Medical Certificates for University in Spain: Missed Exams, Attendance and the Justificante Médico
Medical Certificates for University in Spain: Missed Exams, Attendance & the Justificante Médico
Fall ill before an exam at a Spanish university and you enter a process called evaluación por incidencias. Whether you can reschedule — and what document you need — depends on your university, and the rules are not the same everywhere. This is the complete, sourced map for international, Erasmus and exchange students.
If you are studying in Spain on Erasmus, an exchange, or a full degree, this scenario is more common than you would think: you wake up genuinely ill on the morning of a final exam, or a fever keeps you out of a week of mandatory classes, and your faculty asks for a justificante médico before it will let you reschedule or excuse the absence. In a foreign country, in a language you may not speak fluently, with a deadline ticking, that is a stressful place to be — and most English-language guidance on it is either wrong or dangerously vague.
Spain hosts more of these students than anywhere else in Europe. It is the world's leading Erasmus+ destination, receiving close to 200,000 Erasmus+ participants in 2023 — the most of any EU country — and the Spanish university system recorded a high of 149,278 inbound international students in 2022–2023, up more than 10% year on year, according to the Ministry of Universities. Italy, France, Colombia, China and the United States send the largest contingents, and the highest concentrations are in Navarra, Castilla y León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Madrid.
The good news: there is a well-defined, lawful route to sit a missed exam or excuse a justified absence. The catch is that the route — and the exact document it requires — is set by each university, and sometimes each faculty. This guide explains the common mechanism, the single distinction that trips most students up, and then the specific rules at the universities that host the most international students.
How a Missed Exam Works: Evaluación por Incidencias
When you cannot sit an exam for a justified reason, you are not simply marked as failed. You request what almost every Spanish university calls evaluación por incidencias (in Catalan, avaluació per incidències; sometimes examen de incidencias or prueba de incidencias): a separate sitting of the same exam, on an alternative date.
The framework comes from the Estatuto del Estudiante Universitario (Real Decreto 1791/2010), which guarantees students certain rights around assessment, but the operational rules live in each university's normativa de evaluación y calificación. The shape is consistent across institutions, with the details — article number, deadline, who decides — varying:
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Notify & apply | Submit a request (a form, the sede electrónica, or an email) to the named authority — usually the course coordinator, head of department, jefatura de estudios, or the dean's office — stating the reason and attaching your medical certificate. |
| 2. Meet the deadline | For foreseeable absences, apply in advance (often 7–15 working days). For sudden illness — a causa sobrevenida — you can usually apply the same day or within a short window afterward (48 hours to 5 days, depending on the university). |
| 3. The faculty decides | A genuine, documented medical reason is normally accepted. Reasons the rules explicitly reject include leisure travel, driving tests and anything you could have planned around. |
| 4. New date is set | The faculty or department fixes the alternative exam date. If you then sit the original exam anyway, your incidencias request is voided — never do both. |
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The One Question That Matters: Which Document Do You Actually Need?
This is where most guides — and many students — go wrong. There are three different documents that can prove illness, and Spanish universities do not all accept the same one. Getting this right is the difference between a clean rescheduling and a rejected request.
| Document | Who can issue it | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary justificante médicoA dated, signed doctor's note | Any colegiado physician — public, private or telemedicine | The default. Accepted for most universities' incidencias and for attendance absences. |
| Certificado médico oficialThe official OMC numbered form | Any colegiado physician on the official form (not public-system only) | Required by Andalusian universities such as Granada and Málaga. |
| Public-system reportCentro de salud or hospital urgencias | Public health service physician (SAS, SERMAS, CatSalut, etc.) | Typically required for university entrance exams (EBAU/PAU) and a small number of faculties. |
As a rule of thumb: most universities in Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Basque Country accept any documentary proof signed by a registered physician. Andalusian universities lean toward requiring the official certificate. And entrance exams are the one context where the public health system is usually the only accepted source. When you are unsure, the official certificate or a public-system report is accepted everywhere — so those are the safe choices for high-stakes situations.
