As the only public university in the Basque Autonomous Community (region), the University of the Basque Country (Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) has a broad offer of bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees in all branches of knowledge, featuring an exclusive offer of qualifications in Experimental Sciences and Health Sciences. This offer aims to provide recognised quality training that addresses the university training needs in our society as a whole and is compatible with the new training setup of Bachelor’s Degrees, Master's Degrees, PhDs and Lifelong Learning. On account of its size, the University of the Basque Country is among the eight biggest universities in the Spanish University System, and is the largest in the Basque University System with over 45,000 students 5,000 professionals on its staff of lecturers, researchers and administration and services personnel. It has trained over a tenth of the human capital of the Basque population. So it is a university with a broad education offer and a high degree of research activity organised into several campuses and present in more than one territory.

The denominational University of Deusto (Universidad de Deusto) has a track record of recognised prestige in the training of highly qualified professionals who have led some of the most important business and institutional initiatives not only in the Basque Autonomous Community (region) but also in Spain as a whole. It is the largest private university within the Basque University System with over 10,000 students and 500 lecturers. This university, with a programme traditionally geared towards social sciences, economics and law, has expanded its offer in recent years towards technical and engineering courses and has divided its activity between the campuses of Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastian.

Another private university is the Mondragon University (Mondragon Uniberstsitatea), which capitalises on an in-house university education project. What makes it unique is its proximity to the business base closest to it, and the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation (MCC) in particular, which it belongs to. Specialising in Technical and Engineering Courses and Business Administration, it has expanded its map of qualifications with an offer of qualifications in Humanities. As regards its location, in the Basque Autonomous Community today its activity is confined to Gipuzkoa with two main campuses in Oñati and Arrasate-Mondragon, and branches in Aretxabaleta, Eskoriatza, Ordizia and Irun, even though it is planning, in line with its Vision 2020, to expand its presence to Bizkaia and Araba (Alava).