Breathe
By Aideé Zamorano
Being Mexican is a superpower. The Mexican women who are trying to study and/or aspire to a doctorate in Europe are academically and professionally very prepared. The studies in the country of the tricolor flag are of quality, the State recognizes them and they can be valid internationally. Not all schools on the other side of the Atlantic can boast that.
I arrived in Spain in September 2024. I had invested money and time to pursue a master's degree in communication at a reputable private school (or so I was sold). I left my country confident in my purchase decision but soon discovered that the school has no official recognition, the academic quality leaves much to be desired and my "degree" turned out not to be valid outside those four walls. What I planned as a year of professional growth could become a Netflix series.
My experience is not an isolated case. The mode of operation is the same: Private centers run aggressive recruitment campaigns on social networks that promise you exclusive scholarships, amazing internships or visa facilities, but many times it is just misleading advertising.
In Spain, educational regulations distinguish between two types of master's degrees: university master's degrees, which are recognized by the Ministry of Universities, and private master's degrees, which each institution awards on its own without official state recognition or quality regulation. The latter may offer useful training, perhaps, but they do not grant a university degree that is valid outside the center that offers it. In practice, this means that a non-university master's degree does not give you access to a doctorate in Spain, nor does it allow you to compete for public jobs, or to obtain the equivalence of your degree before the SEP in Mexico. A waste of money as we say in Mexico.
Unfortunately, many foreigners are not aware of this difference when registering, there are owners of companies (the so-called schools) that are making a killing at the expense of the aspirations of students and the loopholes in the Spanish regulations. We let ourselves be dazzled by bombastic names thinking that in a European country every master's degree would have a guarantee of quality and validity.
If an institution does not fulfill what it promised you in writing or by word of mouth, you have the right to complain. You have to remember that private schools are a business and not an immigration office. So when they threaten to take away your visa and your partner is migrant loneliness, remember that your right to complain as a consumer is not contingent on your immigration status.
Subscribe to read the full column...
