Student accommodation
Colegio mayor
A colegio mayor is a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme, integrated into a university: it houses university students and runs cultural and scientific activities for their all-round education. The LOSU defines it as a university institution that only non-profit entities may run or promote.
Also known asCM · university colegio mayor · Spanish hall of residence
What it is, exactly
The definition in force is in the seventh additional provision of Organic Act 2/2023 on the University System (LOSU), and it fits in four paragraphs: the college is integrated into the university and is a university institution; only non-profit entities may run and promote it; affiliated colleges enjoy the tax benefits of their university; and private single-sex colleges may not affiliate to a public university. Recognition is still governed by Decree 2780/1973: the application is lodged with the vice-chancellor's office and the status is granted by ministerial order.
What separates it from a residencia universitaria (university residence) is not the building or the services but the formative remit and the fact of belonging to the university. Whoever lives there is a colegial, and because the college belongs to the university, the community-life rules that university approved under Ley 3/2022 reach it.
Worth knowing
The sign over the door does not prove the legal figure. Some buildings are marketed as "Colegio Mayor" and run by a commercial company, almost always because a historic name survived a change of operator. To know whether a centre really is one, look at the ministerial recognition and at its integration into, or affiliation with, a university, not at the façade. The full comparison, with its table, is in the guide on colegio mayor or university residence.
Sources
Related terms
- Colegio mayor adscritoA colegio mayor adscrito is an affiliated colegio mayor: promoted by a public or private non-profit entity other than the university and linked to it by affiliation, through an agreement. The other kind is the university's own, founded directly by it. Both are colegios mayores with all that this entails.
- Residencia universitaria (university residence)A residencia universitaria is a Spanish university residence: a centre that provides accommodation and services to university students —room, meals, cleaning— without being a university institution. It may belong to the university, be affiliated to it or be private and independent, and any owner may run it.
- ColegialA colegial is a university student or graduate who belongs to a colegio mayor, a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme. Decree 2780/1973 sets out three kinds: senior colegiales, with at least a year there, who have earned it; residents; and affiliated colegiales, who take part without living in.
- Ley 3/2022 (university community life)Ley 3/2022 of 24 February on university community life is the Spanish act that requires universities to approve community-life rules with measures against violence, discrimination and harassment, and sets the disciplinary regime for students. It never names colegios mayores: it reaches them through their university.