This article explores the possibilities of reinforcing ethics education at the university level within the context of new internationalisation processes. The situation in Spain is used as a case study. The article begins with a review of the rationale behind this issue and goes on to analyse the place of the ethical dimension in education in the proposals for adapting Spanish university degree programmes to the European Higher Education Area. Fieldwork carried out at three higher education institutions reveals that, while (...) professors accept the institutional function of the university in ethics education, their hazy conception of the matter weakens the likelihood of a pedagogical approach in‐keeping with the level of importance given to such a function. (shrink)