SubjectDentistry
LevelUndergraduate
Type of DegreeGrado en Odontologia
CostEUR 15,690
UniversityUniversidad Catolica de Valencia
More Information-
In 2016 we were delighted to assist GDC Education in launching the Dentistry Degree at Universidad Catolica de Valencia (all five years taught in English). Our fourth cohort has just graduated and many of them will return to the UK and Ireland to work.
To be considered for entry to UCV you will need to have, or expect to achieve, a minimum of ABB at A' Level to include Biology and Chemistry. An IB score of 32 would be required with HL biology and chemistry (5 or better). Students with Scottish Highers (Advanced Highers in Biology and Chemistry at B or better plus three other subjects at Higher) and Irish Leaving Certificate (must have H1 or H2 biology and chemistry) to equivalent levels would also be considered. Other European school leaving certificates can also be considered without too much difficulty. Students who have been educated outside the European Union may not have appropriate qualifications but we are happy to look at any candidate.
There is no graduate entry route available at UCV and there is no way to transfer into a later year. There is no way for prior credit to be recognised on the English-taught programme. All students start at the beginning and take every class on the degree.
GDC Education organises a foundation programme for students with between BBB and CCC at A' level. Below this, there is nothing that can be done and it is very unlikely you will be able to study dentistry in Spain. Successful completion of the foundation programme will guarantee a place in first-year dentistry the following September. The foundation programme starting in January 2025 is already full. Please contact us if you would like to be added to the waiting list.
The admissions process for 2025 is already finished. All places have been allocated. Please contact us about joining the waiting list.
Admission to UCV's dentistry programme in English is handled exclusively by its global recruitment partner, GDC Education, in Valencia. Students who meet the entry requirements outlined above will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, assuming they successfully complete an interview and meet the deadlines included in their offer letter. There is no deadline for applications; all students will be considered until the course is full. Any direct approach to UCV will be forwarded to GDC Education. Persistent attempts to ignore this will result in rejection.
If you wish to apply, please contact us for an application form. Please include details of your high school diploma in your communication with us. We will then send you a full copy of the application guidelines. These must be read and understood as part of the application process and you will have to confirm that you have done so when you submit your application.
If your qualifications meet the requirements outlined above we will be happy to support your application.
There is no entrance exam but there is an online assessment test that needs to be completed. All candidates are interviewed in person in Valencia by a representative of GDC Education Ltd.
If you are successful, you will receive either an unconditonal offer (if you have already graduated high school) or a conditional offer of ABB or better.
We can arrange for you to visit the university when you attend for interview or before you apply if you would prefer . We encourage this as it is by far the best way to get an understanding of the city and the university, and it is the only way for us to put you in direct contact with current students. There are no formal open days. Visiting outside term time or on weekends is unlikely to be sensible. There are also a surprising number of bank holidays in Spain so it is always worth checking with us before making travel plans.
To discourage the less serious candidates it has become necessary to introduce an application fee of £360.00 payable to A Star Future Ltd. This must be paid before we can instruct GDC Education that you would like to apply. This is the only time you will be required to pay A Star Future Ltd. All future payments will be to GDC Education and the university itself. We wanted to avoid the introduction of such an administration fee but it is the only way we can discourage purely speculative applications which are hugely wasteful of our time and that of the university. Every effort will be taken to dissuade unsuitable candidates before we charge the application fee but the final decision on acceptance will always rest with GDC Education.
Tuition fees in 2024 were €15,690. A deposit of €1,400 must be paid to GDC Education to secure a place within 10 days of receiving an offer letter from the University. The balance of the fees can be paid at the start of the course or in 10 monthly installments from September to July. There is a small discount of 3% if fees are paid in full at the start of the year. Tuition fees might go up for 2025 or for subsequent years. If this happens, the increase will affect all students in all years.
There is an obligatory care package provided by GDC Education in Valencia. This care package costs €6,000 and is a compulsory part of the admission process. Payment in full is required before an offer from the university will be considered accepted and this must happen within 10 days of receiving an offer. As it is a somewhat open-ended commitment to looking after students during their first year, it is difficult to give a full list of the services it covers but here are some of the most usual:
It is extremely unlikely that international students will be able to access loans, grants or scholarships to study dentistry in Spain. We know of no support available to UK and Irish students. Please consider the financial implications of studying at UCV before submitting an application. You will almost certainly have to meet the entire cost of your degree from your own resources. If your country allows you to access student support we will be happy to assist you in claiming this support.
