Collaborative Scholarship and Curricular Internships: What You Can Do Right Away in Your First Year

You cannot apply for the Ministry’s research assistantship in your first year. It is for students in their final year of an undergraduate program or their first year of a master’s program with a high GPA, and for the 2026–27 academic year, the application deadline was September 22. Curricular internships aren’t available in the first year either—they’re done once you’ve completed a significant portion of your degree program. What you can do in your first year is apply for some research scholarships offered by your own university and prepare your application materials for when the time comes.

This is a grant from the Ministry of Education designed to help you work in a department at your university and get started in research, while balancing your studies. Details of the 2026–2027 call for applications (Resolution of July 15, 2026; excerpt published in the Official State Gazette [BOE] on July 17):

• Scholarships: 2,111 throughout Spain.
• Amount: 2,000 €.
• Hours: 3 hours a day for seven and a half months. The collaboration ends before July 31, 2027.
• Who: students enrolled in the final year of a bachelor’s degree program or in the first year of an official master’s degree program.
• Credits (bachelor's degree): You must have completed 75% of the coursework and be enrolled in all the courses you need to complete your degree.
• Minimum average score: 7.25 in Engineering and Architecture; 7.70 in Sciences and in Social and Legal Sciences; 7.80 in Health Sciences; 8.00 in Arts and Humanities.
• Deadline: July 21 through September 22, 2026, on the Ministry’s website.
• Compatible with the Ministry’s general scholarship. Ineligible for payment for internships or research in the same department. Students with administrative residency in the Basque Country are not eligible: they have their own application process.

Here's what this means if you're a freshman: the grade point average you've maintained since your first exam is the one that will count in three years. A 7.70 in law can't be fixed in your senior year.

The general MEC scholarship (which can help cover housing costs if you study away from home) is a separate application process, with different income requirements and a different timeline. We’ll explain it in July in our 2026 guide to college housing scholarships.

Many universities offer their own work-study programs: in libraries, athletic departments, student engagement, or peer support. Each university sets its own requirements, and most require students to have earned credits. There are exceptions that do allow first-year students to participate. Here are two real-life examples:

University of Granada — Student Volunteers (NEAE). Scholarships to provide academic support to a fellow student with a disability or specific educational support needs. You must be in the same degree program, academic year, and class as that student. There are no requirements regarding minimum academic year or credits earned, so a first-year student can apply. Up to €600 per academic year (€10 per credit for the courses in which you provide support) and between 1 and 4 recognized ECTS credits. For the 2024–25 application cycle, the deadline was April 30.

University of Málaga — student assistant. Same requirements: same degree program, same group, and at least half of the courses in common with the classmate you’re supporting. You must have earned 24 credits in the previous academic year, unless this is your first enrollment. €150 per month. The 2025–26 call for applications was published on November 13, 2025, with a 10-business-day application period.

The counterexample: The Public University of Navarra is offering research assistantships in its departments (€1,125, 9 hours per week from November through April; application deadline: October 7, 2026), but applicants must have half or fewer of their remaining credits to complete. These are for the second cycle of the degree program, not the first.

So there's some truth to the "November–January" you'll hear people talking about in the hallways: that's when many of these in-house calls for applications are released. Not the one from the Ministry, though.

Both are governed by Royal Decree 592/2014 on external academic internships.

Social Security. As of January 1, 2024, all university student internships are subject to Social Security contributions, including unpaid ones (Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, Additional Provision 52 of the General Social Security Law). For unpaid internships, the entity where you are interning is responsible for registering you, unless the agreement with the university specifies otherwise, and the contribution is subject to a 95% rebate. For you, this means one thing: you need a Social Security number before you start. UC3M, for example, already requires it as a prerequisite.

Intern Statute. The Council of Ministers approved the bill on March 3, 2026: it limits extracurricular activities (to 480 hours or 15% of course credits), requires reimbursement for travel, lodging, and living expenses, and establishes penalties. As of today, it is pending in Parliament and is not yet in effect. If you read that “it’s already mandatory for them to pay you,” that’s not the case yet.

• Ministry Collaboration Grant: Official State Gazette (excerpt) and the Ministry of Education’s website. Your university publishes the number of scholarships available in each department.
• University-administered scholarships: the university’s official bulletin (BOUGR in Granada, BOUMA in Málaga) and the scholarships website or the Office of the Vice Rector for Student Affairs.
• Internships: your university’s platform. Examples: ÍCARO at the University of Granada and the University of Málaga (you register as a “job seeker” and apply for the openings), GIPE at the Complutense University of Madrid, and COIE at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

• Check the minimum GPA required for the research scholarship in your field. That's your goal for the next three years.
• Check your university's scholarship website for its own calls for collaboration and make a note of when they are posted.
• Apply for your Social Security number if you don't have one. You'll need it for any administrative procedures.
• Sign up for the internship platform even if you can't apply for anything yet: you'll see which companies are offering internships for your degree program.
• Read the internship handbook for your degree program: course, credits, and requirements.

Three hours a day of collaborative work plus classes are easier to manage if you study close to home. At StepHouse Granada Moliner and StepHouse Málaga Parménides, there are coworking spaces inside the residence, and the UGR (Fuentenueva) and the UMA (Teatinos) are about a 12- to 15-minute walk away. If you’re a freshman and want to change your housing for next school year, check out the StepHouse residences and reserve your spot for the second semester or for 2027–28.

Not the one from the Ministry: that’s for the final year of an undergraduate program or the first year of a master’s program. Some university-specific research assistantships do accept first-year students, such as the research assistant positions at the University of Granada and the University of Málaga.

Under the Ministry's 2026–27 call for applications, the stipend is 2,000 € for 3 hours a day over seven and a half months in a department. The scholarships offered by each university vary in amount.

In 2026–27: 7.25 in Engineering and Architecture, 7.70 in Sciences and in Social and Legal Sciences, 7.80 in Health Sciences, and 8.00 in Arts and Humanities.

Curricular courses are part of your curriculum, with credits and a grade. Extracurricular courses are optional; they are not part of the curriculum and usually require a minimum number of credits to be completed.

It is not mandatory. Many are unpaid, but as of January 2024, all interns are required to make Social Security contributions. The Intern Statute, which provides for reimbursement of expenses, is still under consideration.

Yes. The 2026–27 call for applications states that it is compatible with the Ministry’s general scholarship and with equivalent regional scholarships.