the section University entrance exams for over-25s.

Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia and Abat Oliba University CEU, have their own exam review request form.

The questions for which a re-mark had been requested will be corrected by a different specialised teacher from the one who did the first correction. The new marks will be the result of the arithmetic mean of both corrections. These marks will replace the first set and, therefore, may be lower or higher that those given originally.

The decision concerning review will be made public on 6 June 2008.

University entrance. Pre-enrolment
Three percent of all programmes are reserved for candidates entering university via the entrance exam for over-25s.

Pre-enrolment in Catalan public universities and in the University of Vic
Candidates who wish to study at Catalan public universities or at the University of Vic, should apply for pre-enrolment via the Internet, at: http://accesnet.gencat.net in the section University pre-enrolment, in one of the following sections :

  • Candidates who have passed the university entrance exam for over-25s at any of the seven public universities or the University of Vic in the 2008 (if the entrance exams for over-25s have been taken at one of them).
  • Other students (if the entrance exams for over-25s have been passed to Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia or to Abat Oliba CEU University in the 2008).

Candidates can choose, in order of preference, up to eight study centres. The selection of candidates for places on each course is made according to the option in which they sat the exam, which gives priority access to university courses, and the final result of the entrance exam.

Candidates wishing to study Fine Arts, Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, Translation and Interpreting, Diploma in Commercial Aviation, Higher Diploma in Commercial Aviation (airline transport pilot), Higher Diploma in Cinema and Audiovisuals, Higher Diploma in International Trade and Higher Diploma in Aeronautical Business Administration and Aerial Operations, must also pass a personal aptitude test (PAP) for each course.

Enrolment for these aptitude tests can be taken via the Internet at https://accesnet.gencat.net on the dates set by each centre. Tests are carried out according to the schedule established by each centre. The PASS score (APTE) in each aptitude test, along with the final mark for the university entrance exam for over-25s, enables candidates to apply for a place on these courses.

Pre-enrolment for Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia and Abat Oliba CEU University
Candidates who have passed the university entrance exam for over-25s in the 2008 exam and want to enter Ramon Llull University, the International University of Catalonia or Abat Oliba CEU University should complete their pre-enrolment directly at the university in question.

Regulations
Royal Decree 743/2003, of 20 June, regulating the university entrance examination for over-25s. (Spanish Official Gazette number 159, July 4, 2003 - in Spanish).

Royal Decree 69/2000, of 21 January, regulating the university entrance selection process for students meeting the necessary legal requirements for university entrance. (Spanish Official Gazette number 19, January 22, 2000 - in Spanish).

 

Last updated: 20th November, 2007