Romina spent three years waiting for the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to tell her if it would validate her Argentine degree in Dentistry. Three years in which he could not practice and had to make a living as a hygienist in a clinic, a job several steps below his training. By the time the response arrived, Romina already knew how the system worked.
He didn’t expect anything, and he got nothing: he had to validate two subjects for his degree to be valid in Spain, the Ministry told him. It doesn’t seem like much, but there’s a trick: since 2019, when the Conference of Dentistry Deans (Crado) took charge of the process, practically no one passes the Orthodontics and Dentistry in Special Patients exams, the two they had to take. Romina was no exception.
“I decided to apply in March 2024. I studied the two subjects on my own. It was chaos. There was no syllabus or bibliography or anything. It’s very unfair, there was no time to finish it,” she says resignedly. Indeed, he failed. Today, six years after starting the process, Romina is still unable to practice as a dentist.
Like her, thousands of foreign residents in Spain see their hopes for life cut short before they begin. Their processes to approve foreign degrees first put the sleep of the righteous in the ministry; They are then rejected for various reasons. They don’t even have the opportunity for the job market to show them all its rawness. The talent and training of thousands of professionals of all kinds, waiting for an opportunity that does not come, a situation that is especially aggravated for dentists.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities explains that it is aware of the situation and that it is looking for a solution, which involves equating the exams taken by foreign applicants for homologation with those passed by students studying Dentistry in Spain. “This situation is an anomaly, we are working to bring it back to acceptable terms,” explain sources from the department headed by Diana Morant. “During this month of December 2024, the Ministry, through the General Secretariat of Universities, has sent a proposal to those responsible for the dental schools with several measures to put an end to this situation. We hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible with these university faculties, responsible for organizing these tests, to ensure that the contents of which dentists from foreign countries are examined are similar to those of Spanish dental students, to guarantee rigor, transparency and viability of the same”, they add in the absence of specifying the details.
In the group of foreigners who aspire to obtain the title, dentists are the blind in a one-eyed world. The group that has the most difficult time within an entire system that has not managed to reduce the deadlines for validating titles of foreign citizens. The prime minister of Pedro Sánchez’s branch, Manuel Castells, approved almost five years ago a rule to limit the maximum time to respond to requests to six months, which could last for years. But, despite the fact that some specific hires were made to speed up the procedures, the situation did not improve.
Three years waiting for a response
Romina’s story is, nuance up nuance below, that of María, Lotis, Juan or the majority of dentists aspiring to approve the title. There are exams that are directly impossible. “Orthodontics is not even at the postgraduate level. It is directly impossible,” says Lotis. “There are 25 clinical cases in 45 minutes. I have been a teacher at a Colombian university, it cannot be done,” says another homologator.
The applicants have collected information on the tests carried out in 2024 and the results show the magnitude of the problem: of 689 exams presented in a total of 11 subjects in seven universities, there are 650 failed and 39 passed. Subjects such as Orthodontics, Pathological Anatomy or Anesthesia and Resuscitation have zero apts. Special Patients, nine approved and 274 failed.
But the homologators warn of another problem: the exam is almost impossible, they admit, but at least it gives you a chance. What is impossible, almost, is to complete the pending subjects if there are no calls to take the test – which is what is happening, despite the fact that in theory there would have to be two annual calls – or if when they do come out there are hardly any places offered. , so they sell out in minutes, according to an applicant recounts her experience at the University of Granada.
Lluis Giner, president of the Degree and dean of the Faculty of Dentistry of the International University of Catalonia (UIC), admits this deficit and explains that it is the intention of the conference of deans that all faculties give exams in at least some subject. The intention, he explains, is to do two tests a year. Which is what the regulations state, the applicants add.
2019, the year of drift
Foreigners aspiring to have their degrees approved point out that the system was friendlier until 2019, when each university set its exams. But that year the conference of deans of dental schools (Crado) came into the management of the test, which centralized and homogenized it throughout the country. It was then, they say, that it became almost impossible to pass certain subjects.
They also denounce that, while this road is impassable, the degree can be obtained in exchange for a few thousand euros in some private universities. “If you renounce the approval (you have to inform the ministry formally) and pay for two years of private dentistry courses, they will validate it,” says an applicant who prefers anonymity so as not to harm his options. Romina maintains that according to her calculation it would cost her about 45,000 euros to validate her degree in this way.
Lluis Giner denies that this route is being forced. “Very few places are offered,” he argues. “But so that there are no such suspicions, we are eliminating this method of validation. This year [el curso 2024-2025] We have had over 3,000 applications for the full degree. We do not have financial need nor do we have a profit motive at this university [en referencia a la UIC]”I feel bad that it is misunderstood,” he says. Romina confirms at least part of the argument: at the university she looked at, only two places were offered this way.
Not being able to standardize training frustrates and limits these professionals, who see their lives stopped because they cannot practice what they are. It is common for these people to work as dental hygienists (dental assistants), the only position they can occupy.
Romina is one of them. He admits that the situation is not ideal, but he empathizes especially with the youngest. “At least I was able to practice in Argentina. It’s true that it frustrates me, I’m working in an implant clinic and I would like to do pediatric dentistry, but I think about those who have never been able to practice,” he says. María recounts a similar disappointment. “I studied pediatric dentistry to help the community. It’s a shame that you have such a long experience, but you can do in this country. My skills, my experience, would serve to support this community,” he laments.
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