What Makes a Medical Certificate Valid in Spain
Spanish law defines a medical certificate in Article 3 of Ley 41/2002 as the written declaration of a doctor attesting to a person's state of health at a given moment, and Article 22 gives every patient the right to obtain one. Whatever the format, your faculty will check that the document carries a short, specific set of features. A certificate missing the registration number or a clear date is the most common reason a faculty bounces it back.
| Must include | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Physician's name & colegiado number | This is how the faculty verifies the certificate is real and the doctor is registered. |
| Signature | Handwritten or a qualified electronic signature; both are legally valid under the eIDAS framework. |
| Issue date | Set on the day the certificate is issued. A certificate cannot lawfully be back-dated to attest illness the doctor did not witness. |
| Statement of incapacity | That you were unfit to attend on the relevant date(s). The diagnosis itself is not required and is protected by patient confidentiality. |
| Spanish language | It is a Spanish administrative document; that is the version your secretaría processes. |
Telemedicine certificates are legally valid. A certificate issued and signed by a Spanish-registered physician after an online consultation has the same legal weight as one issued in person, under the Ley de Ordenación de las Profesiones Sanitarias (LOPS 44/2003), the eIDAS Regulation (EU 910/2014) and Chapter XXIII of the 2022 CGCOM Code of Medical Deontology. The CGCOM's only caveats are that the issuing physician must be identifiable by name and number and that the medical act be recorded — not that the consultation be face to face.
One thing a private or online doctor cannot issue is the parte médico de baja, the document that opens paid sick leave (incapacidad temporal) through Social Security — that is reserved to public-system and mutua physicians under Real Decreto 625/2014. For students, this almost never matters: justifying an academic absence needs a justificante or an official certificate, not a baja.
University-by-University Guide
Below are the rules at the institutions that host the most international students, grouped by city and region. For each we give where the rule lives (and, where verifiable, the article number), the deadline, and which document the university expects. Regulations are periodically amended and faculties add their own procedures, so always confirm the current article and deadline on your own centre's website or with its secretaría.
Barcelona & Catalonia
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Universitat de Barcelona (UB) | Normativa reguladora de l'avaluació i qualificació (2024). Notify immediately; alternative test set by the professor. | Any colegiado; request via the cap d'estudis or coordinator. |
| Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) | Normativa acadèmica, Art. 115 (assessment calendar). Exceptional, duly justified cause; faculty reprograms. | Any colegiado; faculty "reprogramació de prova" form. |
| Pompeu Fabra (UPF) | Normativa acadèmica de grau, Art. 11.5.3 (renúncia for force majeure). Written request to the dean within 7 days; resolved in 10. | Any colegiado; dean decides. Note: an alternative test is not guaranteed. |
| Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) | NAGRAMA; handled at school (ETS) level. | Any colegiado; apply to your escola. |
| Rovira i Virgili (URV, Tarragona) | Normativa Acadèmica i de Matrícula de Grau (around Art. 20). | Any colegiado; centre level. |
Girona (UdG) and the Ramon Llull schools (ESADE, La Salle, IQS) regulate incidencias at centre level; confirm the procedure with your faculty, as these were not verifiable at article level from a single official source.
