Title necessary for access to Bodies of Subgroup A1 in which regulated professions are exercised.

In this consultation, it is considered what title is necessary for access to Bodies of Subgroup A1 in which regulated professions are exercised.

Likewise, and for a call for a position of Technician for which the degree of Degree, Bachelor, Engineering or Architecture is required in a generic way: if there is the possibility of access for people who do not have the Degree, but do have a Technical Engineering and a Master enabling to exercise one of the regulated professions of Engineer.

It is necessary, first of all, to determine the competence regime in this matter.

Thus, the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports is the ministerial department responsible for official qualifications; it is also responsible for establishing, where appropriate, the corresponding equivalencies between qualifications.

On the other hand, the regime of regulated professions is the competence of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

Once this point has been clarified, and without prejudice to what these ministerial departments could finally report, the following should be indicated:

Article 76 and the third transitional provision of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees (TRLEBEP), approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, regulate the qualification requirements for entry as civil servants in the service of Public Administrations.

Specifically, for access to the Bodies or Scales of Group A – Subgroups A1 and A2 – it provides that: “You will be required to hold a Bachelor’s degree. In those cases in which the Law requires another university degree, this will be taken into account.”

Therefore, according to the precept transcribed, for admission to Group A, Subgroup A1 and Subgroup A2, the university degree of Degree or, where appropriate, that other university degree required by law must be held.

In addition, the provisions established for official university degrees corresponding to the previous ordination must be taken into account since, according to the first additional provision of Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, which establishes the organization of university education and the procedure for ensuring its quality, in the same terms as previously did Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, which establishes the ordination of official university education, as follows:

“First additional provision. Effectiveness of official university degrees corresponding to the pre-EHEA ordination.

1. Official university degrees obtained in accordance with curricula prior to the current ordination of university teaching implemented under the principles of the European Higher Education Area shall maintain all their academic and, where appropriate, professional effects.”

In this sense, it is understood that the official university degrees of the previous ordination are still valid for access to the Bodies or Scales of officials in the same terms as they were according to the previous ordination. Thus, the titles of Bachelor, Engineer or Architect also empower for access to the Bodies included in Subgroup A1.

Therefore, as a general rule, for access to Subgroup A1, it will be necessary to be in possession of the title of Degree, Bachelor, Architect or Engineer.

Likewise, based on the new university ordination, it has been understood that the official title of University Master does not constitute, in itself, an enabling title for access to Group A, being necessary, in this sense, to be in possession, either of the official title of Degree, or of some other official title of the previous university ordination that has allowed access to the Master.

In this sense, it is necessary to distinguish between those Bodies and Scales that do not require a certain degree for admission to them, but simply to be in possession of an official university degree of a certain level – p.ej., Degree or Graduate degree –; from those other Bodies for which it is required to be in possession of a specific official degree.

Thus, when it is required to be in possession of any official university degree, the reference is, according to the Law, the Degree or the official university degrees of the previous ordinance (Bachelor, Engineer or Architect); however, the possession of the University Master's degree does not imply, always and in any case, that one of these degrees is also held, since, in certain situations, it has been possible to access the Master's studies without being in possession of them.

Therefore, it is indicated that the University Master’s degree does not accredit being in possession of the Degree or any of the titles of the previous ordination that qualify for access to Subgroup A1 - Graduate, Engineer or Architect-, and that, therefore, for access to a Body or Scale of Subgroup A1 it is required, according to the current university ordination, to possess the Degree in addition to the Master’s Degree.

In addition, some autonomic systems, in development of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, and making use of the provision contained in the aforementioned article 76 –of “Another university degree required by law”-, they are demanding for admission to the Bodies classified in Subgroup A1 to be in possession of both degrees, Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree, both; or to be in possession of one of the degrees of the previous ordination already indicated - Bachelor, Engineer or Architect-.

In this respect, and although it is only for academic purposes, the regulation of the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education (MECES), contained, essentially, in Royal Decree 889/2022, of October 18, which establishes the conditions and procedures of homologation, declaration of equivalence and validation of university teachings of foreign educational systems and by which the procedure to establish the correspondence to the level of the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education of the official university degrees belonging to previous academic orders is regulated, as well as the different degrees that have been adopted in the Master's Degree.

