(This translation into English is of an informative nature. The official version is originally in Catalan)

Adapting the PhD courses run by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) to the new General Regulations has entailed the introduction of a new regulatory framework for the courses in question. As part of that framework, the Board of Governors has approved the Regulation of the Doctoral School and the new Academic Regulations on PhD Courses through its resolutions of 13 July 2011 and 20 June 2012 respectively.

The content of the Regulation of the Doctoral School defines, among other things, the functions of each PhD programme's academic committee, one of which is authorizing the joint supervision of doctoral theses. The purpose of these new regulations on such supervision is to govern, as of their approval and for any UPF doctoral student, the production of doctoral theses under joint supervision arrangements with universities in other countries.

Article 1. Object

The object of these regulations is to govern the production of doctoral theses at UPF under joint supervision arrangements with universities in other countries.

Article 2. General system and scope

These regulations shall apply to all UPF's doctoral students, regardless of when they began their PhD studies and the regulations in force when they did so.

The system applicable to admission to PhD studies and the submission and defence of doctoral theses shall be that to which all UPF's doctoral students must adhere.

Article 3. Joint supervision authorization and specific agreement approval

The corresponding PhD programme's academic committee shall decide whether to grant or refuse permission for a doctoral thesis to be jointly supervised.

Each joint supervision arrangement shall be the object of a specific agreement between the two universities involved. The said agreement must also meet with the approval of the corresponding PhD programme's academic committee.

Article 4. Doctoral thesis supervisors

Each doctoral student preparing a jointly supervised thesis shall have a supervisor from each of the universities involved, who shall oversee and be responsible for the student's work. The two supervisors must carry out their task in a coordinated fashion.

Article 5. Enrolment

The doctoral student must enrol for the supervision and continuous assessment of their thesis at both the corresponding universities on an annual basis, including the academic year in which they submit their thesis.

At UPF, the student must pay the public fees that the Catalan government has established for academic teaching services, as well as any other fees approved by the University's Board of Trustees.

Article 6. Doctoral thesis preparation and research periods

The time taken to prepare a thesis may not exceed that specified by the two universities awarding the PhD, and must be divided between them in the form of alternate research periods at each institution. The doctoral student must spend at least nine months at one of the universities and the rest of their time at the other. The student's time at each university may be spent all at once or in different spells.

Article 7. Doctoral thesis board

The two universities involved shall reach an agreement on the appointment of the board before which the doctoral thesis is to be defended. The composition of the board must be in accordance with the laws of the country in which the defence is to take place.

Article 8. Doctoral thesis defence

The doctoral student shall defend their thesis in just one of the two universities involved. The corresponding arrangement must be the object of a clause included in the agreement signed by both institutions.

Article 9. PhD certificate

By virtue of the agreement established and on the basis of the doctoral student's single defence of their thesis, each university shall issue its own corresponding PhD certificate, subject to payment of the applicable fees.

Article 10. Publication

The doctoral student's two supervising institutions shall guarantee the publication, use and protection of the results of the research carried out, in accordance with the specific procedures of each of the relevant countries.

Repealing provision

These regulations revoke the Regulations on the Joint Supervision of Doctoral Theses approved by the Board of Governors on 18 February 2003.