Madrid
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Complutense (UCM) | No single university-wide rule; faculty exam normativas. Estatuto del Estudiante UCM Art. 19 lets the Decanato arbitrate exam clashes. | Any colegiado; apply to the faculty / Jefatura de Estudios. |
| Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) | Normativa de Evaluación Académica (2023, mod. 2024), Art. 10. Min. 7 working days' notice (15 for clashes), except sudden cause. | Any colegiado; documentary proof, no public-system requirement. |
| Carlos III (UC3M) | No grado-wide incidencias rule; each centre issues instructions. Uses a dispensa granted by the Vicedecano. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
| Politécnica (UPM), Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Alcalá (UAH) | Own normativas de evaluación; incidents handled at centre/department level. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
| Comillas (private) | Normas Académicas; uses dispensa de escolaridad and anulación de convocatoria for illness. | Any colegiado; apply to the Jefe de Estudios / Decano. |
| IE, Europea, Nebrija, CEU (private) | Own academic regulations; attendance often stricter. Confirm with your coordinator. | Any colegiado (verify per institution). |
Granada — the strict case
Valencia & Alicante
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Universitat de València (UV) | Reglament d'Avaluació i Qualificació, Art. 9 (procediment d'incidències). | Any colegiado; the facultat/escola assesses the justification. |
| Politècnica de València (UPV) | NRAEE 016/2022. Request to the responsible professor; centre rules often require ~4 working days, except sudden cause. | Any colegiado; department director decides if refused. |
| Alicante (UA) & Miguel Hernández (UMH) | No common UA rule; each centre regulates clashes (e.g., 15 days' notice). UMH has its own normativa. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
Seville & Andalusia
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Universidad de Sevilla (US) | Normativa Reguladora de la Evaluación (2009/2010). Art. 18 covers official representation/elite athletes; the illness route is handled by the faculty (Art. 20 "incidencias" was left without content). | Faculty practice favours the official certificate; apply to the responsible professor / faculty. |
| Pablo de Olavide (UPO) | Normativa de Régimen Académico, Art. 19 (exam coincidence; 15 days' notice). | Any colegiado for illness; apply to the professor. |
| Málaga (UMA) | Normativa de evaluación (2019), Art. 5 ("Evaluación por incidencias"). For sudden cause, send documentation within 48 hours. | Requires "informe o certificado médico oficial"; apply to the centre / department / coordinator. |
| Córdoba (UCO) & Cádiz (UCA) | Own normativas de evaluación; Andalusian official-certificate pattern. | Lean toward the official certificate; confirm with your faculty. |
Salamanca & Castile
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Salamanca (USAL) | Reglamento de Evaluación (2025). The Comisión de Docencia del Centro may authorise alternative assessment dates for justified reasons. A major hub for language and exchange students with mandatory-attendance courses. | Any colegiado; apply to the centre. |
| Valladolid (UVa) | Reglamento de Ordenación Académica; incidents at centre level. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
Basque Country, Navarre, Galicia & the North
| University | Rule & deadline | Document & who decides |
|---|---|---|
| País Vasco (UPV/EHU) | Normativa de Evaluación (2016/2017); Reglamento del Estudiantado, Title V. Right to a justificante after each test. | Any colegiado; documentary proof, no public-system requirement. |
| Navarra (private, Pamplona) | Normativa general sobre la evaluación. No dedicated illness article; the faculty's Junta Directiva sets the procedure. | Any colegiado; apply to the Decano. (Distinct from public UPNA.) |
| Deusto (private, Bilbao) | Own evaluation regulations; confirm with your faculty. | Any colegiado (verify). |
| Santiago de Compostela (USC) | Normativa de avaliación (2011). No formal illness make-up centrally; Art. 4.3 lets the dean modify dates for force majeure / supervening impossibility. | Documentation standard delegated to faculties; confirm with the secretaría. |
| Oviedo (Asturias) | Reglamento de evaluación (2013, mod. 2025), Art. 15 ("Ausencia justificada"). Accredit to the dean within 5 days; exam reprogrammed ±15 working days. | Any colegiado; public vs private not specified. |
| Zaragoza (UNIZAR) | Reglamento de Normas de Evaluación (2010, mod. 2023), Art. 5. Anulación de convocatoria for force majeure via the Comisión de Permanencia; clashes need 15 days' notice. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
| Cantabria (UC) & A Coruña (UDC) | UC Reglamento de Procesos de Evaluación, Art. 34–35 (centre may exceptionally authorise a change). UDC has its own normativa. | Any colegiado; apply to your centre. |
Distance & online universities
UNED and the UOC follow their own academic regulations, and their distance methodology changes how incidents are handled — typically through alternative test windows rather than a single rescheduled sitting. Check your guía docente and the assessment regulations on the virtual campus.
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Mandatory Attendance, Labs, Language Courses & Placements
Missed exams are not the only reason students need a certificate. Many courses carry mandatory attendance: language classes, laboratory sessions, seminars, studio work and clinical placements often require a minimum number of hours, and Erasmus and exchange programmes — and most private universities — are frequently stricter about this than a standard lecture course. Salamanca's language programmes are a classic example.
