Demography is once again putting pressure on young people who next week, on June 7, 8 and 9, will take the university entrance exams (PAU, ABAU, Av AU) in Catalonia. With a similar university offer, there are 1,108 more students than last year (41,671 compared to 40,563 in 2022) and this could raise the cut-off mark for access to some university degrees. It could, conditionally, because the cut-off mark arises from the relationship between the offer of places for the degree and the demand for applicants for that same degree. And that is still unknown.
The procedure for awarding places is based on a very intense calendar. Young people choose their degree studies and submit their application – the university pre-registration process – between 6 and 30 June. The results of the PAU that take place next week will be known on June 22, before the Sant Joan revetlla. Then what they will see is their admission grade, that is, the average between high school (n 60%) and PAU (40%), and to this is added the sum of the specific subjects to which they have applied (up to 14).
The first allocation of places is scheduled for July 12. This determines the cut-off grade, the grade of the last student entering the degree. From here, a reassignment process begins with the vacancies of students who do not enroll, and who make the cut-off grade vary downward. For example, Medicine at the Clinic Campus of the UB set the cut-off grade in July 2022 at 13,240. All the students who could enroll there had a higher grade. However, thanks to resignations, the last student to enter the race did so with a 12.809.
From five years ago until now, the increase in young people who want to go to university has been progressive: 34,553 (2019), 39,914 (2020), 39,800 (2021), 40,563 (2022) and 41,671 (2023). This year there has been a greater increase, in proportion, of young people coming from training cycles than those from high school. 4,191 VET have asked to appear, more than 400 compared to 2022. These students will be evaluated only on the optional subjects to get a grade, since the score of the general phase, essential for students of high school, is the same as that of the cycle.
Regarding high school students, 32,698 are applying this year, almost 600 more than the previous year. And those with free registration, 4,742 in total.
The good news, due to the pressure of the demographic increase, is that precisely the degree in Medicine, which is one of the most demanded degrees and with the highest cut-off mark, has increased first-year places (126 more). The bad thing is that they have been reduced in Psychology (the UB has cut 58 places) and Political Sciences (the UPF will accept 20 fewer students), also popular.
The Department of Research and Universities reported on the PAU procedure that deploys 211 courts throughout the territory and mobilizes around two thousand people.
The PAU is divided into two phases: the general phase, which is mandatory for high school students, and consists of a total of five exams, and the specific phase, with the possibility of appearing in a maximum of 3 subjects, which serves to raise the grade.
In the general phase, students are examined in Catalan language and literature, Spanish language and literature, foreign language, and history, in addition to a subject to choose from among the fundamentals of the arts, Latin, mathematics or mathematics applied to the sciences social. Students who obtain an average of 5 between the baccalaureate grade and the general phase qualification will have passed the PAU. This was the case for more than 97% of the students of 2022.
