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Requirements to access doctoral studies


 

Royal Decree 99/2011, dated 28 January, regulating official doctorate courses, establishes in Article 6, “Eligibility to study for doctorates”, the level of prior studies making a student eligible to enter a Doctorate Programme (see download area).

In general, students who wish to study an official doctorate programme must hold an official Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualifications, and a university Master’s Degree, or equivalent, provided that they have passed a total of at least 300 ECTS credits in these two degree courses.

Students who provide proof of the following qualifications may also study the programme (see complete list in Article 6 of the Royal Decree):

  • Hold a degree (or provisional degree certification) from a country in the European Higher Education Area that gives students eligibility in the country in question to study Master’s Degree courses, provided that they have passed a minimum total of 300 ECTS credits in all official university courses, of which at least 60 credits have been at Master’s level.
  • Hold a degree obtained under foreign educational systems, without the need for validation if the university has verified that the degree certifies a level of studies equivalent to that of an official Spanish University Master’s Degree and that it provides eligibility for students to take Doctorate studies in the country that issued the diploma.
  • Hold a Spanish PhD degree obtained under previous university regulations.
  • Hold an official university Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture or Engineering, or a diploma that is certified as corresponding to level 3 of the Master’s Degree of the Spanish Higher Education Qualifications Framework (MECES), corresponding to the Second Cycle of the Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA).
  • Hold a university degree and have obtained a place on a course and studied for at least two years with pass grades on a Spanish state programme to obtain an official qualification in one of the specialities in the Health Sciences.