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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.), since September 2021 the situation started to change. 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 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.[3]
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 the civil society and local communities.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7]
[1] El País, ‘El Ministerio de Educación cambia su normativa para garantizar la plena escolarización de los niños en Melilla’, 17 February 2022, available in Spanish 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] Europa Press, ‘El Gobierno destina 2,6 millones de euros a 27 universidades públicas para el Plan Universidad-Refugio’, 22 November 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3XEV3yQ.
[4] Information provided by UNHCR in April 2024.
[5] La Vanguardia, ‘La Universidad Autónoma facilita que sus becas lleguen a más estudiantes’, 20 July 2023, available in Spanish at: https://cutt.ly/ywsnaksk.
[6] Valencia Plaza, ‘Universidades amplía a 6.000 los estudiantes que tendrán las nuevas becas ‘Manuela Solís’’, 12 December 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/4kc7s4cw.
[7] European Migration Network, ‘Integration of applicants for international protection in the labour market’, October 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yeuzscsf.