Intermediate vocational training: preregistration and enrolment

What do you need to know?

This is the application to register individuals who wish to access intermediate-level training courses at a publicly funded school. Students wishing to register must be able to prove that they have certain qualifications or be at least 17 years of age and pass an entrance exam.

The training courses prepare students to practise various professions and provide the training needed to acquire the specific professional skills and knowledge for each sector. By passing the intermediate-level training course you gain a technical qualification. With this qualification you can access:

  • The baccalaureate.
  • An advanced-level course on the same pathway as the intermediate-level course.
  • The job market.

These levels of education can be studied in three different types of schools which make up the Spanish school system: state, private and chartered (private schools paid for with public funds):

  • Enrolment is free of charge for state schools, which are wholly financed by the Government.
  • Private schools are financed privately.
  • Finally, chartered schools are private schools which receive funding from the Government. Enrolment is also free of charge for chartered schools, although there may be fees and voluntary costs for extracurricular activities.

VERY IMPORTANT:

Only one application for preregistration may be submitted per person, but you can request admission to several schools, courses and sittings, which must always be in order of preference.

Please remember that if a school has more applications than places available, priority criteria are used to accept applications. There is a points system associated with the criteria which is used to make a draw to decide who is awarded the places.

In the event that you are not able to gain a place at any of the schools requested, please remember that there are a large number of private schools where you can enrol.

It is an essential process if you want access to specific professional training in a publicly funded school.

  • The courses are free of charge at schools coming under the Ministry of Education. For other schools, check the fee with the relevant school.
  • Submission of more than one application per course type invalidates any priority rights which may apply. 

Who does it apply to?

It is aimed at individuals who wish to study an intermediate-level training course and who fulfil the following conditions:

  • Holding the compulsory secondary education qualification or its equivalent for academic purposes.
  • Being 17 years of age or over (or having their 17th birthday during the year) and having passed the relevant entrance exam.

What requirements must be met?

The student wishing to register must be able to prove one of the following qualifications or studies:

  • The compulsory secondary education (ESO) completion qualification.
  • Qualification as a technician or assistant technician.
  • The qualification to access an advanced-level training course.
  • Have passed the specific course for access to intermediate-level training courses.
  • Other equivalent studies for academic purposes.

 

Individuals not fulfilling any of the above requirements will have to pass an entrance exam. You must be a minimum of 17 years of age to apply.

What do you need to do?

This formality can be processed online on the Government of Catalonia Ministry of Education website and following the instructions provided for submitting the preregistration application.

Before completing your application, you are recommended to consult the selected centre's website, for information about preregistration, the chosen subjects and how to carry out preregistration.

What steps must you follow?

ONLINE

STEP 1: Fill in the application form and gather the documentation
  • The application is submitted to the Generalitat's e-registry by means of an online form. 
  • In order to use the online form, you must identify yourself with a digital certificate. The procedure for submitting the online application ends with sending the form and no copy has to be submitted to the centre. 
  • The information and the application form are only available in Catalan and Spanish.
  • It is important that, in the application itself, you indicate, in order of preference, requests for admission to several schools so that there are more options in the event that your first choice is not given to you.
  • Before continuing, check and prepare the documents that are required for completing preregistration. 
STEP 2: Submit the original application form and the documentation
  • The online application is submitted to the Generalitat's e-registry. The procedure for submitting the online application ends with sending the acknowledgement by email, accompanied by the corresponding supporting documentation, to the official email address of your first-choice centre, within the established deadline for submitting those documents. 
  • To place the applications for admission in order, when a school has more applications than places available, the various access routes to the courses and the average mark for the studies or course or entrance exam are analysed.
  • The period for submission of applications and publication of the list of preregistration applications varies, depending on the year. 
STEP 3: Check whether the student has been admitted

Once the preregistration period has ended, you need to check the lists to see if the student has been admitted.

The lists can be checked by various means:

  • In person:
    • The school applied for as first choice.
  • Online:
STEP 4: If the student has been admitted, enrolment will be formalised

In the event that the student has been admitted, you need to formalise enrolment at the relevant school within the established time limit.

If you do not complete enrolment within the time limit set, you will be deemed to have relinquished the place.

