Politics · Spain · 4 hrs ago
Spanish universities face a growing gap between degrees and job needs
Spain’s universities are struggling to match student choices with employers’ needs as demand for public university places grows faster than available places.
Over the past five years, demand rose 27%, while the number of places increased by just 0.7%.
Spanish university graduates score below EU and OECD averages in reading and mathematics, according to international skills data.
At the same time, Spain has a high share of young people with higher education and a low share with intermediate-level qualifications.
About 34% of adults work in jobs below their qualifications, the highest overqualification rate in the EU, according to the figures cited.
University graduates earn 33% more than people with higher vocational training, helping keep demand for degrees high.
The gap leaves some graduates overqualified while employers struggle to find needed skills, and limited public places have pushed up entry grades and led some students to choose private universities.
Spanish universities are producing graduates whose skills and fields of study do not fully match employers’ needs, El Mundo reports.
Employers say they must train new hires and struggle to find the profiles they need.
Public university places have increased by 0.7% in five years, while student demand for them rose by 27%.
Spanish university graduates score below European Union and OECD averages in reading and mathematics, according to PIAAC data.
Spain has the EU’s highest rate of overqualification, with 34% of adults working in jobs below their qualifications.
- Who
- Spanish universities, students and employers are central to the story.
- What
- A growing mismatch separates university degrees and skills from the needs of the labour market.
- When
- The article was published on 14 November 2026. It also compares changes over the previous five years.
- Where
- Spain.
- Why
- Public places in high-demand degree programmes have grown slowly as demand for university education has increased. Employers also report difficulty finding prepared workers with the profiles they need.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Student demand for public university places increased by 27%, while the number of places grew by 0.7%.
El Mundo published its report on the gap between Spanish university education and labour-market needs.
- Public university places
- Increased by 0.7% in five years
- Demand for public university places
- Increased by 27% in five years
- University graduates’ scores
- 12 points below the European average in reading and 14 points below in mathematics
- Overqualification rate
- 34% of adults in Spain work below their qualifications
- University students
- 1.89 million enrolled across the university system
What people are saying
The number of graduates in higher education is increasing, but there is still a mismatch with the labour market. The Spanish labour market cannot absorb the high number of graduates
Adults with tertiary education in our country perform closer to adults with non-tertiary secondary education than is the case on average in the OECD