Joint, withdrawal or change of doctoral thesis supervision | Change of study hours | Temporal break | Extension | Tutorial registration | International mention | Cotutelle

For more information, check the summary of actions in the doctorate studies regulated by the Royal Decree 99/2011 [link].
 

Joint, withdrawal or change of doctoral thesis supervision

The doctoral student may apply for joint supervision, withdrawal of supervision or change of thesis (co-)supervisor.

The request will be sent to the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme which is competent in this question. The student will be informed of their decision in due course.

Change of study hours (full-time/part-time)

Doctoral studies are normally undertaken on a full-time basis. However, at the request of the doctoral student, the academic committee of the doctoral programme may authorize the doctoral student to take the course on a part-time basis. Applications for part-time studies must be submitted to the doctoral programme's Academic Commission. (More information)

Temporal break in the programme

Doctoral students may apply for a temporary break in the programme for a maximum period of one year, which may be extended for a further year. This application may be approved by the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme, provided it has previously been justified by the doctoral student. Please notice that you cannot request a temporary break if you are in a period of extension.

In addition, if the doctoral student finds him-/herself in any of the following situations, the deadline for depositing the thesis will be extended for the period of time that this situation applies, provided that this situation is properly documented in the Secretary's Office of the PhD programme.

  • temporary disability
  • risk during pregnancy
  • maternity
  • adoption or foster care
  • risk during breastfeeding
  • paternity

The application has to be presented at the Secretary's Office of the Department.

Form
 

Extension

If doctoral students are not able to deposit the thesis within the established timeframe, they can ask the Academic Commission for an extension of one year (two years for part-time doctoral students).  For students whose deadline falls in September or October, the extension has to be requested in July of the last year of the PhD,. In other cases, it has to be requested with a maximum of one month before the previously planned deadline.

Exceptionally an additional one-year extension (for both full and part-time students) can be requested, starting from the previously planned deadline. Doctoral students who fail to deposit the doctoral thesis within that deadline will be permanently withdrawn from the programme.

The procedure for applying for an extension is the following:

The application for an extension together with a supervisor report should be presented to the Secretary's Office of the Department. Notice that the application needs to be validated by the student's tutor. 
 

Thesis tutorial registration

You must register the thesis tutorial each academic year. (More information).
 

International mention

It is mandatory that "during the training period necessary to obtain the title of Doctor, the doctoral student has carried out one or more stays for at least three months outside of Spain in one or more than one prestigious higher education institution or research center, in order to complement and reinforce their research training. If more than one stay is carried out, at least one of them will have a minimum duration of one month. The stays and activities must be endorsed by the Director of the program and authorized by the Academic Committee and, once carried out and validated by the host entity, they will be incorporated into the doctoral student's activities document”.

Three periods are established to submit the request for authorization to the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program: the fifth week of the first, second and third terms of the academic year.

Please fill in one this form and send it to [email protected], together with a letter from the foreign university.
 

Cotutelle

The Academic Commission of the doctoral programme is responsible for authorizing or revoking the joint supervision of doctoral theses. Each joint tutoring will be developed within a framework of a specific cotutelle agreement between the two interested universities. The agreement will have to be approved by the Academic Commission of the PhD programme.