Instructions for managing applications requesting the equivalence of average marks Spanish Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation General Coordination 1 28/05/2013
INDEX 1. Introduction... 3 2. General Aspects... 3 3. Submit a request... 5 4. Correcting applications... 11 5. Provisional equivalence... 12 6. Obtaining the equivalence... 13 7. Consulting applications... 15 General Coordination 2 28/05/2013
1. Introduction The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) provides a service to calculate the equivalent average marks for university studies completed abroad, for those cases where such equivalence is necessary in order to be able to apply for a position based on a competitive process. In order to handle your application, the following portal has been provided, http://notasmedias.aneca.es, so that, if you would like ANECA to provide the equivalent of your average marks completed at a university abroad, you can apply through the said portal by creating a user account. In order to do this, follow the steps outlined in this document. The cost for each equivalence request will be 20 euros plus VAT; payment will be via PayPal, using the link that appears on the portal http://notasmedias.aneca.es, as explained in this document. 2. General Aspects All the documentation that must be provided with the application must be in pdf format, allowing the images to be copied as these will be included in the certificate stating the average mark. The documents that must be submitted must be official, with signatures and seals from the competent authorities, electronic signature or other secure verification system. The average mark will not be provided in the case of documents with low quality images or images that are only partially scanned or damaged. In the case of applicants who have conducted their studies in more than one university, a separate request must be made for each academic certificate they hold. The subjects or credits that have been approved, transferred, or passed through an equivalence process in which the original mark is not indicated will be considered as having a literal qualification of "pass" and the minimum mark of "5". If an academic certification with the qualification of origin is available, it can be provided as proof of studies completed at another university and it will be computed with the corresponding equivalent mark. There are two options to request equivalent average marks: o o Individual average mark equivalence: equivalence of a single study certificate, whether the studies have been finished or not. Overall average mark equivalence: for cases with more than one individual equivalence. General Coordination 3 28/05/2013
Therefore, when there is, for example, more than one individual equivalence for several partial studies, the overall average mark can be requested; in addition, it is possible to request the overall average mark for undergraduate studies plus a master's degree. ANECA may not be held liable regarding the accuracy and authenticity of any of the documents submitted to obtain the average mark equivalence. This is the sole responsibility of the user, who must attach the official transcript object of the present equivalence, or a duly certified copy thereof, in the case of competitive processes where this is requested. The equivalences are valid for any competitive procedure which expressly requests them. Their validity is permanent. They will only expire in the event of changes in the equivalence table after any irregularities have been detected or reasons to adjust the percentages for obtaining Spanish qualifications; in the latter case, renovations will be free and the applicant will be notified in time. Manipulations or misrepresentations in the documents and credentials required to obtain the equivalent average mark, as well as any tampering with the certificate indicating the marks obtained, may lead to criminal, civil or administrative proceedings, and, if necessary, if so considered by the body responsible for the relevant competitive process, to the cancellation of the application submitted by the candidate. The body responsible for the competitive procedure that receives an equivalence document from ANECA, may verify the average marks indicated therein via the mechanism that has been established for this purpose in the portal http://notasmedias.aneca.es, in the Help section. The said section will include an updated list of the equivalence granted, indicating the ID of each one, with their corresponding average marks but without indicating any personal data of the applicants. Equivalences previously issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport have lost their validity as the scales and standardization procedure have changed. General Coordination 4 28/05/2013
3. Submit a request In order to apply for the calculation of the average mark, you must access the website, http://notasmedias.aneca.es. The home screen of the application will display the following options: Help: This tab provides documents on how the portal works and the steps required to perform the different operations. In addition, in the "Equivalence list" section, an updated list of equivalences granted will be published on a periodical basis, indicating the ID of each one and the relevant average marks. Submit an application: In this tab, you may submit your application. Review applications: You may check the status of your applications at any time as well as the history of requests submitted. In order to submit a new application, you must click on the "Submit an application" option, which will take you to the form you must duly fill-in (remember that the fields with an asterisk are required fields). General Coordination 5 28/05/2013
APPLICATION DATA: The information to be stated and/or specified on the form includes the following: 1. Personal data: Surname, Name, ID Num. or Foreigner ID or Passport, E- mail. 2. There are two average mark options and you must choose one of them: Equivalence of individual average mark: equivalence of a single certificate, indicating individual marks and the average final mark in the scale of the country, in the Spanish scale from 1-4 and in the Spanish scale from 5-10. Overall average mark equivalence: equivalence for more than one degree or partial studies, indicating the joint average marks of degrees, such as, degree + master. You can only select this option if you already have more than one individual equivalence. 3. Academic details: Programme degree. Indicate in Spanish. University where the programme degree was obtained. Country of the university. Type of programme degree. You must choose between these two options: - Bachelor degree - Postgraduate studies Official duration of the studies. You must choose between these five options: - 1 year < 2 years - 2 year < 3 years - 3 year < 4 years - 4 year < 5 years - 5 years or more Finished studies? Indicate YES if you have finished the said studies at the stated university and for the stated programme degree. Partial studies? Indicate YES if the certificate attached is for part of the studies taken and finalised but not all of the studies, i.e. you have previous studies from another university or transfer credits. General Coordination 6 28/05/2013
Start date of the studies: month and year when you started the studies. End date of studies: month and year when you finished the last subject or requirement before obtaining the degree. Do you have the degree? Please specify YES or NO. Date when you obtained the degree. Degree approved by MECD? Please specify YES or NO. No. of approval credentials. Approval of Bachelor degree/degree: Data on the programme degree are not required when requesting the equivalence of the overall average mark. In that case, you must select the appropriate option on the form, adding the ID of the equivalence of the individual average marks granted previously and contained in the header of the certifying document for the said equivalences. 4. Enter the purpose for requesting this equivalence: Competitive procedure for which you have requested the average mark (grant, aid, access to university, civil service entrance exam, etc.). It is important to indicate exactly the procedure you will be applying for (examples: Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, Teacher Training Grant, Access to University for undergraduates, Complutense University, University Access for UNED Master studies, Junta de Andalucia Civil Service Exam, Teachers, etc..). 5. Documents to be submitted: At the end of the form, if requesting an individual average mark equivalence, users must attach the following documents: 5.1 Full official certificates scanned (e.g. school record, analytical record, marks, academic transcript, academic record, releve de notes, etc.), indicating all the marks obtained throughout the studies object of the equivalence process. The official academic certificate must meet the following conditions: It must be a single PDF file with a maximum size not exceeding 10 MB. The document should allow copying of images, since they will be included in the average mark equivalence certificate. The academic transcript must be official, with signatures and seals or electronic signature that can be verified before the relevant authorities. 5.2 If the academic certification is not written in Spanish, English, French, Italian or Portuguese, it must be accompanied by a sworn translation in the same file. General Coordination 7 28/05/2013
5.3 In addition, you must also attach, where applicable, the following documents: 5.3.1 Official degree. If you have obtained the degree but you have not physically received it yet, please attach the provisional degree or proof from the university certifying you have obtained it. 5.3.2 Approval credential from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. If these documents are not attached, it shall be deemed that the applicant has not obtained the degree and this will be stated in the document certifying the average mark. 6. Remember that no average mark equivalence certificates will be granted if the quality of the images in the applications submitted do not allow the calculation of the average mark. Once you complete the form, click "Send". The following message will then appear: As a requirement to continue processing your request, you must confirm the email address you entered in the previous form. For this purpose, after submitting the request, you will receive an e-mail similar to the following one: which will ask you to click on an attached link in order to continue. General Coordination 8 28/05/2013
Once you have accessed the link, you will see the following screen: where you must choose a password to access this website. These credentials will be the ones used in the future if you wish to submit further applications or consult existing processes. Therefore, it is important you remember them. Once you have selected a password, you will receive a new email which will indicate the status of your application: As the last step to manage your application, remember to pay the price for the said service (20 euros + VAT). The managing body may not proceed to calculate the equivalent average mark until it has received the corresponding payment In order to pay, you must log-in to the website (http://notasmedias.aneca.es), where, if you have logged-in correctly (you will see your name in the top right-hand corner), you will see a new tab, Payment. General Coordination 9 28/05/2013
Click on it and fill-in the data requested. In the "Enter application number" field, you must enter the number of your application. You can find this number in the e-mail received or directly in "Check your existing requests". Once the payment has been made and after it has been verified by the managing body, you will receive an email indicating that the payment has been received: At this moment, the calculation of your average mark equivalence request will commence. REMEMBER: THE MANAGING BODY WILL NOT PROCEED TO CALCULATE THE EQUIVALENT AVERAGE MARK UNTIL IT HAS RECEIVED THE CORRESPONDING PAYMENT. General Coordination 10 28/05/2013
4. Correcting applications If the documents or data listed in the steps above regarding the application are incomplete or defective, you will be required via email to solve the issue. You must then access the website again and log-in with your credentials using the link attached in the mail and proceed to solve the issue indicated. Then click on the "Send" button. NOTE: DO NOT check "Consider this request as resolved" box (this option will only be used when you voluntarily want to cancel the processing your application and provided you have not submitted the payment). IMPORTANT: General Coordination 11 28/05/2013
1. ANECA may request any documentation it deems necessary to verify any of the information regarding studies indicated in the application. 2. The deadline to solve any issues with your application will be 15 calendar days, after the deadline, if the issues have not been solved, it will be understood that you have withdrawn your application and the management body will be notified of this fact. 3. However, if the applicant concerned does not solve the issue but the managing body considers that the said solution does not affect the calculation of the equivalent average mark, it will continue with the process and issue, in due course, the document certifying the equivalence; indicating, in the comments section, any data that have not been accredited by the applicant. Once the issue has been solved, the process will proceed to calculate the equivalent average mark. 5. Provisional equivalence Once all documents and data have been processed by the managing body, it will calculate the equivalent average mark, for which task it will have a period of 15 working days from the moment that everything has been verified as correct. After calculating the equivalent average mark, a provisional mark will be posted on the application and you will be notified of this fact through an e-mail similar to the following: General Coordination 12 28/05/2013
You must access the application using your user account and verify that all the data entered in the provisional document are correct. IMPORTANT: EQUIVALENCE TABLE IS NOT REVISABLE. Pay special attention to the mark scale used in your equivalence; using the wrong scale can lead to significant changes in your average mark and to its subsequent cancellation. You will have a period of five calendar days in order to verify and notify the management body. If that deadline passes without having confirmed your provisional mark, it will be deemed that you agree with it and the procedure to provide you with the final equivalent average mark document will continue. To confirm the provisional document or request an amendment to any part of it if you consider a mistake has been made, you may answer the e-mail received or use the link attached to the said e-mail, where you must indicate whether you agree with the provisional document or not. REMEMBER: DO NOT check "Consider this request as resolved" box (this option will only be used when you voluntarily want to cancel the processing your application and provided you have not submitted the payment). After confirming the provisional document, you will be provided with the final equivalent average mark, which you may download from the portal using your user account, as described in the following section. Note that the PROVISIONAL DOCUMENT has no official value and cannot be submitted to any agency or entity. 6. Obtaining the equivalence Once you have confirmed the provisional equivalent average mark, you will receive an email informing you that your certificate has been processed and that you may log-in to the website to view the status of your application and download it the relevant document/s in pdf format. General Coordination 13 28/05/2013
IMPORTANT: 1. The rating scales are prepared taking into account the percentage of each pass in a given country and the scale of the country of the interested party compared with the percentage for obtaining them in Spain on a scale from 5.0-10.0, in accordance with the Resolution of July 16, 2008 of the Directorate General of Universities, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, establishing the criteria to be applied for calculating the average mark of students' academic records of approved foreign degrees. The average percentage distribution of university studies in Spain is: PASS 5-6.9 MERIT 7-8.9 DISTINCTION 9-10 HONOURS 9-10 * 51.06 35.49 11.19 2.26 * Art. 5.6 of Royal Decree 1125/2003, of 5th September, that sets out the European Credit system and grading system for official university qualifications and their validity in the national territory, establishes: That an "Honours" degree may be awarded to students who have obtained marks equal to or greater than 9.0. Their number will not exceed five per cent of the students enrolled in a subject in the relevant academic year, unless the number enrolled is less than 20, in which case only one "Honours" may be granted. The average marks resulting from this distribution are: Scale 0-4 = 1.65 Scale 0-10 = 6.94 In the case of scales in which the highest passing grade in the country and the scale of the candidate exceeds 5%, indicated in the Spanish rating system as the maximum, the highest rating in the Spanish 5.0-10 scale would be as follows: 9.00 on a 5.0-10 scale and 3.00 on a 1-4 scale where the maximum passing grade is equal to or greater than 20% 9.25 on a 5.0-10 scale and 3.00 on a 1-4 scale where the maximum passing grade is >=15% and <20% 9.50 on a 5.0-10 scale and 3.00 on a 1-4 scale where the maximum passing grade is >=10% and <15% 9.75 on a 5.0-10 scale and 3.00 on a 1-4 scale where the maximum passing grade is >=5% and <10% General Coordination 14 28/05/2013
2. The average mark is calculated on all subjects or credits passed or obtained during the studies, regardless of the calculation carried out by the university of origin. 3. The calculation will be weighted by credits only if these are clearly indicated as such in the certificate and for all subjects passed; otherwise all subjects will have the same unit weight. 4. The average numerical rating scale of the country of the programme degree is indicated with two decimal places rounded to the last decimal; it is calculated multiplying credits or subjects by their marks and dividing the sum of the products between the total amount of credits or subjects with a grade. If the average mark does not match that on the certificate even though all the marks entered are correct, it should be because the system used by the university of origin to calculate that mark differs from the one listed here. 5. Do not forget that any manipulations or misrepresentations in the documents and credentials required to obtain the equivalent average mark, as well as any tampering with the certificate indicating the marks obtained, may lead to criminal, civil or administrative proceedings, and, if necessary, if so considered by the body responsible for the relevant competitive process, to the cancellation of the application submitted by the candidate. When you download the document with the equivalence, you must ensure that all the data included on it are correct. If you think there is any mistake or if you do not agree with the outcome, you may file a CLAIM within 1 month from the date of the e-mail notifying that the equivalence has been processed. To file your claim, you can reply to the e-mail send with your final equivalence or use the link that is attached to the said e-mail. 7. Consulting applications Once your application has been submitted, you can obtain information on its status via the portal. After logging-in at http://notasmedias.aneca.es, click on the Revise existing applications option, where you may view the notes submitted by the external expert who is processing your application. Furthermore, you may add new comments to your application, which will be viewed by the personnel managing the application. This provides bi-directional communications between you as the applicant and ANECA. General Coordination 15 28/05/2013