The consultation refers to the assessment that should be granted in competitions to official university degrees. Specifically, it is consulted regarding the degrees of Doctor and Master, if they should be considered at the same level (when assigning scores), those granted after the implementation of the Bologna Plan and those belonging to previous academic orders.

Likewise, he wonders whether in merit competitions any distinction must be made between the Masters and Doctorates of the same Curriculum (either those of the “Bologna Plan” or those of the previous plans), depending on their respective duration. Finally, it is indicated that it has not been included in the titles to assess “being in possession of the first three courses of a bachelor’s degree or the first cycle”.

First, it should be noted that the convening body must be the one that establishes the value of the required and punctuable titles in the corresponding call for tender of merits, although it is understood that, in any case, the valuation granted to each title must be in accordance with the job or jobs convened.

Likewise, within the same qualification, it will also be necessary to establish a greater or lesser valuation in accordance with objective criteria, such as duration, suitability for the job convened, etc.

In other words, the assessment given to qualifications must always be respectful of the principles of merit and ability.

Starting from this general premise, and in relation to the assessment to be granted to the degrees of University Master and Doctor of the new and previous academic organization, it should be noted that, at present, according to the article of Organic Law 6/2001, of 21 December on Universities, there are only three official university degrees: Doctor, Master’s Degree and Graduate. At the same time, these provisions were developed by Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, which establishes the organization of official university education, which was also repealed by Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, which establishes the organization of university education and the quality assurance procedure.

In this sense, and in relation to the Master’s degree, it should be noted that only the Master’s degree of the new organization has the character of official university degree; while the previous degrees have no official value, they only have the character of degrees belonging to the Universities and without, therefore, having the same value as the official degrees.

That is to say, the “Master” degrees prior to the ordination included in the already repealed Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, do not have official character, but character of “own” degree and, therefore, must be acted accordingly.

As for the Doctor’s degree, both the degree of the previous ordination and the new one, have the same academic value so they must be taken into account in the same way.

On the other hand, and in terms of granting a higher or lower score to an official Master’s degree according to its duration, as has been pointed out, it must be the convening body that establishes the assessment according to objective criteria and that meet the merit and the ability.

In this sense, and in the specific case of two titles being identical or equivalent for the purposes of the competition, it seems appropriate, if necessary, that a higher score can be awarded on the basis of objective criteria such as the duration or number of ECTS credits.

Finally, and with regard to the non-inclusion in the degrees to be assessed of “the first three courses of a bachelor’s degree or the first cycle”, it is understood, as the consultant points out, that this is not a degree in itself, but an equivalence established by the legislator for the sole purpose of entry into the Administration, but that has not been expressly extended for assessment in procedures for the provision of jobs.

All of the above is without prejudice to remember 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, do not have the character of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor do they imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. In addition, since they are not mandatory or binding, the bodies to which such replies are addressed may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The answers to queries contained in this bulletin deal with the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that these answers may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial resolutions.