The degrees of Medicine, veterinary medicine and pharmacy, as well as mathematics and biotechnologyare the main protagonists in Castile and León, after the agreement reached last month between the President of the Council and the rectors of the four public universities of the Community. A new degree map that will allow the universities of Burgos (UBU) and León (ULE) to start teaching, after numerous requests, medical studies during the 2026-2027 academic year while the University of Valladolid (UVa) will integrate its degree offer in Pharmacy and that of Salamanca (Usal) will do the same with Veterinary Medicine, but without a specific date for its implementation. Additionally, starting next year there will be applied mathematics and computer science at Burgos and biotechnology at UVa.
A new card which will involve a redistribution of students from Castile and León who will have more faculties to continue their studies, but also other communities, due to the existence of a single university district. This is the only way to explain that almost half of the new students enrolled last year in veterinary medicine (47 percent) at the ULE and in pharmacy (44.5 percent) and medicine (41.6 percent) at Usal came from outside Castile and León. Below are medicine in Valladolid, with 35.7 percent of students coming from other territories of Spain, and biotechnology in Salamanca (29.7 percent).
The high demand for medical studies from students in Spain, as well as the quality of teaching supported by a long history, motivate the only two existing faculties in Castilla y León to receive numerous applications from students from other regions of the country. A situation that occurs due to the existence of single university district whereby a student who passes the Baccalaureate Assessment for University Access (EBAU) in any territory can use their results to opt for a university in the country, even if the test is not unique and therefore promotes inequalities between students from different communities. A very palpable situation in diplomas in high demand and with very high access thresholds to access this Medicine training (13.21 at Usal and 13.01 at UVa).
The 2023-2024 academic year began in a disparate manner in terms of the geographic origin of students starting medicine at the two public universities of Castile and León, according to data provided by both institutions. The Faculty of Salamanca It enrolled 31.6 percent students from the province itself, in addition to 5.8 percent from Zamora and five percent from Ávila (with its own Usal campuses), and 13.3 percent from the rest of Castilla y León, representing 2.5 percent of international students. students. Therefore, the rest (41.6 percent) comes from other communities. The percentage of students from the Community in recent years at Usal has been around 50 percent, although in the academic years 2013-2014 and 2011-2012 there were fewer students from the university districts of Castile and León, with 35.4 and 36.6 percent, respectively.
Medicine
In the case of Medicine in Valladolidthe average number of students from Castilla y León in recent years was also around 50 percent, although in 2021 it reached 67 percent and last year, 64.3 percent. Concretely, of the 216 places offered, 75 were occupied by students from the province itself, in addition to 63 from the rest of the Community, including 22 from Burgos and 15 from León, cities where the diploma will be implemented from September. 2026. Among the students from other regions who moved to Valladolid to study medicine, the 20 from Andalusia, the eleven from Extremadura, the ten from Cantabria and the nine from Madrid stand out.
Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy are two degrees that will also see their offer in the Community double in the years to come, with the arrival of these careers in Salamanca and Valladolid respectively. This year, access to the first course at the Universities of León and Salamanca has also been in high demand among students, resulting in cut-off grades of 11.6 and 11.7, in each case. In the case of the ULE, this was the third highest rating, just behind Aerospace engineering and biotechnology. Of the 117 places offered last year in veterinary medicine, 23 were occupied by students from the province of León and 32 from the rest of the Community (including 14 from Valladolid and two from Salamanca). Therefore, there were 62 registrants from other regions of Spain, which represented 47 percent of the total students. The twelve from the Basque Country and the ten from Asturias stood out.
The Usal pharmacy also has similar percentages, with 44.5 percent of students coming from other regions of the country, to which must be added 12.5 percent of those from Salamanca, four percent from Ávila and 2.5 percent from Zamora. Therefore, the rest is distributed between 28.5 percent of students arriving from other provinces of the Community and seven percent of international students.
The other diplomas affected by this new map of university diplomas are Biotechnology in Salamanca, which only offers 37 places to new entrants. A third which, according to data consulted by Ical, was occupied last year by students from the province itself, to which are added those from Ávila (5.4 percent) and Zamora (2.7 percent). hundred). For the rest of Castile and León, there were 27 percent, and for the other autonomy, almost 30 percent.
UVa teaches mathematics studies, which will be implemented next year in Burgos with applied mathematics and computer science. Among the 45 newly admitted places, 30 were chosen last year by students from Valladolid, followed by 13 from the rest of Castilla y León and two from other localities in the country.
