Study healthcare in Spain, even if you don't speak Spanish today
This is the area with the most programmes in our catalogue, and the one that opens the door to the job market soonest. Hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and clinics recruit qualified technicians all year round — and for those roles the official qualification is not an extra: it is the requirement to be allowed to practise.
What can you work as with a healthcare vocational qualification?
Nursing assistant
Hospitals, care homes, clinics and private practices.
Pharmacy technician
Community pharmacies, hospital pharmacy and distribution.
Emergency medical technician
Ambulances and urgent medical transport.
Clinical laboratory technician
Analysis laboratories in hospitals and private clinics.
Dental hygienist
Dental clinics, handling the preventive side of the work.
Dental prosthetics technician
Prosthetics laboratories, a trade with steady demand.
Diagnostic imaging technician
Radiology and nuclear medicine departments.
Pathology laboratory technician
Diagnostic and cytology laboratories.
All the programmes include work placements in real centres (Formación en Centros de Trabajo, FCT), which are often the way in to a first contract.
The healthcare programmes you can study
Intermediate level (Grado Medio) or advanced level (Grado Superior) in healthcare?
Direct contact with patients
These are the front-line programmes: auxiliary nursing care, pharmacy and emergency medical care. You access them with officially recognised secondary education (homologación), without Bachillerato, and it is the shortest route towards a first job in the sector.
How do you get your secondary school qualification officially recognised, and what documents do you need? → Intermediate-level requirements
Laboratory and diagnostics
These are the technical programmes: clinical analysis, medical imaging, pathology and prosthetics. You access them with officially recognised Bachillerato (upper secondary education), and when you finish you can go on to university, with part of your studies credited.
What exactly is required, and how do you get your Bachillerato officially recognised? → Advanced-level requirements
Not eligible for the advanced level? The Technician qualification from an intermediate-level programme gives you access with no further entrance exams. Many people take that route, and finish with two official qualifications in hand.
And if you don't speak Spanish yet
You do not need to know any Spanish to join the programme. There are two stages: six months of an intensive course at our school in Murcia — accredited by the Instituto Cervantes — from zero to B1.2 – B2.1, and then your vocational programme.
In healthcare, language matters more than in other areas: you will be dealing with patients and using clinical terminology. That is why the Spanish course is so important.
In healthcare, the qualification is what allows you to practise
In many sectors you can start working and prove what you are worth through experience. In healthcare it does not work like that: without the corresponding official qualification you cannot practise, however well prepared you are.
When you complete the vocational programme you obtain that official qualification, recognised throughout the European Union. That is the difference between having taken a course and having a recognised profession.
You compete on equal terms
When you apply for a job in a hospital or a clinic, or put your name on a public recruitment list, what is required is the corresponding official qualification. If you obtained your vocational qualification in Spain, it has the same value as that of any other qualified professional. There is no separate category for being a foreign national. What each employer or recruitment process does check separately is that your residence and work authorisation are in order.
Spanish and the visa
These are the two steps before the programme. We handle both with you.
Six months of Spanish
The programmes are taught in Spanish, with Spanish classmates and teachers. That is why the programme starts with the language: six months of an intensive course at our school in Murcia, accredited by the Instituto Cervantes, from zero up to the level you need to follow a vocational programme, with an exam at the end.
If you already have a certified DELE B2, you skip this stage and go straight into the programme.
Student visa
Being enrolled at a school accredited by the Instituto Cervantes allows you to apply for the visa. The language is not only a language: it is the key to the paperwork.
We support you with the documentation — admission letter, enrolment and health insurance — which is where most applications are refused, because the paperwork was not submitted properly.
If you come from the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you do not need a visa.
Would you rather not deal with the paperwork?
We offer an optional external professional service that handles the whole application for you. It is voluntary: you can do it yourself or request this service.
What people ask us most about healthcare
Can I work in the Spanish public health service with this qualification?
Yes, as a technician: it is the qualification that the health service recruitment lists ask for. You also need your work authorisation to be in order, and each recruitment process sets its own requirements, which may include conditions on nationality or residence.
Do I need a high level of Spanish for a healthcare programme?
More than in other areas, yes: you will be dealing with patients and using clinical terminology. That is why the programme starts with six months of Spanish, up to B1.2 – B2.1, and ends with a level exam.
Are the work placements in real hospitals?
Yes, in centres we have agreements with, and they are often the way in to a first contract when you finish.
Will the qualification be useful in my country when I go back?
The qualification is official and recognised throughout the European Union. If you want to practise in a country outside the EU, its validity will depend on that country's regulations and on its recognition agreements.
Students who arrived without a word of Spanish
Since the year 2000, 9.403 students have studied with us, most of them from the Maghreb, West Africa and much of Europe, and nearly all of them started the same way: without knowing how to say hello. You learn through immersion and in small groups, in a city where living costs little and you practise Spanish from day one.
Can you see yourself working in healthcare in Spain?
- A reply within 24 – 48 hours by email or WhatsApp
- Free and with no obligation
- We can help you in Spanish, English, French and Arabic