Apart from the documents provided when you submitted the preregistration application, the schools may also request the following when you come to enrol:

  • A photocopy of the student's vaccination card showing the doses of vaccine received and their dates. If you do not have a vaccinations card, you need to submit an official medical certificate or the student’s health card showing the doses of vaccine received and the relevant dates. If the child has not been vaccinated on a doctor’s advice, or for other reasons, an official medical certificate justifying this must be submitted.
  • If appropriate, if it was not possible to submit it with the preregistration application, the renewed DNI with the new address.
  • Documentation attesting to any access requirements.

In the event that you are not able to gain a place at any of the schools requested, please remember that there are a large number of private schools in Barcelona where you can enrol.

Who can submit the application?

The application can be submitted as follows:

  • If the student is of legal age: the student himself or herself.
  • If the student is a minor: the student’s parents or guardians, in person, or by means of a representative.

What documentation is needed?

General documentation:

  • Preregistration application form.
  • Original and photocopy of the identity document of the person making the application (parents, guardians or de facto guardians).
    • In the case of foreign nationals: resident’s card showing the identity number for foreign nationals (NIE).
    • If you do not have a resident’s card, you can provide your passport or, in the case of a foreign national from a European Union country, the identity document from your country of origin.
    • In the case of Spanish nationals: Spanish national identity document (DNI).
  • Student’s individual healthcare card (TSI), if they have one.
  • If the student is a minor:
    • Original and photocopy of the family book, birth certificate or other documents relating to parentage, where the child’s name and date of birth and their relationship to the parents or guardians can be verified.
    • If the student is adopted or fostered, the documentation relating to the adoption or the ruling on fostering must be provided.

If there are more applications than places at the school, they are ordered depending on the various access routes to the courses (studies or course allowing access) and, within each route, according to the average marks for the studies, course or entrance exam:

  • Depending on the access route, the following place reservations are made:
    • Compulsory secondary education, or equivalent studies, completed: 60% reservation.
    • Initial professional qualification programme (PCPI): 20% reservation (students coming from basic professional training also have access).
    • Entrance exam (or exemption) or specific course entrance exam or other qualifications allowing access: 20% reservation. Students on training and employment access programmes who have passed the entrance exams, or have obtained exemption from taking them, gain access via this route and take part in the process with the mark obtained in the exam.
  • To get rid of tie situations after application of all the criteria, the result of the draw is applied. If all the relevant reserved places are not filled via one of the access routes, the unfilled places will be distributed proportionally among the other routes.
  • The accreditation document to be submitted is one of the following certificates:
    • Certificate of the average mark for the studies allowing access to the training courses.
    • Certificate of the entrance exam marks.
    • In the event that studies are in progress at the time when the application is submitted: certificate of the average mark for the studies which have already been definitively assessed.
    • In the event that compulsory secondary education has been completed: original and photocopy of the academic certificate showing the average mark for the course, or original and photocopy of page 27 of the basic education school record book (if the average mark for the period appears in numerical format).
    • Students from abroad must submit the document recognising their qualification. If there is no record of recognition, or a decision has not yet been reached, you can request a calculation of the average mark from the Ministry of Education. If it is not requested, or cannot be calculated within the time limit, it will be considered to be 5.
    • Individuals who have passed the university entrance exam for over-25s in the current year must submit a printed copy of the results via the relevant website (when enrolling, the certificate showing the exam was passed must be submitted to the school).

What does it cost?

The process is free of charge.

Want to know more?

Body responsible for the formality

In Barcelona: the Barcelona Education Consortium (body formed by Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat de Catalunya) and the Barcelona City Council Municipal Institute of Education.

Elsewhere: Catalan Ministry of Education (Generalitat de Catalunya-Government of Catalonia).

Further information

You can use the link to the official Barcelona Education Consortium website (only available in Catalan, but it does have Google Translate which means that the portal can be viewed in many languages).

Important linked formalities

Some examples of formalities which you may be asked to complete prior to preregistration and enrolment are set out below:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The procedures tend to change frequently. Therefore, only what is provided by the regulations in force at the time of carrying out the procedure in question is applicable.