PhD in Spanish Studies

Why do this PhD?

Do you want to do research in the prestigious field of Spanish Literature? Are you interested in the study of Spanish, one of the languages with the largest number of speakers in the world?

 Our Ph. D. program in Spanish Philology is the only philology-oriented program in the Catalonian university system awarded with the Excellence accreditation (AQU). It also possesses the Mention of Excellence at national level (ANECA).

 The hallmarks of the Ph.D. in Spanish Philology are the following:

1. Innovative research lines supported by the major research groups at the Department of Spanish Philology, which are recognized for their record of excellence at both national and international level and possess research projects founded through competitive calls.
2. The potential supervisors of your PhD thesis, belonging to the PhD faculty members of the Department of Spanish Philology, are highly renowned and prestigious in their respective fields with broad research experience.

 These two distinguishing traits will not only guarantee the quality of the training you will receive but will also allow you to apply for grants and carry out research stays in foreign centres.

Professional opportunities

This PhD programme provides the following principal career options:

• University teaching and research into Spanish language and literature.
• Editing.
• Consultancy services in the area of Spanish language and literature.
• Teaching in public or private education centres (secondary schools and universities).
• Teaching in adult-education centres.
• Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.
• Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language to immigrants.
• Publishing (production, correction, translation, dictionary-writing).
• Literary criticism.
• Literary promotion and advisory services for literary agencies.
• Research (universities, research institutes working on language studies and linguistics, archives and libraries).
• Cultural management.
• The information society (writing and collaborating with the press, publishing of contents for Internet companies, etc).
• Language services.
• Language industries and applications of new technologies.

Testimonials

Thanks to this Ph.D. program, I am a Spanish teacher at a Chinese university. Its excellent faculty has enriched me a lot, both academically and personally.

Shi Hu

The international prestige of the PhD results from the reputation of its faculty, which allowed me to pursue a co-directed dissertation. It was a very wise decision.

Piero Renato Costa

The excellence of the research groups was made me determined to choose this PhD. After one year, I am very happy: it is an enriching experience both academically and personally.

Roberta Continisio

Coordinator

Cristina Buenafuentes de la Mata

Composition of the academic tribunal for the PhD programme

• The coordinator of the PhD programme.
• Spanish Language, Hispanic Literature and Spanish as a Foreign Language (in the denomination that at the moment it has).
• Three doctors that are part of the PhD programme.

Administration

UISAD - Integrated Unit of Administrative Support - PHILOLOGIES
Building B
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
08193 Bellaterra (Barcelone, Spain)
Office: B11/276
Phone. +34 93 581 1216
uisad.filologies.tercer.cicle@uab.cat
Contact: Marta Cantero Rebollo

Thesis supervisor/s and academic tutor/s

Thesis supervision and thesis tutoring

Additional information about lines of research

See the sub-lines of research that are associated with the main lines of the PhD in Spanish Philology.

Admission application

Applicants must contact the Coordination BEFORE doing the online pre-registration.

This PhD programme has, for the 2025-2026 academic year, the following pre-registration periods:

• From April, 4th to May, 30th
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: June, 27th
• From June, 10th to July, 31st
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: October, 3rd
• From September, 1st to October, 15th
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: November, 5th
• From October, 17th to November, 28th
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: December, 19th

Documentation necessary for admission

In addition to the documentation that each programme indicates, two documents (Other documents1 and Other documents2) that serve as a wildcard are attached for each programme so that the interested person can attach other documents that he or she considers appropriate or that the PhD programme indicates.

Admissions before the established period and pre-admissions

The Doctoral School, following the indications of the coordination of the PhD programme, can issue before the start of the term of admission of an academic course, or before the end of the term of resolution, letters of admission so that you can request a scholarship or to do the visa procedures in your country. It is only necessary that you enter your application in the computer application and that you indicate it in the Observations field, where you must indicate that you need a letter of admission and the scholarship to which you are opting. If the computer application is closed, you can contact the coordination of the programme.