These forecasts, which apply to admission to Bodies or Scales for which a certain university degree is not required, must be related to the cases in which a specific university degree is required, which usually coincides with those Bodies that have been exercising a “regulated profession”, and which find their basis in the provision contained in Article 76 TRLEBEP, which provides that when the Law requires another university degree it will be the one to be attended to.

In this regard, it should be recalled that the term “Law” does not only refer to the law that has been formally promulgated, but also includes those rules that, in our legislation, have equal or “greater” force.

In this sense, Community rules are binding on the Member States, which are more prevalent than national law.

It must also be remembered, already within the Community system, that certain rules, in particular the directives, do not establish the form in which they are to be included in our system, but rather the purpose they pursue, and must be transposed to it, prevailing, as has already been said, over domestic law.

Thus, the Community regulation of regulated professions has been incorporated into the Spanish legal system, through Royal Decree 1837/2008, of 8 November, which transposes into our legal system Directive 2005/36/EC, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 7 September 2005, and Council Directive 2006/100/EC, of 20 November 2006, relating to the recognition of professional qualifications, as well as certain aspects of the exercise of the profession of lawyer.

In particular, article 12.9 of the aforementioned Royal Decree provides that:

“In the case of qualifications that qualify for the exercise of regulated professional activities in Spain, the Government will establish the conditions to which the corresponding curricula must be adapted, which must also be adjusted, where appropriate, to the applicable European regulations. These curricula must, in any case, be designed in such a way as to enable the necessary competences to be obtained in order to exercise this profession. To this end, the University will justify the adequacy of the curriculum to these conditions.

In those cases in which the Community regulations impose special training requirements, the Government will establish the conditions referred to in the previous paragraph, even if the corresponding Bachelor’s degree does not qualify for the professional exercise in question but constitutes a requirement of access to the Master’s degree that, if applicable, has been determined as qualifying”.

And article 15.4 of the same Royal Decree establishes that:

“In the case of qualifications that qualify for the exercise of regulated professional activities in Spain, the Government will establish the conditions to which the corresponding curricula must be adapted, which must also be adjusted, where appropriate, to the applicable European regulations. These curricula must, in any case, be designed in such a way as to enable the necessary competences to be obtained in order to exercise this profession. To this end, the University will justify the adaptation of the curriculum to these conditions.”

For its part, the ninth Additional Provision provides as follows:

“The Ministry of Education and Science shall specify the contents of Annex I of this Royal Decree, to which the applications for the verification of the curricula in the cases referred to in Articles 12.9 and 15.4 of this Royal Decree shall be adjusted, after a report from the Council of Universities and hearing, where appropriate, the colleges and professional associations concerned.”

Therefore, it seems obvious that if you practice a regulated profession, such as Agronomist, for example, you must have the knowledge and other skills or competences required by it, even more so if it is an activity that will affect the general interests and the collective and individual interests of citizens. In fact, no regulation has established any exemption from qualification for the exercise of a regulated profession in the field of Public Administration.

In conclusion, it is understood that for access to the “general” bodies of Subgroup A1, it is not possible to compete – as has been explained – simply with the title of University Master, being necessary to be in possession of the Degree or the corresponding title of the previous one.

For their part, for access to the “special” Bodies, whose essential object is the exercise of a regulated profession, it is required to be in possession of the title that qualifies for the exercise of the regulated profession, that is, it must be in possession of the title or titles that in each case qualify for the exercise of the same.

Thus, if the qualification that qualifies for the exercise of the profession is that of University Master or that corresponding to the previous ordination (Engineer or Architect) it will be one of these that must be owned by those who intend to participate in the call; always, as indicated, that it is a Body or Scale whose object is the development of functions corresponding to a regulated profession.

As a complement to the conclusion set out in the previous paragraphs, part of a report dated May 5, 2014 from the General Directorate of University Policy, attached to the General Secretariat of Universities, on the issue raised by:

«(…) The replacement of the titles of the Catalogue of Graduate, Architect, Engineer, Diploma, Technical Architect and Technical Engineer by the new titles is not done in such a way that each title of the Catalogue corresponds to a single degree of Degree or, where appropriate, of Master, positions these do not have their own general guidelines and are not identified with a single denomination, as the previous ones, but the denominations are those that, in each case, the universities agree and are verified by the Council of Universities through the procedural channel provided in the aforementioned Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, in the Editorial No. The only exception in this approach is those degrees that give access to the exercise of regulated professions. In these cases there are their own general guidelines and reservation of denomination, which are those established in the corresponding Agreements of the Council of Ministers and in the appropriate Ministerial Orders, although this does not mean that other denominations than the reservation do not fit.

