Objectives: 

The construction of the European Higher Education Area began with Bologna Declaration, and a common European credit model was settled: the ECTS credit. Attending to this new approach, a 240 ECTS teaching courseload was established for all degrees and the universities were permitted to create their own curriculum following certain common guidelines. As we consider Physiology knowledge essential in the training of health professionals, our purpose was to analyze the relative weight of Physiology in the curriculum of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in public and private Spanish universities.

Materials: 

To achieve this objective, the curriculum of Spanish universities that have the degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences was analyzed. Thirty five of seventy six universities (46%) included on the list of the Spanish Department of Education offer the above mentioned degree and these universities have been classified as public (n= 24) and private (n= 11). The average Physiology ECTS credits offered in each group and its standard deviation were computed. A Student t-test was used to compare averages. Significance was considered when p < 0.05.

Results: 

The average ECTS credits of Physiology in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences is significantly higher in public than in private universities (11.3±3.3 n= 23 vs. 8.2±3 n= 11). The 74% of public universities have a courseload in Physiology equal or higher than 12 ECTS credits in their curriculum, whereas only 42% of the private universities overcome this number of credits; it is noteworthy the courseload of two public universities with 18 ECTS and one with 15 ECTS, versus none private university holding this credit courseload.

Conclusions: 

In conclusion, the relative weight of Physiology in the studies of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences is higher in the Spanish public universities than in private universities.