(As approved by the Official Postgraduate Programme Commission on 4th March 2008. Full document in pdf.)
The Department of Political and Social Science at the UPF is an academic community composed of professors, research assistants, teacheing assistants and research students engaged in research and teaching activities within the disciplinary fields of Political Science and Public Administration, Sociology and Social Psychology. Its international outlook, its dynamic research and interdisciplinary teaching, the quality of its postgraduate programme and the support it gives to the mobility of its students are features that make the Department stand out. Its staff is varied, composed by a balanced mixture of permanent professors, researchers with ICREA and Ramon y Cajal contracts, visiting professors from foreign universities and public administration professionals who, as associates, contribute to the Department's teaching with their experience.
The PhD programme in Political and Social Science is fully adapted to the European Higher Education Area and has adopted the Salzburg Principles. In this context, it is considered that:
Once the programme has been completed, the future doctor must have demonstrated:
The title of Doctor will be awarded to students who have demonstrated acquisition of the competences above and that have:
12 yearly
The department has 4 main research areas, focusing mainly on the following:
| Research Area | Research topics |
| Citizens and political behaviour |
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| Democracy, plurinational societies, federalism and immigration |
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| Public policy |
|
| Sociodemography Social demography |
|
Candidates who meet the admission prerequisites will be admitted according to the following criteria:
Once students have completed the Oficial Masters Programme, which represents a taught training period, access to the PhD programme represents the start of the research period that culminates with the reading of the thesis.
During the first year of research, the student is expected to prepare a detailed and sound thesis project and defend it before an evaluation commission. This way, from the second year onwards, the student can advance in his or her research having a clear topic, hypothesis and methodology to follow. The requirement to define the research project in the first year should permit completion of the Thesis during the subsequent 3 years, hence it is expected that students invest a total of four years (one to prepare the project and 3 to complete it).
In order to meet these objectives, students have at their disposal a training programme to reinforce their skills and the methodological tools at their disposal. Students also have the opportunity to take advanced courses to improve their knowledge in the disciplinary field they wish to realise their Doctoral Thesis in.
According to the University's Student Permanence Regulations, for credits that make up the compulsory training as well as the defense of the Thesis Project, students have one examination session per academic year. In the case of not achieving the required standard, students have the opportunity to resit or resubmit their work in the examination session the following year. In order to continue enrolled after their first year, students are required to have passed at least 50% of the first year credits.
Students must have passed the compulsory seminars by the time their Thesis Project is presented. The Department offers the possibility to resit any one of these seminars during the third term, before the date set for the thesis project presentation.
The Thesis Project must be approved by the end of the second academic year in the PhD Programme. The Doctoral Thesis itself must be read before the end of the third academic year following acceptance of the Thesis Project on a full time basis, and before the end of the sixth academic year if registered part time.
As a general rule, full time student dedication is expected. In exceptional and justified cases, students can request the Postgraduate Commission (Commission of Third Cycle Studies) to accept petitions for part time dedication.
The research training programme consists of a set of formative activities; some are specifically aimed at first year research students while the rest are directed to all research students. These are:
All students admitted to the programme must meet with the Postgraduate Coordinator and the Director responsible for the research area he or she wishes to develop their Thesis. In this initial meeting the Director of the relevant research area, in accordance with the student's research interest, will evaluate whether to tutorise the student during his first year or nominate another person from within the department to become the students tutor. If applicable, the relevant professor will be consulted with regards to his availability. Students can request to be tutorised by a given professor in advance and all such requests will be considered.
As a general rule, no professor will tutorise more than two students.
Once a tutor has been assigned, he or she will evaluate the training requirements of the student and together they will draw up an initial schedule of activities for the first academic year. The tutor assigned and the personalised schedule of activities will be formalised in a document that must be signed by the student, the Tutor and the Postgraduate Coordinator.
The frequency and length of meetings between tutor and student should be decided between them. The aim should be to ensure the student advances appropriately in the preparation of his thesis project. As a rule, tutorial sessions must take place at least every four weeks for full time students and eight weeks for part time students.
Once the thesis project has been approved, the Postgraduate Commission will nominate a thesis director taking into account the students' prior written proposition. The Director of Thesis may be the same person who acted as the student's tutor in his or her first year. When a different person is proposed as Director, it must be accepted and agreed by both the Tutor and the future Director.
Doctoral thesis directors must be Doctors and teachers in the Department with an accredited research experience. In exceptional cases, and following a request from a student, a Doctor who does not belong to the Department may be accepted as director of his or her thesis. In such cases, the Postgraduate Commission will name a Thesis Tutor from within the Department's staff.
Co direction between members of the Department and academics from other national or international institutions will be accepted if applicable, and when the topic and research design justify it.
In order to ensure professors are able to dedicate enought time to each research student, professors are disencouraged from directing more than four doctoral theses at any one time.
During the three year period established to complete the research project, the Thesis Director and the student will establish the rhythm and structure of tutorial sessions that is most appropriate. However there must be at least 5 tutorials per year. These can be face to face, by email or telephone.
Every academic year, the Thesis Director will write a report detailing the activities undertaken, progress on the research project and the future prospects and expectations for his or her students.
Before the start of each academic year, the Postgraduate Coordinator will present a report to the relevant University Commission, detailing the progress of each research student during the preceding year. This will include information on his or her assistance and participation in the Thesis Seminars and Research Forums of the Department.
During the first term of each academic year there will be a Basic Research Tools Seminar compulsory for all first year research students.
