UC3M (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) for international applicants: Bachelor entry in autumn 2027

International applicants reach a UC3M Bachelor through one of two main routes: the Madrid pre-enrolment with a UNED accreditation (ordinary call 5 to 26 June 2026 in the latest published calendar, with students from foreign education systems until 14:00h on 6 July) or UC3M's own Early Admission, whose application period runs 5 October 2026 until 2 April 2027.

Inside the Madrid pre-enrolment, the path depends on your school credential. Students from EU countries, IB, European Baccalaureate or countries with agreement need no Spanish university entrance exams if they meet the access requirements at home. Students from non-EU countries without an agreement pass UNED competence exams (PCE) to be able to apply in the ordinary call; both groups can also apply by Early Admission.

The Madrid pre-enrolment scores everyone out of up to 14 points. For students without resident status who are neither EU nationals nor from a country where the Community scheme applies, tuition for 2026/27 is 6,822.60 euros for a full year in the cheapest group of degrees, which includes Business Administration, Economics and Law, according to the fee page as of October 2026. Official starting point: UC3M international students page.

UC3M Leganés campus

The Bachelors covered in this guide are taught on three campuses: Business Administration at Getafe and Colmenarejo, Economics at Getafe, Law at Getafe and Colmenarejo, and Computer Science and Engineering at Leganés and Colmenarejo.

Each of these programmes lasts 4 years (240 ECTS credits). Language of instruction differs: Business Administration has an English option that is only available on the Getafe Campus; Economics can be fully studied in English; Computer Science and Engineering offers a bilingual option on the Leganés campus.

Aerospace Engineering also appears in UC3M's cut-off table (see the cut-off chapter). Programme pages: Business Administration, Economics, Law, Computer Science and Engineering.

Your school credential decides the route: EU, IB, European Baccalaureate and agreement-country holders use the general Madrid process without the Spanish university entrance exams, other non-EU holders go through UNED competence exams, and Early Admission is open to students from systems other than the Spanish one.

The agreement countries named by UC3M are Colombia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Andorra and China. Applicants use the pre-enrolment application and can list up to 12 degrees at Madrid's public universities in order of preference.

If you hold an EU school credential, the IB, the European Baccalaureate or a credential from an agreement country, UC3M says you can access university in Spain without the Spanish university entrance exams once you meet the access requirements in your country.

Your access qualification is the grade of your high school studies, transferred to the Spanish system of 10 points. This grade also appears in your UNED accreditation, which you request from UNED Assis: the admission score for the Spanish university, with optional PCE exams or Recognition of Subjects.

To raise the score toward the maximum, UC3M considers the two better analysed courses among passed courses in your home country's university entrance exam or high school final exam (they must appear on the UNED credential) and in the UNED competence tests. The baccalaureate modality does not have to appear in the UNED accreditation for a UC3M application, but other universities may require the UNED competence tests to improve the grade, so check each university. Details: UC3M page for EU, IB, EB and agreement-country students.

Non-EU applicants without an agreement need their studies recognised to the Spanish system by the Spanish Ministry of Education, and pass UNED PCE exams to be able to apply in the first deadline of the Madrid pre-enrolment.

To apply in the first deadline you need a UNED accreditation with the modality of your baccalaureate, and to get it you have to pass at least 3 UNED Competence tests. The access qualification is built 60% from your high school GPA and 40% from the PCE grades, using the formula (0.2xNMB +4) + (0.1xM1) + (0.1xM2) + (0.1xM3) + (0.1xM4).

The admission grade then adds up to four more points: Access Grade + (M1x0.1 o 0.2) + (M2x0.1 o 0.2). The PCE grades count twice, once in the access grade and once in the improvement. Without the modality, the Madrid pre-enrolment leaves you the extraordinary call in July, and then only for degrees with free places after the general distribution; UC3M says it expects no free places after the distribution in September. Early Admission is a separate option if you meet its requirements.

