Higher education institutions have full institutional autonomy. Within the scope of their autonomy, these institutions determine the periods of teaching activity and the periods of holidays. The following table presents general data on degrees, with variations for master’s, doctorate and own degree programmes at each university.
The organisation of the academic year 2024/2025 in Spain is as follows:
| Beginning of the academic year | September1 |
| Period(s) when there are teaching activities |
First semester: September to December Second semester: January to May |
| Period(s) of examination |
First semester exam period: January2 Second semester exam period: May-June Extraordinary exam period: June-July |
| End of the academic year | 31 August3 |
| Breaks between the teaching activities excluding the examination period |
Christmas holidays: from one or two days before 21 December to one or two days after 6 January Easter holidays: 10-12 days in April4 Summer holidays: August5 |
Notes:
1: In some autonomous communities, some non-university tertiary programmes start in October.
2: In some universities the first semester examinations start in December.
3: In some universities, however, there may be traineeships or examinations in September.
4: Easter holidays vary according to the autonomous communities: most of them between 11 and 21 April and the rest between 17 and 28 April.
5: Depending on the autonomous communities and universities, the non-academic period may start from the third week of July.