No major differences are reported between the situation of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection. See the section on Reception Conditions: Access to Education.
Nonetheless, concerning this topic and many others related to their rights and protection, refugee unaccompanied minors are the most vulnerable collective, and are sometimes excluded from education or vocational training. Obstacles faced by these minors concern the lack of proper attention paid by administrations that have their legal guardianship.
In the past years, several cases were reported concerning unaccompanied minors, highlighting the shortcomings of the public system for minors’ protection, which have mainly been witnessed in the City of Melilla and Madrid. Although none of the reported cases concerned directly refugee children, the system in which they are received faces problems and obstacles concerning their documentation, their integration and their protection. Following the denunciations and calls to the Spanish Government by different bodies (including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Spanish Ombudsperson, Parliament’s members, the Spanish Commissioner against Child Poverty, etc.), In February 2022, the Minister of Education changed the procedure for the admission of students in Ceuta and Melilla with the aim of guaranteeing all children residing in the two cities access to education.[1] For more details on these issues, please refer to the previous updates of this report.[2]
In a decision taken in June 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child established that the administrative processes impeding school registration of a child in Melilla only on the grounds of her being a Moroccan national constituted discrimination.[3]
In November 2022, the Council of Ministers adopted a Royal Decree establishing the granting of direct subsidies for a total of EUR 2.65 million to 27 public Universities and to the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities in the framework of the Action Plan University-Refuge. The aim is to fund different kind of actions, i.e. linguistic support, cultural and psychological support, academic guidance, support and access to academic services and social services, awareness-raising on the conflict in Ukraine and on the international protection, etc.[4]
In 2023, UNHCR relaunched its “Contigo” project in partnership with the NGO Diaconia, addressed to children and young refugees between 15 and 24 years old, which supported forty-six children and young refugees through community engagement and awareness-raising, involving twenty-one mentors. The aim of the project is to improve the integration prospects of beneficiaries while raising awareness on the role of civil society and local communities.[5] The project continued in 2024, which benefitted 111 children and young refugees through community engagement and awareness-raising, involving 110 mentors. In addition, during 2024, the project developed a new line to support the labour integration of refugees through which they have supported the integration of six refugees with Inditex.
In July 2023 the Autónoma University of Madrid announced the inclusion of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection among those students that can apply and benefit for financial support and scholarships.[6] In December, the Office for Education, Universities and Employment of the Autonomous Community of Valencia increased to 6,000 the scholarships for public and private universities ‘Manuela Solís’, easing the criteria to grant them to certain categories of students, including asylum seekers, refugees and statelessness persons.[7]
The European Migration Network reported that NGOs participating in the management of the International and Temporary Protection Reception system sometimes provide financial aid for issuing and processing documentation accrediting academic or professional training.[8]
In May 2024, the department of Education of the Autonomous Community of Valencia published a call for applications for university scholarships for a total budget of 22 million Euros. The call also simplified the conditions to obtain the scholarship for persons with disabilities, asylum seekers, beneficiaries of international protection and statelessness persons, and foresaw to allocate 0.5% (i.e. 110,000 Euros) of the total budget to these categories of applicants.[9]
In its 2025 World Report, Human Rights Watch reported the concern expressed by the Spanish Ombudsperson about the lack of sufficient places in schools for migrant children arriving in the Canary Islands compared to high numbers of demands.[10]
During 2024, UNHCR continued supporting universities in developing initiatives that promote refugees’ access to higher education. It also followed up on two studies commissioned by the National Conference of University Deans (CRUE) in the framework of the Refugee University Plan: the study of the Carlos III University of Madrid on the feasibility of the incorporation of Spain into the European initiative Passport of Qualifications for Refugees and that of the University of Burgos on the evaluation of the actions carried out by the universities to which grants have been awarded in the framework of the University and Refugee Action Plan.
In addition, UNHCR continued to assist the University of Barcelona’s refugee programme by providing technical advice and guidance on individual cases, in particular in relation to visa procedures, travel and permit renewals, and to promote the implementation of a unique national model of legal educational pathways in Spain.[11]
[1] El País, ‘El Ministerio de Educación cambia su normativa para garantizar la plena escolarización de los niños en Melilla’, 17 February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ZSYH91.
[2] See notably AIDA, Country Report: Spain – Update on the year 2022, April 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3SaHE0K.
[3] United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Committee on the Rights of the Child, ‘Views adopted by the Committee under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, concerning communication No. 165/2021’, 28 June 2024, available here.
[4] Europa Press, ‘El Gobierno destina 2,6 millones de euros a 27 universidades públicas para el Plan Universidad-Refugio’, 22 November 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3XEV3yQ.
[5] Information provided by UNHCR in April 2024.
[6] La Vanguardia, ‘La Universidad Autónoma facilita que sus becas lleguen a más estudiantes’, 20 July 2023, available at: https://cutt.ly/ywsnaksk.
[7] Valencia Plaza, ‘Universidades amplía a 6.000 los estudiantes que tendrán las nuevas becas ‘Manuela Solís’’, 12 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4kc7s4cw.
[8] European Migration Network, ‘Integration of applicants for international protection in the labour market’, October 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yeuzscsf.
[9] Generalitat Valenciana, ‘Educación convoca las becas ‘Manuela Solís’ para estudiantes universitarios y artísticos con un importe de 22 millones de euros’, 8 May 2024, available here.
[10] Human Rights Watch, ‘World Report 2025. Spain – Events for 2024’, January 2025, available here.
[11] Information provided by UNHCR in March 2025.