Does anyone else think its a rather large co-incidence that "ftestudent" and "happyinjerez" both have a single post to their names, having joined in the last 4 days? I rather suspect the school management have decided to intervene in this debate. That's fine but lets call a spade a spade shall we?
Setting that aside for a moment, when I was a student at Jerez (many years ago) it was a fantastic place to be. Fab location, fab weather, fab instructors for the most part and I never had a problem with the engineering, reliability was good.
However, none of the above is even slightly important. The ONLY thing that matters is this: where will the job come from at the end of the training? If you are considering self sponsoring an ATPL course you should absolutely INSIST on seeing the statistics for the last year ... in other words, where have self sponsored cadets found work? It is entirely irrelevant that sponsored training is ongoing since this will not help you in the slightest if you are self-sponsored. You can have the best time of your life out there for 18 months, but it will pale into insignificance if you can't find a job at the end of it.
FTE used to have very good links to the airlines. Setting aside those going through a sponsored course, I'd be very interested to know which airlines FTE now recommends self-sponsored students to, and to what effect. Airlines that used to accept recommendations but longer do include British Airways, Thompson and GB Airways (no longer exists) amongst others.
I suspect you may still stand a chance with Flybe or Aer Lingus. You can, of course, apply to Ryanair but do not confuse that with FTE helping you out. A ryanair application is entirely of your own making and will cost you another £30k for a type rating etc.
If you're a sponsored student, you've got nothing to worry about (except passing of course) - enjoy the sunshine and the cheap beer. If you're self sponsored, make sure you know whats waiting for you at the end.