Doctoral School regulations on doctoral programme assessment
Adaptation of the "Agreement of the Permanent Council of the Doctoral School on 24 May 2021" to the new Regulations for Managing Official Doctoral Studies at the UPV/EHU of 25 April 2024.
In the Agreement by the Doctoral School’s Permanent Council of 24 May 2021, the Doctoral School regulations on doctoral assessment were passed.
This agreement was adopted to make it possible for students to lodge a complaint against a negative assessment before the academic commission. This became necessary as the previous Implementing Rules for Doctorate Teaching at the UPV/EHU (AGREEMENT of 12 December 2019, by the Governing Council of the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [UPV/EHU]), only envisaged that a negative assessment could be appealed against before the Doctoral School, and not before the academic commission itself, which makes the initial evaluation.
The new Regulations for Managing Official Doctoral Studies at the UPV/EHU of 25 April 2024, do indeed envisage this possibility in Article 17. Assessment of progress.
Enrolment on a doctoral programme entitles the student to two annual assessment sessions: the ordinary and the extraordinary session. The specific periods of assessment will be duly announced by the UPV/EHU to its doctoral students, as well as to the thesis directors, tutors and members of the academic commissions. These periods will be outlined as follows:
| Action | Period |
|---|---|
| The students upload their "Research and Personal Training Plan" to GAUR, along with the activities carried out on a yearly basis. | At any moment of the academic year until the start of the assessment is announced |
| A positive or negative report is issued (approval in GAUR) by the directors and tutors | At any moment of the academic year until the date of the end of this period is announced |
| Assessment by the Doctoral Programme Academic Commissions | 2 weeks after the start of the assessment |
| Appeal against the academic commissions’ assessment by the doctoral students | 5 working days after the previous action |
| Decision on the appeals by the academic commissions | 5 working days after the previous action |
Additional information
The doctoral students can upload their "Research and Personal Training Plan” and the activities carried out on an annual basis to GAUR at any point in the year, as long as they do so before the period of assessment corresponding to each session begins.
Likewise, the tutors and directors can approve the “Research and Personal Training Plan" and the activities carried out on an annual basis at any point throughout the year until the date of the end of this period is announced by the UPV/EHU.
The directors and tutors’ report entails approving (or not), in GAUR, the “Research and Personal Training Plan” and the “Activities Document” that is generated through the activities given by the students.
Once they have seen the report issued by the directors and tutors, the academic commissions must assess their students. The record of each student that receives a positive assessment can be immediately generated in GAUR. Negative assessments, on the other hand, are considered provisional and the record for each student must not be generated until any appeals that may arise within the set deadlines have been decided.
The Doctoral School will be responsible for notifying those doctoral students who have received a provisional negative assessment (all notifications shall be made exclusively by means of the students' institutional UPV/EHU email:…@ikasle.ehu.eus or …@ehu.eus. These students will have 5 working days to submit their appeal against the negative assessment before the academic commission, in accordance with the official assessment schedule. For this purpose, the doctoral student must write to the members of the academic commission by email, attaching the appeals form available below ("Appeal against a negative assessment in doctoral studies before the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme"). After this deadline, the record can be generated for those students who have not submitted any appeal.
IMPORTANT: In accordance with the Regulations for Managing Official Doctoral Studies at the UPV/EHU of 25 April 2024, in the event of a second consecutive negative assessment, the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme must issue a reasoned report, after a hearing with the interested party, and after compiling any information they deem necessary. Said hearing must be expressly requested by the student in question within the period for "Appeals by doctoral students against the academic commissions' assessment" that is established in the official assessment schedule. To that end, they must send the appeals form available below ("Appeal against a negative assessment in doctoral studies before the doctoral programme's Academic Commission") by email to the academic commission.
The academic commissions will have 5 working days to settle any appeals or complaints they receive, pursuant to the official assessment schedule, after which they will be required to generate the records for these students. It is important to remember that, should the extraordinary session result in a positive assessment, apart from recording the new outcome in GAUR, the justifying comments must also be modified.
Once again, the Doctoral School will be responsible for notifying those doctoral students whose appeals have not been accepted of the option to lodge an appeal before the Doctoral School itself within a period of 10 working days as from the date of the notification. To that end, the appeals form available below ("Appeal against a negative assessment in doctoral studies before the Doctoral School") must be sent in the manner indicated therein. In the case that this second appeal is also dismissed, the doctoral student may lodge an appeal for a review of the decision before the Vice-chancellor within a period of one month.
The Doctoral School will dismiss any appeal that has not previously been brought before the academic commissions.
In the event that this second complaint is rejected, the doctoral student may lodge an appeal within a period of one month from the day following the date of notification with the Comisión Administrativa de Recursos, Dictamen y Simplificación de la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea COARD/EISBA.
The doctoral student will be definitively dropped from the doctoral programme if the two consecutive negative assessments remain after exhausting all the appeal channels at the UPV/EHU.