Sources: UC3M non-European students page and admission requirements and grades.

Everyone in the Madrid pre-enrolment competes on a score of up to 14 points: up to 10 points for the access qualification and up to 4 points for improvement.

The improvement comes from your best subjects. UC3M uses the two grades that give the best result, weighted by 0.1 or 0.2 according to a weighting table that depends on the degree. UC3M publishes the weighting of courses for course 2027/28 on its weighting factors page, which also links an admission grade simulator.

To see how this score compares with past admissions, the cut-off chapter below lists the latest published cut-off marks.

Early Admission is UC3M's own route for students from systems other than the Spanish one: 90% of the decision rests on your grades and 10% on other accredited academic merits.

It is aimed at students who have or are about to obtain studies equivalent to the Spanish Baccalaureate. A Board appointed by the Chancellor resolves the admission. This route covers 8% of the total offer of places, so UC3M points applicants who want to compete for all the places, or for an excluded degree, to the general June process.

It covers any Bachelor or Dual Degree except the 4U Alliance Degrees and the International Dual Bachelor degrees. For EU, IB, EB and agreement-country credentials, applicants must not reside in Spain at the time of their studies. Official page: What is Early Admission.

The Early Admission window on the page as of October 2026 runs 5 October 2026 until 2 April 2027, the fee is 150 euros for up to two degrees, and places are filled as the process progresses.

Apply early: once a degree runs out of spare places it is not offered any longer. The application is submitted only online with scanned copies of the required documents. You can also apply through the Common Application, which costs $150.

Documents and language proof for Early Admission

The documents include your ID or passport, the academic certificate of the last two years of school, a motivation letter and a language certificate. If you are in the IB, you must also attach the Final Predicted Grades. For a degree fully taught in English or bilingual, an official certificate of at least B2 is asked for if English is not your native language; for a degree fully taught in Spanish or bilingual, an official title of at least B2 in Spanish if Spanish is not your native language. Without the official certificate, UC3M lets you fill in a responsible statement of languages (declaración responsable) instead. SAT, ACT or other standardized test grades, or merits such as MUN, are optional extras. See how to request Early Admission.

The latest published Madrid pre-enrolment calendar (2026/27) had an ordinary call 5 to 26 June 2026 (for students from foreign education systems, until 14:00h on 6 July 2026) and an extraordinary call 20 to 24 July 2026; those dates are in the past, and the 2027 calendar has not been published on the page as of October 2026.

Missing paperwork costs a place: without the documentation your pre-enrolment is not validated. Watch the UC3M pre-enrolment page for the 2027 dates.

The 2026/27 cut-off marks for the programmes below range from 10.445 (Computer Science Engineering, Colmenarejo) to 13.322 (Aerospace Engineering); these are marks out of 14, and UC3M says they are only indicative for the academic year 2027/28.

Group 1 means students with the Spanish entrance exam, professional training or the international accreditation given by UNED Assis, which is the group international school leavers applying through the Madrid pre-enrolment fall into. A cut-off mark is the score of the last admitted applicant in a past round, not a minimum you can rely on. Page: UC3M cut-off grades.

For international school leavers, the routes above run on grades, UNED accreditation and, for non-EU applicants without an agreement who apply in the ordinary call, the UNED PCE exams: at least 3 UNED Competence tests for the baccalaureate modality.

Early Admission does not require an entrance exam (if you took university entrance exams at home, you attach them); it lists SAT, ACT or other standardized test grades as optional merits. The scores that count most are your school grades: 90% of the decision.

If your nationality or studies come from a non-Spanish-speaking country and you want a degree taught in Spanish, you must accredit Spanish at B2 or higher on the CEFR scale.

UNEDasiss validates the B2, or you submit a DELE, SIELE, Official School of Languages certificate, or a certificate from a Madrid public university language centre. Pre-enrolment applicants who need it, see UC3M language requirements.

UC3M makes English a graduation condition in its current Bachelor study plans: the university requires a B2 level of English to obtain the degree, which you can show at any time during the studies.

Another way: passing 60 credits taught in the English groups at UC3M accredits B2 automatically. The programme pages repeat it: a B2 level of English must be accredited before finishing the studies. This is separate from the B2 proof Early Admission asks for when you apply to an English-taught or bilingual degree. Page: English B2 certificates at UC3M.

The table sets the Bachelors in this guide side by side: duration, campus, language of instruction and the latest published cut-off.

Check the language of each group on the programme page before you apply; the Spanish B2 requirement applies to Spanish-taught degrees.

Students without resident status who are neither EU nationals nor from a country where the Community scheme applies pay 113.71 euros per credit for Type 3 degrees, which include Business Administration, Economics and Law; that is 6,822.60 euros in tuition for a full year of first enrolment in 2026/27, the latest published, plus extra fees.

UC3M charges this scale to international students without resident status; students from EU countries or from countries where the Community scheme applies pay the standard prices in the next chapter, and the residence permit granted to foreign students is not equal to residency status. The table shows tuition only; the extra fees in the next chapter come on top. Fees are set by the Comunidad de Madrid. Page: UC3M fees for non-EU students.

Students who are Spanish nationals, nationals of an EU member state, or hold a valid residence permit in Spain (the residence permit granted to foreign students does not count) pay the lower public prices: 16.92 euros per credit for Type 3 degrees in first enrolment, 1,015.20 euros for a full year in 2026/27.

These prices apply to Spanish and EU nationals and to people with a valid residence permit in Spain. The non-EU fee page adds students from countries where the Community scheme applies, and says the residence permit granted to foreign students is not equal to residency status. Type 2 degrees cost 19.43 euros per credit in first enrolment (1,165.80 euros for the year).

On top of tuition come an administrative fee of 6.11 €, school insurance and, for new students, a fee for opening a file. The total to be paid cannot be less than 350 euros. You can pay in four installments. Page: UC3M tuition fees.

These are UC3M's own estimates for a student in Madrid. The page is undated, so treat the figures as indicative; they depend on the area and the type of housing, and the rows are separate examples, not a sum. For exchange students, UC3M's 2026/27 fact sheet puts living expenses in Madrid, including a shared apartment, food and transportation, at around 700 to 800 euros a month. If you prefer a residence hall, UC3M's Fernando de los Ríos hall in Getafe, on a page for the 2026/27 admissions, lists 535 euros for a double room and 745 euros for a single room for accommodation only, and 895 euros for a double room with full board, per person per month, VAT not included. Pages: UC3M cost of living, UC3M exchange fact sheet 2026/27, Fernando de los Ríos residence hall.

For entry in autumn 2027, the first window on the page is Early Admission, open from 5 October 2026 to 2 April 2027; the Madrid ordinary call is expected around June, based on the previous cycle (5 to 26 June 2026, with students from foreign education systems until 14:00h on 6 July).

Official pages of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, UCAS, gov.uk and the ranking publishers. Applicant reports, where shown, are self-reported and labelled.

https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/international-students/early-admission/deadline · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/international-students/early-admission/application · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/grades-requirements · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/business-administration · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/language-requirements · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/enrollment/prices/non-eu · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/preinscription · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/international-students/eu-students · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/economics · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/computer-science · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/international-students/early-admission/what-is · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/international-students/non-european · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/weighting-factors · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/cutt-off-grades · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/language/b2 · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/law · https://www.uc3m.es/bachelor-degree/admission/application/enrollment/prices · Social cost life | UC3M · UC3M FACT SHEET FOR INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE STUDENT ACADEMIC YEAR 2026/2027 · Colegio Mayor Getafe - Fernando de los Ríos UC3M

Photos: UC3M Getafe campus, panorama: photo Antonio Tajuelo from España, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons · UC3M Leganés campus: photo Zarateman, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons