The Ministry of Education and Universities of the Balearic Islands will introduce, starting in the 2026–2027 academic year, a new professional certificate in Dry Stone Construction, an official qualification that will be unique across Spain and responds to a long-standing demand from the sector.
The new qualification was approved last week by Spain’s Council of Ministers, following a request submitted in January 2024 to include the Mestre Marger profile in the national catalogue of professional competence standards of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports.
To mark this milestone, the Regional Minister for Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, and the Director General for Vocational Training and Educational Planning, Maria Isabel Salas, met with representatives of the Gremi de Margers, including its president, Lluc Mir, and Pep Fuentes. The meeting highlighted the significance of officially recognising this traditional craft through regulated training and ensuring generational continuity.
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Education to Introduce a Professional Certificate in Dry Stone Construction from the 2026–2027 Academic Year
The regional authorities emphasised that this qualification plays a key role in safeguarding a traditional skill that was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2018.
While a professional qualification already exists, the approval of a Level C qualification now enables students to obtain an official professional certificate. The programme will comprise 600 hours of training and will focus on traditional dry stone techniques, teaching how to build and maintain structures without binders by carefully fitting stones together to ensure stability.
Following the Council of Ministers’ approval, the agreement will be published in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE). At the same time, the regional education authorities will begin coordinating with training centres offering programmes in Building and Civil Engineering to include this certificate in their academic offerings from the next school year.