UK students flock to Spain after Brexit thanks to EU rule change

British students are flocking to Spanish universities after Madrid changed its rules post-Brexit to allow non-EU candidates to work as well as study.

Spain wanted to attract more students from outside the European Union, so in 2022 it approved a reform allowing non-EU students to work up to 30 hours per week.

Since 2020, there has been an 11 per cent rise in UK students in Spain, with 1,645 studying in the country last year, more than half – 58 per cent – of them women.

Spain saw a sharp rise in students from outside Europe, from about 40,000 in 2020 to 122,460 last year, according to data from the Spanish government. Most are women, with the highest number heading to Madrid, Catalonia and Valencia.

While EU citizens can work in any EU country without any permit, even full-time, it has become more complicated for British students after Brexit. Non-EU students often have to jump through hoops to obtain a permit and face restrictions on the hours they can work.

In contrast, the number of EU students at British universities since Brexit fell by more than half in 2021-22, according to figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency last year.

The main deterrent is that EU students are no longer eligible for lower, home fees or student finance support, unless they already live in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Before Brexit, EU students paid fees of just over £9,000, now they have to pay international fees of £22,000 on average and up to £38,000.

Read Next

The wild, historic coast where Spaniards holiday

Travel

The wild, historic coast where Spaniards holiday

Read More

Ella Mills, 20, from Wilmslow in Cheshire, is studying media communications and digital media at the IE University in Segovia, Spain.

She said she still faced bureaucracy because of Brexit but the ability to work was a real bonus, compared with some other European countries where students must have work permits to hold jobs.

“I have seen Spain making some steps to make things easier for non-EU students by allowing them to work, while friends who are studying in Holland said it is not easy,” she said.

Students must apply for a work permit to get employment during their studies in the Netherlands.

Ms Mills, who is on a four-year course, said she may need a part-time job to help pay for living expenses.

“Because I was holding a UK passport it was quite expensive to get all my papers like my medical certificate and criminal record translated into Spanish which cost between £800 and £1,000.

“I think with me and a lot of my peers who have non-EU passports, we have had to go through a lot of bureaucracy, unlike with other students who hold EU passports.”

Since Spain’s rule change, the biggest increase in students from outside the EU has come from countries in Latin America, including Colombia and Ecuador, and from Russia.