The nerves that these days are upsetting the more than 40,000 students who take the university entrance exams (PAU) in Catalonia this week do not correspond to the reality of being excluded from the degree requested in public centers.
Nerves, supposes, perhaps, another type of test, perhaps initiatory to adulthood, but not a test of level of knowledge (the teachers have already qualified them with the baccalaureate note). And it’s not the meaning. The PAUs order the access of students to universities based on their grade.
The selectivity in Catalonia is usually passed by between 95 and 97 percent of those presented and statistics indicate that most enter one of the degrees requested.
In the year 2022, in the first allocation of places, 30% of the races (159 of the 538) did not require any entry note. Mostly they are the careers of arts and humanities, social and legal sciences and quite a few engineering. With a 5 it was enough for them to enroll.
With a note between 5 and 10 there were 210 degrees; and between 10 and 12, another 148. The greatest pressure is usually exerted by the degree programs that require a grade higher than 12 or 13, which requires a good baccalaureate and a PAU, with its electives, with a very high grade. But even in this highly competitive time slot, the races have a cut-off mark in July and a different one in October, after the last assignment. Sometimes they are tenths, other times whole points.
allocation process
As of July 12, when the cut-off marks are known, the first process for assigning places begins. The student who obtains the first preference has no problem, he enrolls. On the other hand, the student assigned between the second and eighth preference has two options: either enroll or wait for the second assignment to see if she improves (and a place is reserved for her). After the third assignment, even if you have enrolled in the second, the alert “Continue in the process of assigning places” can be activated. The list is running with resignations and vacancies until the end.
big falls
The most striking case of difference in points is that of biomedical engineering at the UdG, which started with 11,067, and ended with 5,894, more than five points apart. The same formation in the URV fell 4 points. ADE and Law of the UAB or Advertising, public relations and marketing of the UB, also head the list of losses (as seen in the attached graph). Biomedicine, at UVic, with a grade above 11, also fell more than 3 points.
the greatest pressure
The highest pressure is naturally between the highest notes. With a grade higher than 13 there were only 7 degrees last year: three doubles (Physics and Mathematics from the UB and the UAB, and Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the UB); three medicines (UB clÃnic and Bellvitge and UPF) and Mathematics from the UPC. All majors are in the areas of science, health sciences, and engineering and architecture. And they ask for centers in Barcelona. Of these 7 grades, only one did not lower the cut-off grade in the entire assignment process: UPC Mathematics, which asked for a 13,254 and all the students accepted immediately. In this degree of “excellence” only 55 students enter.
Those who did not succeed had the option of choosing between the same training at the UAB, the UB or double degrees with Data Sciences or ADE. And, of course, other faculties outside of Catalonia or formations of similar degrees.
The remaining six degrees dropped grades, including Physics and Mathematics at the UAB, the highest grade of all Catalan degrees, which only 20 students access (from 13,536 to 13,486). This is close to enrollment in high school and in the PAU. But of these seven top degrees, three ended up requiring grades lower than 13 in the last assignment. These are the three public medicines in Barcelona (UB, UAB and UPF), which offered in 2022, together, some 319 places.
This year, students who want to study Medicine next year have increased their options because more places are offered. Catalonia has increased its offer by 12%, reaching 1,340 first-year places, of which 1,100 are from public universities and 230 from the University of Vic (Uvic) and the International University of Catalonia (UIC).
Why aren’t places open?
If there are studies in high demand such as Medicine, the double degree in Physics and Mathematics or Psychology (which this year loses fifty places at the UB that wants to reduce groups to improve quality), why not new vacancies open? With four more chairs…
The Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya points out that not only chairs are needed. Aspects such as labor demand, the level of dropout in that degree and the capacity of the university to impart a degree play a role.
Each career goes through a verification of their studies that evaluates specific data to be able to teach the specific degree, such as the capacity of the classrooms available to the university, the number of professors (in different categories), the necessary laboratories or workshops, as well as the Confirmed practices in companies, necessary to graduate in these studies.
In general, students drop out of the grade between 15% and 25% in the first year. There are races that exceed this abandonment, so it would not be optimal to increase the places just because of an attractive start.
Finally, any increase must be approved by the AQU quality agency. A system that ensures quality assurance but reduces flexibility.
Test schedule
They are held on June 7, 8, 9 in 211 courts established throughout Catalonia. All public Catalan campuses and several private ones.
The Court of Incidents is constituted to solve imponderable problems that have affected the students (accident, justified delay or illness) one week after the ordinary call, and only if necessary.
On June 22, the results are published electronically. If you do not agree, you can verify or review the exams. Exam reviews are scheduled in the following days. And the results are known at the beginning of July
Students will know if they have been assigned the place of their choice before July 12. The students with the best grade occupy the existing places. It is a first allocation of places.
