On the 11th and 12th March 2016, British Council Spain held an exhibition alongside FUTURA.
FUTURA is the best Post-Graduate Fair in Spain both in terms of number and also quality of attendees. It caters for over 6,000 students over two days, all genuinely looking or a Post-Graduate qualification.
Spain’s PG market is growing enormously due to level 6 and level 7 education recent reform, which grants former Licenciado qualifications a level 7 attainment. This means that degree level 6 students feel that they need a PG (level 7) qualification to be able to find a proper job. Spain HE offer is 35% private (level 6) and for PG programmes (whether in Public or Private Universities) the Government funding is scarce. Studenst are used to having to cover these expensive costs which range from 3,000 to 25,000 euros per annum. There are 1 and 2 year programmes but generally they last 2 academic years. This recent reality, combined with the generally improved level of English of bachillerato students and the thirst for internationalisation places Spain as an excellent source for PG students.
The level of satisfaction of visitors was extremely high, yet there was a huge variation of satisfaction by exhibitors ranging from outstanding (by the better known international Universities) to not value for money.
British Council Spain feels that it is important to ensure that there is a representation of UK Universities in FUTURA every year and we will most likely repeat in 2017 although we must compromise on our service to make the Fair financially viable and we will not be able to meet some of the requirements from exhibitors (larger booth, better lighting, room hire for market briefing) without increasing the overall cost to exhibitors.