Access, Admission and Enrollment

REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCESS TO THE DOCTORATE (Art. 6. RD 99/2011)

According to article 6 of RD 99/2011 the requirements for access to the doctoral programme are:

1. In general, for access to an official Doctoral Programme it will be necessary to be in possession of the official Spanish Bachelor's degree, or equivalent, and Master's degree, or equivalent, provided that at least 300 ECTs credits have been passed in the set of these two teachings.

2. Access is also open to those who are in one of the following situations:

Holding an official Spanish university degree, or from another country belonging to the European Higher Education Area, which enables access to a Master's degree in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, and having passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in the set of official university studies, of which at least 60 must be at Master's level.
To be in possession of an official Spanish Graduate degree, the duration of which, in accordance with the rules of Community law, is at least 300 ECTS credits. These graduates must take the complementary training referred to in article 7.2 of this regulation, unless the syllabus of the corresponding bachelor's degree includes research training credits, equivalent in training value to the research credits from the master's degree.
University graduates who, after obtaining a place in training in the corresponding entrance examination for specialised health training places, have passed with a positive evaluation at least two years of training in a Programme for obtaining the official qualification in one of the specialities in Health Sciences.
Holding a degree obtained in accordance with foreign educational systems, without the need for homologation, after verification by the university that this accredits a level of training equivalent to that of the official Spanish Master's degree and that it entitles the holder to access doctoral studies in the country issuing the degree. This admission will not imply, in any case, the homologation of the previous degree held by the interested party or its recognition for purposes other than access to doctoral studies.
Holding another Spanish doctoral degree obtained in accordance with previous university regulations.
To be in possession of an official university degree that has obtained the correspondence to level 3 of the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education, in accordance with the procedure established in Royal Decree 967/2014, of 21 November, which establishes the requirements and procedure for the homologation and declaration of equivalence to an official university degree and academic level and for the validation of foreign higher education studies, and the procedure for determining the correspondence to the levels of the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education of the official degrees of Architect, Engineer, Graduate, Technical Architect, Technical Engineer and Graduate.

REGISTRATION PROCESS

PRE-REGISTRATION

Pre-registration Calendar

Consult the pre-enrolment and enrolment calendar here. The information on the website is updated periodically, we recommend that you check it frequently.

Pre-enrolment in Doctoral Programmes

The Doctoral Thesis is an original research work prepared by the PhD student in a field of knowledge associated with the lines of research of the programme he/she is studying. It is recommended to contact the doctoral programme, research group or researcher beforehand to explore the possibilities of doing a doctoral thesis.

Pre-registration is done through the "Helios" system. Therefore, before you can enrol you must pre-register by filling in the following web form and you must be admitted by the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme (CAPD).

Once you have been admitted, you must formalise your enrolment within the established deadline.

Before proceeding with the online registration, please consult all the registration instructions (including the request for an appointment).

Pre-enrolment for the academic year 2021-2022 is now open. The application period is from 15 January 2021 to 31 May 2021.

Students who are admitted outside the regular enrolment period (September-October), must formalise their enrolment at the Student Secretary's Office as soon as possible after receiving the letter of admission.

Submission of documentation and programme selection in Helios

Pre-registration / Choice of degree / Type / Doctorate / Doctorate in Rural Development Project Planning and Sustainable Management (R.D. 99/2011). When you pre-enrol you will get a .pdf document which is the document that proves the contact with the University. You must attach in pdf of less than 1Mb each of the following mandatory documents:

- Spanish National Identity Card or Passport. IMPORTANT: ID cards from other countries are not valid.

- CV(For PhD candidates include research plan proposal).

- Handwritten motivation letter.

- Letter of recommendation, a maximum of 2 letters will be evaluated.

- Undergraduate and postgraduate university degree, if you have one.

- Official undergraduate and postgraduate academic transcript, if available. This document must be issued, stamped and signed by the academic authorities of the university of origin. Documents generated through websites will not be accepted, as they have no academic validity.

- Official document issued by the university of origin, where you obtained your bachelor's or master's degree, signed by the academic authorities of that university, stating that the degree you provide would qualify you for access to doctoral studies in the country to which that university belongs. (For doctoral candidates with degrees issued in countries outside the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

Optional documents:

- English or Spanish language degree or certificate.

- Application form for part-time mode and documentation proving that the requirements are met. To be included together with the letter of motivation.