When illness keeps you out of those sessions, the certificate protects your attendance record and your continuous-assessment marks. Submit it directly to the professor or programme coordinator promptly — ideally the same week — and keep a copy. Unlike an exam incidencia, an attendance absence is usually justified informally to the teaching staff rather than through a formal departmental request, but the same valid certificate is what they expect to see.
Exam Clashes: No Medical Certificate Needed
One situation students often mistake for an incidencia is a timetable clash — two exams of different subjects scheduled at the same time. This is a recognised ground in its own right and does not require any medical document. The Estatuto del Estudiante Universitario protects students from having global exams of different subjects of the same year coincide, and universities set rules for which subject moves (commonly the higher-course or the optional subject gives way). The catch is the deadline: clashes are foreseeable, so most universities require advance notice — frequently 15 days. If your problem is a clash rather than illness, use the coincidencia procedure; do not request a medical certificate you do not need.
University Entrance Exams (EBAU/PAU): The Public-System Exception
The clearest case where a private or telemedicine certificate is not sufficient is the university entrance exam — variously called the EBAU, EvAU, PAU or, colloquially, Selectividad. Because these are high-stakes, regionally administered exams, the autonomous communities route illness incidents through a special tribunal de incidencias and generally require documentation from the public health system: a report from a public centro de salud or a hospital emergency department stating that the student was unfit to sit the exam on the specific day. If you are sitting an entrance exam and fall ill, go to the public system and follow the tribunal's instructions — do not rely on a private certificate.
What to Do If You Fall Ill Before an Exam
If you are an international student and you wake up unwell before an exam, the sequence below gives you the best chance of a clean rescheduling.
| Do this | Detail |
|---|---|
| 1. Act the same day, in writing | Email the course coordinator and the faculty secretaría before the exam if at all possible. The sudden-illness windows are short (48 hours to 5 days). |
| 2. Get the right document | Default to a justificante from a colegiado physician. For Granada, Málaga and other Andalusian universities, get the certificado médico oficial. For an entrance exam, use the public system. |
| 3. Cite the article | Reference your university's specific provision when you apply (e.g., UGR Art. 9, UMA Art. 5, UV Art. 9, Oviedo Art. 15, UAM Art. 10) — it speeds resolution. |
| 4. Keep copies & confirm | Save the certificate and your submission. Confirm the new date in writing, and do not sit the original exam once incidencias is requested. |
What a Student Medical Certificate Costs in 2026
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PrescribeMe online justificanteLicensed Spanish physician, issued in Spanish | €20 | Digitally signed, sent to your phone, no video call. |
| Public-system attendance slip | Free | Requires a centro de salud appointment; confirms the visit only. |
| Private in-person justificante | €30–100 | Walk-in private clinic or GP. |
| Certificado médico oficial (form + exam) | €30–80 | The official OMC form alone is ~€3.63; the rest is the consultation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my Spanish university accept a private doctor's justificante?
For most universities and ordinary situations — a missed exam or missed classes due to illness — yes. The exceptions are Andalusian universities such as Granada and Málaga (which require the certificado médico oficial) and university entrance exams (which require public-system documentation). Always confirm with your faculty's secretaría.
What is evaluación por incidencias?
The formal process for sitting an exam on an alternative date when you could not sit the original for a justified reason — illness being the most common. Almost every Spanish university regulates it in a numbered article of its normativa de evaluación.
I already missed the exam — is it too late?
Usually not, if you act fast. Most universities require advance notice for foreseeable absences but allow a request after the exam for sudden illness, within a short window (48 hours at Málaga, within 5 days at Oviedo, "as soon as possible" at Granada). Submit the same day or the next working day.
Does the certificate have to be the certificado médico oficial?
It depends on the university. The official certificate is the OMC form and can be issued by any colegiado — public or private. Granada and Málaga require it; many other universities accept any documentary proof from a registered physician. When unsure, the official certificate or a public-system report is accepted everywhere.
Do I need a public-health-system certificate?
For ordinary university exams and class absences, no. The main case that requires a public centro de salud or hospital report is the university entrance exam (EBAU/PAU), and occasionally specific faculties.
Is an online or telemedicine certificate valid?