If you need a preadmission, the coordination of the programme can issue it if it considers it appropriate. You must contact the coordination of the programme to inform you of the procedure.

On the International Support Service website you can see more information about future foreign students related to residencies in Catalonia, legal procedures and the UAB campus.

Monitoring your application

You can monitor your application using the same page as you made it. Below are the explanations of the different stages:

• Application made by student: your pre-registration has been saved.
• Incomplete application: there are documents missing from the application.
• Validated by the administrative office: the application and attached documents have been checked.
• Admitted: the coordinator has considered the pre-registration and proposed an offer or admission.
• Offer of admission: the Doctoral School has considered the proposals for admission made by the coordinator and has made a definitive offer. The PhD student will also receive an e-mail informing them of this decision. The PhD student must wait to register.
• Waiting list: the coordinator has considered the pre-registration and has agreed on admission but there are no places on the PhD course.
• Application rejected: the coordinator or the Doctoral School have considered the application but do not agree to admission as not all the requirements have been fulfilled.

If you need it, here you will find a complementary information document on PhD studies.

Requirements and selection criteria

General access requirements

Specific access requirements

The academic committee lays emphasis on the following.

• Considerable knowledge of Spanish language and literature or linguistics, and of how to conduct original scientific research in one of these fields.
• A master's degree taught by the Department of Spanish Studies of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
• Other recognised postgraduate studies undertaken in Spain or abroad.
• Research experience in an area within the programme (research projects undertaken, publications, participation in conferences, membership of recognised research groups, etc.).
• Awards or grants for work in similar fields.
• Student record
• The thesis project must match up with the lines of research of the PhD programme.

In specific cases, the applicants will have a personal interview with lecturers on the PhD programme designated by the programme’s coordinators and the academic committee.

If the academic committee detects any gaps in a candidate's academic background, it may require the candidate to obtain up to 30 ECTS credits on bridging courses.

Selection criteria

In the event that demand exceeds the number of PD places available, the following assessment of merits will be applied:

• Academic record of the Grau. Preference will be given to those who have the best qualifications on their record. Likewise, priority will be given to those candidates who come from Spanish Philology degrees, followed by those who have studied other philology degrees (25% weighting).
• Master's degree academic record. Preference will be given to those with the highest marks on their transcript. Likewise, priority will be given to those candidates who have a Master's degree in Spanish Philology, followed by those who are related to philology. The TFM will be assessed in all cases (25% weighting).
• Research project (in line with the lines of the PD and contribution to the field of study). Priority will be given to those proposals that are in line with the research lines of the programme and which demonstrate a contribution to the field of study (weighting 40%).
• Linguistic competence. Preference will be given to those with a C2 level of Spanish according to the CEFR (10%).

Training supplements

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme, after reviewing the student's previous studies, may require taking specific training suplements,

These Training suplements  must be taken during the first year and may not exceed 30 ECTS credits. 

The complementary courses for the PD in Spanish Language and Literature are as follows:

• To take modules from one of the official master's degrees offered by the Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The CAPD will determine how many and which ones must be taken.
• Attendance (evaluated) at training courses, seminars and/or conferences held at the Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the UAB. The CAPD will determine how many and which ones must be taken.

Registration and fees

Calendar and Registration documents

After the registration

Training activities

Transversal training activities

Mandatory and optional specific activities

For this PhD programme the following training activities are scheduled.

Mandatory activities::

• Attendance at seminars or lectures given by experts in the subject area
  PhD students must give the programme coordinator certification of having attended at least 20 hours of conferences or seminars related to the area of knowledge of their thesis at the end of their study period.

• Attendance at working doctoral groups
  Students must provide certification of having attended a working doctoral group, department or research group seminars, or national or international conferences, and of having given a specialist presentation related to their research topic in at least one of these events.

Optional activities:

• Research paper sent to a high-impact scientific journal
  This involves writing a research paper, preferably in the second or third year and under the guidance of the thesis supervisor, to be sent to a high-impact scientific journal or other science publication. The topic may be directly or indirectly related to the thesis.

• Research stays in national or foreign centres, at home or abroad
  Students can undertake research stays at other universities and research centres at home or abroad, chosen for their scientific interest. At the same time, they can take other certifiable training activities

• Giving a seminar on the research project
  Students' official training records can include collaboration in disseminating their research team's work to specialist or non-specialist audiences, within or outside the department itself.

• Involvement in research project preparation
  Officially recognised training activities include those in which students take part in the different stages of research project preparation (state of the art, formulation of objectives, planning, etc.), and in other tasks carried out by the research team.

Typologies and Research Ethics

Internationalization

Foreign residencies

PhD thesis under joint international supervision

International Doctoral Research Component

Evaluation and annual review

Exceptional extension: Students in the fourth follow-up (full-time) and seventh follow-up (part-time) may request an extraordinary extension of one more year by attaching the corresponding request to the documentation required for the annual follow-up. The CAPD will authorize or not the extraordinary extension taking into account the endorsement by the thesis supervisor and the feasibility of concluding it in this year of extension.

Thesis deposit

If you want to deposit the doctoral thesis in this PhD programme, remember that you must confirm the complete application (status DI) at least 2 months before the maximum thesis completion date that appears in your file.

Look out! If you want to deposit before the end of this academic year and thus not have to pay the fees for the next course, you must confirm your deposit request before july, 18th, 2025.

At the time of making your online deposit, you must attach these documents to your application, in the section "Attach documentation": 

All PhD students

• External expert 1: Eligibility Document (thesis data deposit tab)
• External expert 2: suitability document (thesis data deposit tab)
• Court proposal (no need to sign) (deposit attached documents tab)
• Turnitin report (deposit tab attached documents)
• Sworn declaration of the Turnitin report (deposit tab attached documents)

Compendium of publications: Mandatory documentation if requested

• Compendium: Resolution of acceptance by the CAPD (thesis data deposit tab)

Writing a thesis in a language other than Catalan, Spanish and English: Mandatory documentation if requested

• Resolution if the thesis is written in a language other than Catalan, Spanish or English (attachment documents deposit tab)

Exemption from the two months prior to the thesis completion date:

• Authorization from the Doctoral School regarding the exemption from the two months prior to the thesis completion date.

Information related to the thesis

Internal Quality Assurance System of the centers

Verification

Evaluation process previous to the implementation of the degree: presentation of a proposal for a new PhD programme for AQU-Catalunya (Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia) to issue the binding evaluation for the Council of Universities (Ministry of Universities), which is the responsible agent for verification.

• Report on the PhD programme
• Resolution on verification by the Spanish Universities Council
• Registry of Universities, Centres and Degrees (RUCT)

Monitoring

Periodic monitoring process of the development and results of the PhD programme: self-evaluation carried out, every 3 years, by themselves.

• Monitoring report on the programme 2015-16
• Monitoring report on the programme 2022-23

Modification (from the las accreditation of the programme)

Process of substantial modification of the PhD programme for its improvement.

• 2025-2026 - Modification proposal (pending approval by AQU) [document in Catalan]

Accreditation

Degree implementation renewal process: presentation, every 6 years from the implementation of the programme, of a self-report so that AQU-Catalunya issues the binding evaluation for the Council of Universities, which is the body responsible for accreditation.

• Accreditation self-report
• Accreditation report
• Resolution of accreditation of the Council of Universities
• Register of Universities, centers and degrees (RUCT)

AQU VSMA Framework

Internal Quality Assurance System of the faculty

Set of processes to manage and monitor the different aspects of degrees, with the strategic objective of ensuring continuous improvement

• Internal Quality Assurance System
• Tutoring Action Plan (PAT)
• Standing Committee

Opina UAB

A channel for suggestions, complaints and praise regarding the functioning of the UAB

PhD data

• Satisfaction surveys of Doctors
• Satisfaction surveys of thesis supervisors
• Check here the results of the doctor's job placement survey
• The PhD figures

Recognition and awards

In this link you will find the doctors who have obtained the Special Prize Award in this PhD programme.