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PhD Candidates
Timeline: from admission to deposit
In the Download area you can find a document to help you follow all the academic and administrative processes associated with your doctoral thesis.
First year enrollment (more info)
Once you have been admitted to a doctoral programme to write your doctoral thesis, you must enroll for the first year ("primera tutela"). Depending on the time of admission, enrollment takes place in October or February; in the latter case, this enrollment is only for the second semester of the academic year.
If you have not yet done so, now is the time to find out about the particularities of theses with an International Mention, Industry Mention, or Co-supervised Thesis.
During the academic year, you have to upload to Sigma
• Supervising Agreement ("Compromiso Documental")
• Initial Research and Training Plan (PIFP)
• Activities carried out during the year, wich should be compiled in the PhD Activity Document (DAD)
At the end of the academic year, you must submit your Annual report, as well as your supervisor/s.
With all these documents, the Academic Committee grades the academic year, giving a favourable or unfavourable result. In the second case, a new report must be submitted within six months, in which the reasons for which the ordinary assessment was not favourable can be addressed. An unfavourable extraordinary assessment is a cause for Definitive withdrawal from the PhD Programme.
Annual enrollment for years 2 to 8. (more info)
In all cases (admitted in October or February), and in all academic years until the thesis is deposited, the second and subsequent years must be enroll around mid-September. Failure to enroll before the deadline given for this purpose in the academic calendar is a cause for Definitive withdrawal from the PhD Programme.
In addition to carrying out the research foreseen in the PIFP, each academic year the PhD candidate must complete the necessary doctoral activities. every year, the activities carried out must be updated in the DAD, the annual reports must be uploaded, and the academic committee of the doctoral programme will grade the academic year.
Don't forget: each year that you are working on your thesis you have to renew your enrollment for the next academic year, for four years full-time, or for seven years part-time. Bear in mind that whether you started in October or in February, every year you must renew your enrollment in September.
Academic and administrative matters (more information)
Each thesis and each doctoral candidate is different from the others, which means that all of the above may slightly change for every case.
If you have carried out research before admission (after your Master's Dissertation) you can apply for the Recognition of previous research for one of the academic years.
If there are circumstances that make it advisable to introduce changes in the people responsible for the supervision or tutoring of your thesis, you must formally request it.
During these years it is possible that your personal circumstances change, and you may not be able to devote as much time to the thesis as needed. There are several options:
- Change to part-time if you have the time to continue the thesis, but cannot devote to it full-time.
- Request a temporary leave (limited in time), if circumstances prevent you from dedicating yourself completely to the thesis. During this time your enrollment will be suspended until you notify that you are back.
- Apply for permanent withdrawal, if circumstances force you to abandon your doctorate.
Maximum date for completion of the thesis
By default you have four years full-time (seven years part-time) to finish your thesis and apply for authorisation to deposit and defend your thesis.
Don't forget: at the end of the fourth year (or the seventh part-time year) with the thesis unfinished, you must apply for an extension, if you want to have one more year to finish it.
Exceeding the maximum date for completion of the thesis without having requested authorisation to deposit the thesis is a cause for Definitive withdrawal from the PhD Programme.
Permanence (more info)
If for various reasons your file has been closed due to non-compliance with the permanence rules, you may apply for continuation if the reasons for non-compliance are justified.
Doctoral Activities (more info)
Your main mission during the thesis is to deepen the research topic proposed in the PIFP in order to complete it in the time foreseen. But a PhD is expected to have additional competences that you will be able to develop through the specific training activities organised by each doctoral programme and the transversal training activities organised by the EDUAM for all its doctoral students. Some of these activities may be compulsory, and you must complete them before you can submit your thesis.