Doctoral School / UAM

 

Procedure for the declaration of equivalence of foreign Higher Education degrees at the academic level of Doctor by the Autonomous University of Madrid (Agreement in the Governing Council of 6 March 2015, amended on 24 March 2023)

1. Scope of the equivalence statement

This procedure regulates the declaration of equivalence of doctoral degrees obtained in accordance with foreign higher education education systems to the academic level of doctorate.

Only applications for equivalence at the academic level of a PhD corresponding to lines of research developed in the Doctoral Programmes of the Autonomous University of Madrid and expressly identified in the corresponding verification reports of the Doctoral Programmes will be admitted.

The submission of the documentation for the application for equivalence of a foreign higher education degree at the academic level of a doctorate, must be made exclusively in electronic format, through the Common Electronic Registry of the General State Administration, or on a pen drive, in the Registry located in the Doctoral School (Cantoblanco campus) or in the General Registry of the UAM (Rectorate Building). In the document in the download area: "UAM Doctoral School / Doctoral Thesis / Equivalence of Degrees" you will find information to help with the steps to be taken, according to the alternative chosen, to correctly register the application for equivalence of a foreign higher education degree at the academic level of a doctorate.

2. Initiation of the procedure

The procedure will be initiated by a request from the interested party, addressed to the head of the Rectorate of the University, accompanied by the following documents:

1. Certification accrediting the applicant's nationality (authenticated photocopy of the ID card or passport).
2. Authenticated copy of the degree whose equivalence is requested or of the certification accrediting its issuance.
3. Authenticated copy of the academic certificate of the studies carried out by the applicant to obtain the title of Doctor, which states, among other things, the official duration, in academic years, of the study program followed, the subjects taken, the workload of each of them and their grades; if there is no certificate/study programme in the Doctoral Programme, it must be replaced by a declaration and/or justification from the university informing in this regard.
4. In the event that this is not accessible, a copy of the thesis will be delivered to the EDUAM on paper stamped by the university of origin and in electronic format. The EDUAM may confirm with the university of origin the veracity of the thesis.
5. An explanatory report of the doctoral thesis ("Explanatory report of the thesis" in the download area), written in Spanish or English, and signed by the interested party, indicating the members of the jury and the grade obtained. The report will indicate the public repository or website where the doctoral thesis is published and a link to the publications to which it has given rise (if they are open access).
6. The publications to which the doctoral thesis has given rise. If they are open access, the link to them is sufficient.
7. Justification of the payment of the corresponding equivalence fee (payment of the fee is made before the submission of documentation), except for the exception provided for in the corresponding regulations for beneficiaries of the temporary protection regime.
8. Responsible declaration ("Statement of Truthfulness" in the download area) that:

• The foreign degree presented has not been declared equivalent in another Spanish university.
• The documents provided are true copies of the originals.

The application and the attached documentation will be sent exclusively in electronic format, for registration with the EDUAM.

The Committee with competence in the resolution of the equivalence at the academic level of the Doctorate of the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Academic Committees of the corresponding Doctoral Programmes, may request complementary documentation when they consider it necessary.

3. Document requirements

Documents issued abroad must comply with the following requirements:

• They must be official and issued by the competent authorities, in accordance with the legal system of the country concerned.
• They must be submitted legalised through diplomatic channels or, where appropriate, by means of the Hague Convention apostille. This requirement shall not apply to documents issued by the authorities of the Member States of the European Union or signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
• Original documentation in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and Italian is accepted. In any other language, they must be accompanied by their corresponding official translation into Spanish.
• It will not be necessary to include an official translation of the copy of the doctoral thesis, or of the complementary documents that may be required.

4. Fees

The fees to be paid by the interested parties, in accordance with Article 28 of Law 53/2002, of 30 December, on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, corresponding to the initiation of the procedure, will constitute income payable for the resolution, being a necessary requirement for the processing of the file. The amount of the same will be in accordance with the eighth final provision of Law 15/2014, of 16 September, on the rationalisation of the Public Sector and other administrative reform measures, or the regulations that replace it).

5. Processing

The instruction of the procedure corresponds to the Doctoral School from where, within a period of one month from the registration of the application, the documentation will be reviewed and, where appropriate, the correction of deficiencies will be requested. These must be corrected within a maximum period of 10 working days.

The application will be informed by the Academic Committee responsible for the Doctoral Programme of the field of knowledge for which equivalence is requested, which, if it considers it necessary, may request the provision of additional documentation.

6. Resolution

The Equivalence and Thesis Defence Committee of the Doctoral School of the University, to which competences are attributed in the resolution of the equivalence at the academic level of doctorate, will adopt a proposal for a resolution. This resolution can be favorable or unfavorable.

The proposed resolution will be considered provisional in the event that it is unfavourable, This will be communicated to the interested person so that they can present allegations, within a maximum period of 10 working days, being able to provide the documentation they deem appropriate. These allegations will be assessed by the Equivalence and Thesis Defence Committee of the Doctoral School, where the proposal for the final resolution will be adopted.

The final resolution will be adopted by the Rector of the university. The decision may be favourable or unfavourable to the equivalence requested.

The period for resolving and notifying the resolution of the procedure will be six months, counting from the date on which the application and all the required documentation have been entered in the Registry.

As established in the twenty-ninth additional provision of Law 14/2000, of 29 December, on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, and in annex 2, the lack of an express resolution within the indicated period will allow the application for equivalence to be considered rejected.