Admission criteria
Profile for admission
Those who are interested in enrolling on the Interuniversity Doctoral Programme in Neurosciences must have studied at least a degree course in the field of Biomedicine, Sciences or Engineering (Biology, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Veterinary studies, Physics, Mathematics, Telecommunications Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or Chemical Engineering) and an official master’s research degree that is potentially related to the aforementioned degree courses.
The student will need to have a strong vocational drive, as once the course has started, they will need to complete their training in this field that has huge scientific-professional interest and which offers the possibility of highly specialised employment. An individual interview, either in person or by video-conference, will be an essential tool to establish the candidates’ level of motivation and their qualities. Likewise, the candidates will be required to have a verified good level of English both for reading specialist literature and for understanding the activities that form part of this programme.
The Doctoral Programme does not provide any specific complementary training. Students selected by the Academic Committee shall be deemed to be fully qualified for their training as researchers within the programme, ensuring a satisfactory acquisition of the intended skills. However, according to the provisions of Article 7 of RD 99/2011, of 28 January, regulating the official teaching of PhDs, the Doctoral Programme may include specific complementary training as may be required. It shall be accessed by Degree or Bachelor Degree graduates, with at least 300 ECTS, whose studies may not include a specific content in research training, and the Academic Committee of the programme shall decide for each admitted student, depending on the admission profile, whether or not there is the need to acquire this research training. The training will be acquired by performing a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 20 ECTS in subjects of Official Masters Degrees offered by the participant universities in the area of Neuroscience or other equivalent training in terms of research competencies, in which students will enrol, advised by their tutor or supervisor, once they have enrolled in the Doctoral Programme.Specifically, these University Masters Degree subjects shall be:-Introduction to Neuroscience (8 ECTS) Experimental Techniques in Neuroscience (12 ECTS On-Line)
Once the documentation has been submitted, the institutional Coordinators will proceed to a selection of pupils based on the following criteria:Mark. The Programme Director shall establish, previously with the institutional Coordinators (Academic Committee), the mode of application of the criteria and content and assessment modes of the interview to objectively to achieve a homogeneous level in the selection of students. To do so, a scale shall be determined according to the following criteria and percentages:Criteria Weight in %:Average mark of the academic record 40% Specific training in the fields of neuroscience 15% Research merits 5% Command of English 20% Personal interview (aspects to be valued: motivation, interest, initiative, attitude, willingness to learn, oral expression) 20 %
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English
Procedure for assigning a faculty member as a doctoral thesis tutor and director
Once a student has been accepted onto the doctoral programme, the Academic Commission will assign them a tutor from among the faculty at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) participating in the programme, who will then be responsible for ensuring good interaction with the Academic Commission and adapting the training and research activities to the principles established by the programme and the Doctorate School.
Within three months of enrolment, the Academic Commission will assign each student a thesis director from among the faculty participating in the programme. The director may or may or not be the same person as the tutor, and will be responsible for guiding and ensuring the consistency of the training and research tasks, and guaranteeing that the topic of the thesis have an impact and make a novel contribution to the field. They are also responsible for guiding the thesis plan and adapting it, if required, to other projects and activities in which the PhD student is involved.
If the director is not a member of the faculty at the UPV/EHU, the tutor will act as a liaison.
Doctoral theses may also be co-directed, and the second co-director may or may not be a member of the DP. New tutors or directors may be assigned at any moment during the thesis.
For more information, see the procedures and rules.