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Universidad Villanueva

Universidad Villanueva

Quick facts

City
Madrid
Country
Spain
Type
Private
Founded
1977
Students
2,500
Tuition (local students)
€10,600
Guide score
6.9/10

Official website: www.villanueva.edu

Overview

The Universidad Villanueva is a small private university in Madrid. It began as a teaching centre in 1977, spent decades attached to the Universidad Complutense, and was recognised as an independent private university in 2020. El Mundo's university guide lists about 2,500 students and 490 teaching staff. The main campus is in Mirasierra (Calle Costa Brava 2 and 6), with additional facilities in Pozuelo — not a single Arturo Soria block.

Villanueva does not appear in the QS World University Rankings 2027. Its pitch is scale: small groups, named professors and a humanistic teaching style (Active Learning V+). The programme range used to be narrow (law, business, communication, education); it now also includes psychology and a growing health offer (Nursing, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Physiotherapy). The alumni network is still small compared with Madrid's public universities.

Academic programs

Core degrees remain Law, ADE, Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, Journalism/Audiovisual Communication, Primary and Early-Childhood Education, and Psychology, plus doubles such as ADE + Law. Health degrees (Nursing, Pharmacy, Nutrition, CAFyD, Physiotherapy) have been added. ADE is a four-year, 240-ECTS official bachelor with an Erasmus or bilateral semester option; the ADE + Law double is five years.

Directory listings for first-year 2026 prices cluster around €10,600 for ADE, about €9,800 for Law, €6,300–€6,350 for Education and up to about €11,500 for Pharmacy. Confirm the current table with admissions — Villanueva does not publish a single public fee PDF in the same way as CEU. Published prices do not split local and international students. Class sizes are small, and the teaching style is discussion-heavy, especially in law and humanities.

Campus life

Campus Mirasierra is several buildings rather than a sprawling quad: Edificio A (Education and Communication, with TV and radio studios) on Costa Brava 2, and Edificios B and C (business, law, psychology labs) on Costa Brava 6, plus a university psychology clinic. The welcome guide for 2026-27 also points students to Pozuelo. The area is residential, quiet and safe.

Student life is community-oriented: cultural weeks, debates, guest lectures and a student association. With only a few thousand students, people tend to know each other. For nightlife, students go into central Madrid. Public transport to Mirasierra is Metro L9 (Paco de Lucía), Cercanías C3/C7/C8 (Mirasierra-Paco de Lucía) and several EMT buses.

Exchange programs

Villanueva holds an Erasmus Charter and runs semester exchanges (SIG) through Erasmus+ and its own bilateral agreements. Destinations in the published lists include Belgium, France, Italy and other European partners, plus some extra-EU bilateral options. Incoming students can take English-taught modules in business, fashion, law, communication, education and international relations, plus Spanish as a foreign language (A1–B1).

Incoming Erasmus and semester students apply with a form and documents to the international office (vio@villanueva.edu); the university says interviews are not required for Erasmus and semester stays. Current inbound deadlines were not clearly republished (the public page still showed 2021 dates). Outgoing students are briefed each October and apply to that year's call. English options exist, but the overall catalogue is smaller than at more internationalised private universities.

Admissions

Degree admission uses the university's own process: an application, academic transcripts and usually a personal interview (plus competence or English tests on some routes). PAU/EvAU scores are accepted. International degree-seekers complete a form, a phone interview and document submission (passport, insurance, transcript) to the international office.

Applications are rolling until places fill. There is no reliable published bachelor's acceptance rate and no confirmed 2027 closing date on the international page. Apply early if you need a visa. Scholarships (academic excellence, large family, high-performance sport, alumni) exist; amounts are handled case by case by admissions.

Student housing

Villanueva does not run its own halls. Mirasierra is not a classic student barrio, so most people share flats nearby or live in Chamartín / northern districts and commute. Idealista put the average Madrid room at about €550 a month in mid-2026; rooms further from the centre can be a little cheaper.

The university can pass listings and put incoming students in touch with current students. The neighbourhood is safe, with shops, restaurants and parks, but it lacks the density of Moncloa. Pozuelo-based teaching adds a second commute for some programmes.

Career services

With a small student body, career advising is closer to one-to-one than to mass fairs. Internship agreements cover law firms, media, consulting and schools in Madrid. Alumni loyalty is high for the older law, business and communication cohorts; the health degrees are too new for a deep alumni pipeline.

Professors often act as informal mentors. The limitation is scale — if you are targeting a sector where Villanueva has few graduates, you will need to build your own network. Treat the small campus as a mentoring advantage, not as a substitute for internships in the city.

Academic programs

Application deadlines

Exchange

Erasmus+ and bilateral semester exchanges; incoming English-taught courses in Business, Law, Communication, Education and International Relations

Universities in Madrid

Next steps

Sources