Notes:

Although it is necessary to have completed the entrance qualification in order to obtain access, it is possible to pre-enrol without it. In this case, access will be conditional, and the proof of application for the qualification must be sent to helios@upm.es as soon as it is available. If, once enrolment has been completed, proof of having obtained the qualification has not been provided, the place assigned with admission will be lost.
Exceptionally, unlegalised documentation will be accepted in the online application. If students are admitted, they will have a maximum period of two months after enrolment to present the original legalised documents to the Secretary's Office of their centres. Failure to present these documents will result in the cancellation of the enrolment for all purposes. These documents are expected to be submitted in September, at the beginning of the face-to-face sessions.

The Vice-rectorate for Research, Innovation and Doctoral Studies, Section for Doctoral Studies and Research Support will review the documentation provided to verify that it complies with the legal requirements in Spain to be able to access the studies.

ADMISSIÓN

Evaluation and admission of candidates:

.In accordance with articles 4 and 5 of the Doctoral Model of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the Doctoral Academic Committee (CAPD) will be chaired by the Coordinator of the programme and composed of the UPM professors participating in the programme, all of them doctors as indicated in RD 99/2011. Based on these requirements, the structure of the CAPD will be formed by the coordinator, a secretary and a group of four professors, elected by the endorsers of the programme. This is the body that will carry out the student admission process.

Admission will be based on the points obtained until the number of places offered (15) is covered. The principles of gender equality, equal opportunities and merit assessment will be taken into account.

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme (CAPD) will evaluate the records of the pre-registered candidates, in accordance with the admission criteria:

CRITERION	SCORE out of 100 points	EVALUATION
TRAINING
Academic training	0 to 40 points	The following will be valued: university academic record; the awarding of prizes and other academic distinctions; and other training activities; especially specific knowledge and competences related to the lines of research of the doctoral programme*.
EXPERIENCE
Research activity	0 to 15 points	Publications, experience and stays will be valued, especially in subjects and activities related to the areas of specialisation of the doctoral programme**.
Professional and/or teaching activity	0 to 5 points	Experience will be valued, especially that related to the areas of specialisation of the doctoral programme.
LANGUAGES
Spanish language	0 to 5 points	Accreditation of knowledge of the Spanish language by means of a certificate of at least B1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or equivalent will be valued.
English language	0 to 5 points	Proof of knowledge of English language will be assessed on the basis of a certificate of at least B1 level in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or equivalent.
DOCUMENTATION
Letter of motivation	0 to 10 points	The interest in pursuing the doctoral programme, the justification of your specific knowledge and skills and the suitability of the research idea to the research lines of the doctoral programme will be assessed. In addition to your capacity for written expression and reasoning.
Letter of recommendation	0 to 10 points	The specific knowledge and skills applied in the development of previous activities, especially those related to the lines of research of the PhD programme, will be valued. In addition, the recommendation must have been issued by accredited professionals and/or researchers related to the areas of specialisation of the PhD programme.
INTERVIEW
Personal interview	0 to 10 points	Motivation, scientific and research vocation, interest in accessing the doctoral degree, the reconciliation of the candidate's scientific interests with those of the programme and the maturity of the reasoning will be assessed. In addition to their capacity for oral expression and reasoning. It will preferably be carried out by videoconference.

* If the average score in the section is less than 8, admission will not be continued.

** If the average score in the section is less than 3, admission will not be continued

Recommended entry profile

Students who meet the entry requirements described in article 6 of RD 99/2011 with specific knowledge and/or skills in planning and management of rural/local development projects; evaluation of rural/local development projects; management of rural/local development projects, human development, technologies and methods for the application of sustainable management; quantitative methods for the inventory of natural resources and land management and quantitative methods in decision-making on rural development or natural resources, which are those related to the lines of research of the PhD programme. For example, graduates of the Master's Degree in Rural Development Project Planning and Sustainable Management of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid or Master's Degrees with related competences. Students with this profile will not be required to take complementary courses.

Admission profiles according to the Verification Report

Training Complements

Publication of the list of admitted students:

Candidates must pre-enrol and obtain the pre-admission letter. Once this first phase has been passed, and if applicable, having also passed the training complements, the candidate must confirm on which date, within the academic year for which he/she has been admitted, he/she will start the programme, which may be on 1 October or 1 March. The letter of admission to the doctoral programme will be issued at that time.

All pre-admitted students who are ready to start the doctoral programme must notify the Technical Secretary's Office, who will communicate the admission and start date by e-mail. The final list of admitted students will be published on the UPM website.

REGISTRATIÓN