Educator information

You are here: Home | For Educators | Educator information

Countries and Type of Studies Preferred by Spanish Students

SpainExchange conducted a survey in March of 2000 during an education fair in Madrid. The purpose of the survey was to identify the level of interest among Spanish students regarding studies in countries outside of Spain. A questionnaire was designed addressing the following issues:

Interest in studying outside of Spain
Types of studies to pursue: languages, undergraduate degrees, or graduate programs.
Countries of preference to complete such studies.
Resources used to learn about education opportunities abroad (education fairs, the schools' international offices, etc).

Four young persons hired for that purpose conducted the survey. The respondents to the survey were randomly selected among persons attending AULA 2000. All the respondents were students and young professionals.

Demographic Information

A total of 548 persons were interviewed. Of them 381 responded that they planned to study abroad. One hundred and sixty seven respondents were not interested in pursuing studies outside of Spain. Of those interested in learning in other countries, 242 were females and 139 males. One hundred and ninety six of these students were between the ages of 14 and 18 years, 164 between 19 and 25 and 21 were older than 25. Regarding their level of education, 209 students had completed secondary education, 135 were higher education graduates, and 37 were attending secondary schools. Click to view the data.

Preferred Programs Abroad

The results of the survey show that there is strong interest among students from Spain in learning languages and completing degree programs in other countries-69.53% of the students surveyed were planning to pursue some type of studies abroad. Of them 51.27% wish to study languages. English was the preferred language followed by French, German and Italian. Regarding degree programs, 25.41% were interested in pursuing undergraduate studies, and 7.85% were interested in graduate programs. The rest of the students wished to obtain internships and work experience abroad.

Preferred Countries

Regarding countries where to pursue their studies, the United Kingdom was the preferred country to learn English followed closely by the United States. A majority of students preferred the USA to complete their undergraduate and graduate programs. Other countries of preference were France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. The total responses collected include double answers in many cases. Many students wished to study both a language and an academic program abroad. In many cases, students wished to study in several countries and in more than one language.

Preferred Sources of Information

To learn about education opportunities abroad, Spanish students will do so in a variety of ways. However, the Ministry of Education and Internet seem to be the preferred sources of information according to the survey. Other ways to find information are agencies, the students University's International Office, the Office of European Programs, newspapers and magazines, friends and relatives, and embassies. Click to view the results.