The 1993 Maastricht Treaty has had far greater ramifications than on economic policies alone. The discipline of European studies has developed in order to understand the many effects of these changes and how to work with them through such subjects as history, culture, politics, business, and economics.

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a sovereign state and a member state of the European Union. It is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Spanish universities regulate access to their own degrees and they fix the academic fees. They can also offer unofficial postgraduate degrees. The capital city Madrid has possibly the largest number of bars per capita of any European city and a very active nightlife.