Yes. A certificate issued and signed by a Spanish-registered physician after an online consultation has the same legal validity as one issued in person, under the LOPS, the eIDAS framework and the 2022 CGCOM Code. It must identify the doctor by name and colegiado number.
Does the certificate need to be in Spanish?
Yes. It is a Spanish administrative document, and that is what your faculty processes. A foreign note may be accepted by some faculties if translated, but a Spanish certificate from a Spanish-registered doctor is the safest.
Can I use it for mandatory attendance, labs or language classes?
Yes. Submit it to the professor or programme coordinator promptly. In continuous assessment, an unjustified absence can cost marks, so documenting a genuine illness is worth doing properly.
Two of my exams clash — do I need a medical certificate?
No. A clash between exams of different subjects is its own recognised ground, separate from illness, and needs no medical document. Notify your faculty in advance — many require 15 days' notice.
I'm an Erasmus or exchange student — does this apply to me?
Yes. Exchange students sit the same exams and follow the same incidencias procedure, and attendance rules are often stricter. Submit your certificate through the host faculty's secretaría or your coordinator.
How fast and how much?
Through PrescribeMe, €20, signed digitally and sent to your phone, with no video call. A private in-person justificante typically costs €30–100; a public-system attendance slip is free but requires an appointment.
What Genuinely Varies or Is Contested
A few points deserve honesty rather than false certainty. University rules differ not only between institutions but between faculties, and article numbers are periodically renumbered when regulations are amended — always verify the current text on your centre's site. The line between an "official certificate" requirement and acceptance of any justificante is sometimes applied loosely by individual faculties, which is why the official OMC form or a public-system report is the safe choice when stakes are high. Universities such as Santiago de Compostela and Navarra do not set a dedicated illness make-up article centrally, delegating both procedure and documentation standard to faculties. And while telemedicine certificates are legally valid, an individual professor may still prefer an in-person assessment for a sudden illness — a practical preference, not a legal barrier. Several private universities (IE, Universidad Europea, Nebrija, CEU, Deusto) and a few public ones publish their rules only at faculty level; for those, the faculty secretaría is the authoritative source.
Sources & References
All regulatory references in this article are drawn from primary sources: official university evaluation regulations, regional gazettes, CGCOM guidance and government statistics, verified in June 2026. Key sources:
- Estatuto del Estudiante Universitario, Real Decreto 1791/2010 — BOE-A-2010-20147.
- Universidad de Granada, Normativa de evaluación y de calificación de los estudiantes (Art. 9, evaluación por incidencias) — consolidated text (PDF); faculty procedure — UGR Filosofía y Letras.
- Universidad de Málaga, Normativa reguladora de los procesos de evaluación (Art. 5) — UMA evaluación por incidencias.
- Universitat de València, Reglament d'Avaluació i Qualificació (Art. 9). Universitat Politècnica de València, criterios de evaluación — UPV (PDF).
- Universidad de Sevilla, Normativa Reguladora de la Evaluación y Calificación — US (PDF).
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Normativa de coincidencia de exámenes — UCM (PDF).
- Universitat de Barcelona, Normativa reguladora de l'avaluació i la qualificació — UB (PDF).
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, evaluación única / normativa acadèmica — UAB.
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Normativa acadèmica dels ensenyaments de grau — UPF.
- Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Reglamento del Estudiantado / justificante de asistencia a examen — EHU.
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Normativa de avaliación do rendemento académico (DOG 21/07/2011) — DOG.
- Universidad de Oviedo, Reglamento de evaluación (Art. 15, ausencia justificada) — Uniovi (PDF).
- Universidad de Zaragoza, Reglamento de Normas de Evaluación / coincidencia de exámenes — UNIZAR.
- Universidad de Salamanca, repositorio de normativa (Reglamento de Evaluación) — USAL.
- Example faculty incidencias procedure (deadlines for sudden cause) — USJ declaración de imposibilidad.
- Ley 41/2002, de autonomía del paciente (definition of a medical certificate) — BOE-A-2002-22188.
- Erasmus+ statistics, Spain — European Commission; international-student trends — ICEF Monitor; EU Education and Training Monitor: Spain.
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