This circumstance of the substitution of degrees and the disappearance of the Catalogue of Official University Degrees, with the consequent elimination of the unique denomination of degree in all universities, makes it difficult to identify when determining the degrees that must be required as a requirement of participation in a call for access to jobs that require a certain qualification, so it is necessary to establish new criteria (other than the denomination of the degree) to establish the degrees required in a call.

In this regard, since all curricula leading to the acquisition of new official degrees are designed in terms of competencies to be acquired by students, one formula is the identification of the competencies whose acquisition must be accredited for the performance of the job in question. Once identified, the comparison with the training accredited by the applicant is enough to know if they are understood or not. (…)

However, we must bear in mind that there are regulated professions whose exercise requires, in addition to the corresponding Bachelor’s degree, the possession of a specific Master’s degree. This situation is limited to a very small group of qualifications that are those that qualify for the professions of Agronomist Engineer, Aeronautical Engineer, Engineer of Roads, Channels and Ports, Industrial Engineer, Mining Engineer, Mountain Engineer, Naval and Oceanic Engineer, Telecommunications Engineer (…). In this case, it will be the specific title of Master, and not of the Degree that is required for the corresponding access.

Thus, and by way of example, in the event that you want to fill a place that requires the exercise of the regulated profession of Engineer of Roads, Channels and Ports, as indicated in your writing, the title or titles that must be required are those to which the current legislation attributes the character of enablers to this effect. These degrees are, on the one hand, that of Engineer of Roads, Channels and Ports of the previous university ordinance, included in the Catalogue of Official University Degrees published in the Annex of Royal Decree 1954/1994, of 30 September, on the homologation of degrees to those of that Catalogue; and, on the other, the specific University Master degrees approved according to the new university ordinance, and which involve the prior possession of the corresponding Degree. These Master's degrees must comply with the general guidelines established in Order CIN/309/2009, of 9 February, which establishes the requirements for the verification of official university degrees that qualify for the profession of Engineer of Roads, Channels and Ports (BOE 18 February 2009). (…).

Only in these specific cases of Master’s degrees qualifying for professional practice does the general principle of access to group A (subgroup A1) with a Bachelor’s degree apply, since, except in the cases indicated, University Master’s degrees do not give access by themselves to any professional classification group of the Public Administration.

Therefore, it is also necessary to specify that although those who are in possession of an official degree of Diploma, Technical Architect or Technical Engineer, can access the official teachings of Master without any additional requirement beyond the specific requirements and merit assessment criteria established by the universities, this does not imply that a University Diploma complemented by a Master's degree can be considered an enabling degree for access to Bodies and Scales of Group A (subgroup A1). As indicated, the degree required for this access is that of a Bachelor’s degree or, where appropriate, of a Bachelor’s, Architect or Engineer and there is no homologation or equivalence between the degrees established according to the new ordination of official university education and the previous ones of the Catalogue of Official University Degrees.’

Secondly, it is now appropriate to analyze whether the qualification of Technical Engineer and Master enabling to exercise a regulated profession of Engineer would be accepted to apply for a call in which the qualification of Degree, Bachelor, Engineering or Architecture is required.

As already indicated in the previous section, Article 76 of the TRLEBEP provides that for access to the bodies or scales of Group A – Subgroups A1 and A2 – it will be required to be in possession of the university degree of Degree and, for access to the bodies or scales of Group A – Subgroups A1 and A2 – it provides that: “You will be required to hold a Bachelor’s degree. In those cases in which the Law requires another university degree, this will be taken into account.”

We also indicate that, notwithstanding the provisions of the aforementioned precept, and based on the Third Transitional Provision of the Consolidated Text, it is understood that until the implementation of the new university degrees referred to in Article 76 is generalized, for access to the public service, university degrees in force at the entry into force of this Statute will remain valid.

Thus, for example, in the current calls for participation in selective tests of access to bodies or scales of Subgroup A1 it is required to be in possession or able to obtain the title of Graduate, Engineer, Architect or Degree.

In addition, the provisions established for official university degrees corresponding to the previous ordination must be taken into account since, as we indicated, the First Relative Additional Provision of Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, establishing the organization of university degrees and the procedure for ensuring their quality (rule that repeals Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, establishing the ordination of official university degrees), states:

“Official university degrees obtained according to curricula prior to the entry into force of this royal decree shall maintain all their academic and, where appropriate, professional effects.”