Participation in the seminar will be evaluated as satisfactory or unsatisafactory. Students who are classed as unsatisfactory are able to resit once.
All first year research students must attend a compulsory Research Design Seminar that will take place in the first or second term. The programme offers two such seminars with complementary contents in order to cover the requirements of the different types of research the Department is involved in. Each research student must decide with his Tutor which seminar is most appropriate in relation to his or her research proposal. Students are able to assist to both if it is considered suitable or appropriate.
Participation in the seminar will be evaluated as satisfactory or unsatisafactory. Students who are classed as unsatisfactory are able to resit once.
In cases where students are admitted to the programme without having first completed the UPF's Official Masters in Political and Social Science and that have been found to lack the required prior training the Postgraduate Commission will decide, taking into consideration the Tutors' evaluation, which equalising courses the student must take in his or her first year. These courses will be taken from the range of compulsory and optional courses offered in the official masters.
Research students can take, on a voluntary basis, any of the courses offered in the Official Master's programmes to deepen their knowledge in a specific field.
The Department organisers a Thesis Seminar where all research students who have already registered their Thesis Project present, on an annual basis, the state of their research to members of the Department.
Depending on the progress of their research, students may centre their presentation on the theoretical framework, the methodological aspects, or on the completed parts of the Thesis.
The seminar is coordinated by a departmental professor who, at the beginning of each academic year, will elaborate and publish a schedule of the presentations after consultation, and in agreement with, the students and their directors.
The schedule must aim to maximise the number of departmental staff able to assist and make the speakers' Thesis Director or Tutor's assistance possible.
Students must deliver in advance the paper they will present to the coordinator in order to allow time for it to be distributed and read by other attendees before the seminar.
The coordinator will elaborate a summary of the main comments made, points discussed and recommendations made during the session which will be forwarded to the relevant research student and his or her Thesis Director. This document will constitute an important tool for the student to improve his or her research.
The coordinator will also produce a written evaluation of each presentation that will be forwarded to the Department Director and the Postgraduate Coordinator. This will form part of the Department's annual evaluation on the progress of each of its research students.
The Thesis Seminar is compulsory for all research students.
Every fortnight the department organises Research Forums that consist of conferences or seminars by UPF professors and researchers, visiting professors or specially invited renowned academics. In these Research forums, innovative lines in research, project results, research reports or new methodologies applied to specific research fields are presented.
Research student's assistance is compulsory. It is an opportunity for students to engage in up to date information on current research, meet renowned academics and for students to network. It is also an opportunity to discuss and comment with the speaker aspects that might be related to one's own research.
At the start of each academic year, the Research Forum coordinators will meet with the students to discuss the topics which most interest them based on their research, and will then draw up a list of possible speakers.
Each Director of Thesis will assess and decide with the research student on the realisation of other training activities throughout his or her research period. Amongst these are:
Students admitted to the PhD programme must prepare during their first year a Thesis Project. At the end of this first year, the thesis project must be defended publicly before a tribunal.
It must consist of no more than 30 pages (excluding bibliography) and must include the following sections:
The postgraduate commission will fix each year, and in advance, the specific dates in which Thesis Project presentations take place. This will be between the 15th of May and the 15th of June.
The tribunal will be composed of three members, at least one of which will be from the Department. The same tribunal will qualify all thesis projects presented that year. The Thesis Project will be qualified as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
If qualified as satisfactory, the project will be inscribed in the Department. If the project presented is considered unsatisfactory, the student is able to present the project the following year, if it is again considered to be unsatisfactory, the student will be excluded from the programme.
The department accepts two thesis formats that are considered and valued equally by the Postgraduate Commission and by the tribunal. These are:
Neither Thesis format must exceed 300 pages including bibliography (excluding annexes), based on a layout of approximately 35 lines per page and 70 characters per line.
Once the Thesis has been inscribed, it must be completed within a maximum of three years for full time students and within six years for part time students.
The Director of Thesis, or Tutor, will present to the Postgraduate Commission at the start of each academic year a written report on the research student's activities and the current state of the student's research.
The Postgraduate Commission will evaluate annually the compliance of each student with the training activities and his or her research progress.
When the research student, in accordance with his or her Director or Tutor, considers he or she is prepared to officially defend the Doctoral Thesis the Postgraduate Commission should be notified. The Commission will then seek two external evaluations from renowned academics. Once these evaluations have been received, the Commission will endorse or not the presentation of the thesis taking into consideration these evaluations and the Director of Thesis or Tutor's report.
For the Postgraduate Commission to authorise the reading of the Thesis, it must reach the minimum level of quality required for it to be published by a good publishing house if it is in a monograph format, or if it is a compilation of articles, these should be publishable by a good quality academic journal.
If the presentation of the thesis is not endorsed, the reasons and academic aspects that need revising will be laid out. Thesis can then be resubmitted to the Commission for evaluation once the relevant modifications have been made.
Theses which are based on a compilation (not a monograph) must attend to the following norms:
Once the presentation of the thesis has been endorsed, the Postgraduate Commission will propose the appointment of members to constitute the tribunal that evaluates it. The two external evaluators will form part of the tribunal unless there are expressed circumstances that advise against this.
In cases where one of the members of the tribunal is co-author of one of the articles of the Thesis being evaluated an explicit agreement by the Postgraduate Commission is required.
Where students have manifested their intention to be awarded the title of "European Doctor" and meet the requirements for obtaining it, the Department will facilitate the compliance with the established requisites.
To this end, the Postgraduate Commission will: