Admission: New Doctoral Studies regulated by RD 99/2011

In general, to gain access to an official PhD programme the candidate must hold a Spanish degree or equivalent and a Master's degree.

Access may be granted where the following cases apply:

• Hold an official Spanish university degree or a degree from another country in the EEES which grants access to a Master's degree in accordance with article 16 of RD 1393/2007, of 29 October, and have achieved a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in university studies of which at least 60 must be at Master's level. In this case we must remember that the official university degree obtained correspondence to Level 2 of the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (MECES), for official titles of Graduate or Engineer will be accounted for as a degree of 180 ECTS.

• Hold an official Spanish qualification at graduate level, the duration of which, in accordance with community law, must be at least 300 ECTS credits. These graduates must take compulsory background credit referred to in article 7.2 of RD 99/2011, except where the syllabus of the degree course includes research training credits equivalent to the research credits awarded on Master's courses.

• University graduates who, before obtaining a place as a result of the entrance exam for specialist health courses, have passed at least two years of a programme for an official qualification in one of the Health Science specialisations.

• Holder of a qualification obtained in accordance with foreign educational systems without the need for official recognition, having previously confirmed with the university that this qualification accredits a level of training equivalent to the official Spanish university Master's degree and that it would serve as a means of access to a PhD in the country in which it was awarded. This admission does not under any circumstances imply official recognition of the previous qualification or recognition for any purpose other than access to PhD studies.

• Holders of another Spanish PhD qualification, obtained in accordance with the previous university's rules.

• Holders of a degree who also have the Diploma of Advanced Studies obtained in accordance with the provisions of RD 778/1998, of 30 April, or have achieved research proficiency under the terms outlined in RD 185/1985, of 23 January.

• Hold an official university degree which has obtained correspondence to leve 3 ot the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (MECES), for official degrees of Architect, Enginner or Bachelor.

At the time of admission, the assignment of tutor, director and line of investigation will be necessary.

Admission to the PhD programme is decided by the Rector and depends on having passed the bridging courses, where they exist.

Each PhD programme can set specific access requirements, which can be consulted in the information sheet of each PhD programme, section 'Specific access requirements'.

Check the Spanish Studies chart.

 

Admissions

Candidates who wish to access a PhD programme must apply to the academic committee for admissions using the online application form and follow the procedure established by the coordinators or administrative managers responsible for the PhD programme for the proposal of a tutor and thesis supervisor.

Check the admission periods on the website of the chosen PhD programme.

You can find more information about the academic tutor and supervisor of the thesis in the section "Research and supervision" in each PhD programme file.

Before beginning your application make sure you satisfy the admission requirements, have all the necessary documents which you will need to scan and have seen the admissions calendar.

If you want to apply for a place on a PhD programme, please note the sections that you must fill in on the application form.

The applicant must also propose if he wants to do the thesis full-time or part-time. You will find more information on this page.

Admission to the PhD involves the assignment of director / s, tutor, research line / s, dedication (full or part time) and training complements, if applicable.

We recommend that you check this video before starting the application (video in Spanish; click on the CC button to display the English subtitles):

Summary of the steps to follow in your application

1. To access the application form, you will need a university identification number (NIU) and a password. To obtain these:
   • If you are not a UAB student, enter identification details to register.
   • If you are already of have been a UAB student, but you cannot remember your NIU and/or your password, re-enter your identification details to recover them.


2. Select the PhD programme that interests you.


3. Enter your personal and academic details in the appropriate parts of the application form. Your name and surname must be those that appear on your DNI, passport, NIE or identity card of your country.


4. Scan the necessary personal and academic documents and attach them to your application. Documents should be in .pdf, .jpg o .doc format (maximum 4 MB). 

   1. Consult the file of the PhD programme you have chosen beforehand. In the Admissions tab, you will find the documentation section.

   2. Prepare the documents. Check here  which attach.

   At this link you can find the document that you need to include which gives the approval of your supervisor/tutor (filled in and signed), in case it is a program requirement (if the thesis supervisor is external to the UAB, it will first be necessary that, when you do the pre-registration, you check if it is already listed as an internal supervisor -you must search for the supervisor by surname and if you find him/her with a code, you must select him/her since is registered-). Consult the documentation section (tab "Admission") on your PhD programme webpage to check if there is another document model. Failure to include documents requested in each of the specific sections of the application may lead to the denial of your application.           3.Connect to sia.uab.cat. Make the request and attach the necessary documentation.
5. Remember that you must present this same access documentation to register. Check this link for more information.


6. You can download the proof of receipt of your application. Decisions on applications will be sent by e-mail to the address indicated in the pre-registration application. You can consult the stage of the application process at the same link as the application form. If you need an early admission motivated by a scholarship, you must indicate it in the field of observations as well as indicate for which scholarship. The coordination of the program, depending on the situation, will resolve your early admission, if applicable.

Consult some indications that may be useful for you to pre-register online:

1. What to do if you have taken a master's degree in Spain and you do not find it in the list of masters that are listed in the university where you studied it?
   If you have a master's degree (official) in a Spanish university and when you indicate the university does not appear in the list of masters, you can indicate as follow:
   1. Choose the option "Master obtained outside Spain".
   2. In the country selection popup screen, enter "Spain" and search for the university (you can use * to facilitate the search, for example: * Rioja *).
   3. In the field of studies indicate the name of the studies you have taken (for example: "Master in Information Technology").
   
   Remember that you will have to indicate if you have finished it or not and, once informed this field, click the 'Next' button to continue the online application.

2. Considerations for filling in personal information
   1. In the institutional email field, if you do not have it indicated, you must add your personal email address.
   2. As for the addresses, you have to incorporate both the usual and the during the course. If the latter does not yet know, you must indicate the same address that you indicated in the usual address.
   3. Regarding the birth zip code, if you were born in a Spanish population that has more than one code, you can indicate any of them.

3. If you apply for more than one doctorate at the UAB, the application will retrieve the information of the mandatory documentation that you indicated in the first application for doctoral access. If the second request asks for other documentation, you can indicate it in the optional documents.

4. If you do not find your university registered in the system, you must select any other university in your country and in the field of observations of the same application indicate the name of the university where you got the degree.

5. If you choose the option of pursuing the PhD part-time, you must attach this application form (document in Spanish) with the mandatory documentation of the PhD programme.

YOU CAN NOW ACCESS THE PRE-REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM

Once your application has been saved, you will enter the selection process. You will receive the result of the resolution in a personalized way in the e-mail that you indicates in the application for admission, accordint to the schedule of every PhD programme. Check the spam tray to verify that it has not been treated as junk mail.

In general, the pre-registrations begin from 18 April but you should consult the website for your PhD programme to see if there is a specific calendar.

Documents for admission

The required documents may be presented in Catalan, Spanish or English. Any documents issued in French, Italian or Portuguese can be presented as translations carried out by the UAB Language Service. Applicants must organise their own translations and pay for them. For documents issued in any other language, they must be presented as translation into Catalan, Spanish or English by a sworn translator, working for any diplomatic or consular service of Spain abroad or the Spanish consular or diplomatic representation of the applicant’s national country.

To legalise the documents accrediting studies carried out abroad, follow the procedure set out in the 'Legalistion' section of this website. Non-legalised documents may be presented for admission to the PhD programme even though legalisation will be required for the registration stage.

If, at the time of application, you still do not have the corresponding certificate or provisional certificate, because you have not yet completed your studies you must indicate this on the application form and admission proposal in the “Academic details” section by marking the option "Pending completion".

Admission will be conditioned on obtaining the degree. Once you have submitted a copy of the Substitute Certificate of the title to the Doctoral School, the final admission will be generated and from this date the term of one month will be counted for enrolment.

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. This status is provisional until the Doctoral School has considered the proposal and makes the final resolution. The notification is sent to the person concerned by email.
• Offer of admission: the Doctoral School has made a definitive offer. The PhD student must wait to register.
• Waiting list: the coordinator has considered the pre-registration and has agreed on admission but there ara 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.

 

6. Once you receive the notification of the acceptance of the admission, in case you need it, here you will find a document of complementary information of the PhD studies.
   Once you receive the notification, you must complete the following procedures:
   • Register for the PhD programme within the period of one month at the Doctoral School. Go to the 'Registration' section.
   • You should check the dates for future action as all the stages have a fixed deadline. If you do not meet the deadlines your admission to the PhD programme will be null and void. See the section 'What is new in Royal Decree 99/2011?'.
   • To complete your registration in the case of studies carried out abroad please see the legalisations section.
   • Once you have completed your registration for the first year, every year after that you will have to register and pay the corresponding fees within the established calendar, which you will find on this website. Normally registration and payment are carried out in October.

 

If you did not find in this page the information you need, you can contact the Doctoral School at ed.admissions@uab.cat (if you send an email, you must identify yourself by indicating your ID / passport, NIU, name and surname).

To continue the doctoral studies you must re-apply for the doctorate according to the admission requirements and following the procedure for new students.

 

You are switching to a different PhD programme governed by RD 99/2011:

If you are registered on a PhD programme and you want to switch to another PhD programme governed by RD 99/2011, you must apply to join the programme through the general procedure for the admission to a PhD Programme but providind as complementary document in the pre-registration application the Report on a change of PhD programme.

To obtain the password for self-registration, follow this link.

Remember:

Once admitted you should contact the coordination of the PhD programme to process in this new programme the research plan, the activity document and the commitment document. In the 'After registration' tab of your PhD programme, you will find information on these procedures.

 

If you did not find in this page the information you need, you can contact the Doctoral School at ed.admissions@uab.cat (if you send an email, you must identify yourself by indicating your ID / passport, NIU, name and surname).