While every effort will be made to assist students throughout the five years of their degree, it is important that applicants understand that this is a demanding degree and will require the acquisition of the Spanish language. Failure to do so, up to level B2 on the Common Europe Framework of Reference, will mean that students will not be able to progress into clinics. It is also extremely desirable that candidates are mature enough to understand that life in a new country will place greater demands on their ability to live and study independently. The support that is available through GDC Education's care package cannot replace all the demands that will be placed on you.
Please bear in mind before applying that refunds of any money paid as part of the application process are impossible except in one circumstance outlined below.
1. Is the degree from UCV recognised by the General Dental Council in the United Kingdom? Yes. The official title of the degree is Grado en Odontologia and your title upon graduation will be Graduado/a en Odontologia. It is slightly inaccurate to say the GDC recognises the degree because it actually recognises the Spanish GDC-equivalent's verdict. However, this recognition is part of the EU laws regarding recognition of similar qualifications in other member states. This still applies because there has not yet been any change in policy as a result of Brexit.
2. Will Brexit change recognition of the UCV degree? This is a potential threat for every European dental qualification. All we can say is that the quality of your education will in no way be threatened or worsened by the political situation in the UK and that you will definitely have the right to work in 27 countries when you graduate. Whether or not you can work in the UK will depend on the regulations in place at the time. Until 2028, EU degrees will still be recognised but beyond that, we do not know. The current recruitment crisis in UK dentistry means that any future registration requirements are likely to be sensible rather than impossible.
We appreciate that this uncertainty is unhelpful. All we can say is that the new reality will affect anyone who studies dentistry outside the UK or Ireland. If those countries were accessible options for you, it is unlikely you would be reading this.
The worst case scenario is that you will have to take the Overseas Registration Exam on return to the UK and if you qualify abroad, this will be the same wherever you get your degree. There is a lot of dubious information online about future recognition and registration requirements for European graduates. We would advise you to ignore anything that is not on the General Dental Council's website.
3. Are there different fees for EU nationals and non-EU nationals? No. The fees are the same wherever you come from. The biggest change as the result of Brexit is the need to apply for a student visa. This is not a complicated process but it can take time, meaning that last-minute results day applications are less likely to be possible than in previous years.
4. Will I be taught in Spanish on this degree? No. All academic courses are in English, and all exams are in English, and Spanish is only essential for clinical experience in the latter years. However, you will be living in a Spanish environment for five years and it would be extremely foolish to assume that you can survive in English for all this time. Even without the requirement to deal with patients in clinics, you should be making the effort to learn the language from day one. You will need to reach a certain level of Spanish by the end of Year 3 in order to access the clinical phase of the degree. Spanish is important for your studies but it is vital for your quality of life as well. If you don't want to learn the language, we would prefer it if you applied somewhere else.
5. Can I speak to students already on the course? It is not possible for us to put you in direct contact with students on the course, simply because the volume of enquiries is huge and we do not want to distract our students. You can certainly meet students on visits or open days to the university. The video at the top of this page includes an extensive Q&A with two recent students. All first year students will be introduced to each other, as well as the entire dental student community, by social media well in advance of the start of the academic year. These are closed groups and are not accessible to prospective applicants.
6. What happens if I don't get the predicted grades? Will I get a refund? We know very well that predicted grades are increasingly unreliable. If you have been admitted subject to achieving ABB and you miss this target there is no obligation on our part to accept you. In previous years, students who have missed narrowly have sometimes been able to take up their place, particularly if their chemistry and biology grades are still good. If you miss the ABB target and we are not able to accept you, you will be entitled to a refund equivalent to half of the care package. Refunds are not available in any other circumstances. The application fee and deposit will be lost. In certain circumstances we might be able to hold your place open for one year but you would have to pay the deposit again. We are not minded to block students from pursuing their dream of studying dentistry but we do need to be sensible about how we handle this situation. You also need to bear in mind that the dentistry programme at UCV is now extremely popular and there is plenty of competition for places.
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