In this sense, it is understood that the official university degrees of the previous ordination are still valid for access to the Bodies or Scales of officials in the same terms as they were according to the previous ordination. Thus, the titles of Bachelor, Engineer or Architect also empower for access to the Bodies or scales included in Subgroup A1.

Therefore, as a general rule, for access to Subgroup A1, it will be necessary to be in possession of the title of Degree, Bachelor, Architect or Engineer.

In this sense, it was indicated that holding the Master’s degree does not imply, always and in any case, that one of these degrees is also held, since, in certain situations, it has been possible to access the Master’s studies without being in possession of them.

In this regard, and based on the report of 2 July 2008 prepared for this purpose by the Sub-Directorate General for Legal Regime and University Coordination, regarding the old and new university academic degrees for access to the public service, the following can be concluded:

Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, which establishes the organization of university education and the quality assurance procedure, establishes a new arrangement of official university education, inspired by other principles and conducive to obtaining new degrees: Degree, Master and Doctorate.

This new structure replaces the previous one, but that does not mean that the current titles and the new ones established in accordance with the aforementioned standard are equivalent to each other.

The aforementioned Royal Decree does not provide any procedure for the homologation or equivalence of the current official university degrees of Bachelor, Architect and Engineer, or Diploma, Technical Architect and Technical Engineer, with the new ones of Degree, Master and Doctor.

Only, in its first additional provision, in addition to safeguarding the academic and professional rights of current degrees, does it establish the possibility of recognition of credits, in accordance with the provisions of the norm, to those who, being in possession of one of the currently valid official degrees, intend to pursue teachings aimed at obtaining a degree.

On the other hand, and in terms of whether the Master’s degree qualifies for access to bodies or scales classified in Subgroup A1, indicates the aforementioned General Subdirectorate of Legal Regime and University Coordination that “Neither having obtained a postgraduate degree, as is the official Master’s Degree, implies the equivalence of studies that have given access to it with a Bachelor’s Degree or with a Bachelor’s Degree, Architect or Engineer.” Thus, as established in Article 17(4), admission to the Master does not imply modification of the academic and, where appropriate, professional effects, corresponding to the previous degree, nor its recognition for purposes other than those of pursuing these teachings.

Likewise, the additional training that, according to this first additional provision, universities may require from Graduates, Technical Architects and Technical Engineers, is also only for the purpose of admission to the new official Master’s degree courses and, in no case does it entail levelling with Bachelor’s, Architect’s or Engineer’s studies.

In summary, Article 76 of the TREBEP requires for access to Group A (Subgroup A1) the title of Degree or, where appropriate, Bachelor, Architect or Engineer. As already indicated, obtaining an official Master’s degree does not imply the possession of any of the qualifications required for access to this Subgroup A1. Likewise, even though it is a postgraduate degree, it does not imply the possession of a degree.

Therefore, it should be concluded that the official Master’s degree does not constitute a qualifying degree for access to Group A (Subgroup A1), but when, in addition to that degree, one of the other qualifications required for access to that Subgroup is also held.

In conclusion, as a general rule, for access to Subgroup A1, it will be necessary to be in possession of the degree of Degree, Bachelor, Architect or Engineer; and, for access to Subgroup A2, of the degree of Degree, University Diploma, Technical Architect and Technical Engineer, so it is understood that for access to the Bodies of Group A, Subgroup A1, it is not possible to compete – as has been explained – with the degree of University Diploma or Technical Engineer and Master.

Another question would be whether it is a matter of access to public employment to bodies in cases where a specific university degree is required, which usually coincides with those bodies that have been exercising a “regulated profession”, whose arguments have been explained above, and which find their basis in the provision contained in article 76 of the TRLEBEP, which provides that when the law requires another university degree it will be this one that must be attended to.

All this without prejudice, as already indicated, to the competences attributed to other Ministerial Departments to which it is appropriate to report on the regime of official degrees, equivalencies of degrees and on the regime of regulated professions.

All of the foregoing is without prejudice to recalling that, according to the regime of competences of this management center, the answers to queries issued by this general directorate are merely informative and, consequently, are not of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. Furthermore, in the absence of a mandatory or binding nature, the bodies receiving such replies may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The responses to queries contained in this bulletin address the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that such responses may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial decisions.