Regulations for Managing Official Doctoral Studies at the University of The Basque Country of 25 April 2024

Article 1. Aim.

These regulations aim to outline how doctoral studies will be managed at the University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU and have been established in accordance with Royal Decree 99/2011 of 28 January regulating official doctoral studies.

Article 2. Doctoral studies.

1. Doctoral studies constitute the third stage of official university teaching. Their aim is to enable students to acquire the competencies and skills required to conduct high-quality research.  Said studies conclude with the drafting and defence of a doctoral thesis that must include original research results.

Passing this third stage of higher education bestows on students the title of Doctor and provides them with a qualification that is official and valid throughout Spain.

2. Doctoral studies are organised into programmes run in a range of different scientific, technological, humanistic, social and artistic areas. They also include an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge, as established by the Statutes of the UPV/EHU, its operational regulations and its basic regulations for application.

3.  In accordance with that established in the verified report, doctoral studies are generally face-to-face; any non-face-to-face activity must be expressly stipulated in both the Research Plan and Personal Training Plan.

Article 3. Legal framework applying to the processing of personal data.

The processing of personal data deriving from the application of these regulations will be governed by that stipulated in Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 and in Organic Law 3/2018 of 5 December on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights, in accordance with the record of processing activities kept by the UPV/EHU.

Article 4. Dates for procedures.

For each academic year, at the behest of the Doctoral School, the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Commission will establish the dates for the access to, and admission and enrolment on the various doctoral programmes. These dates will be published on the UPV/EHU website.

Article 5. Requirements for accessing a Doctoral Programme.

1. In general, to access a doctoral programme, candidates must have an official Undergraduate (or equivalent) degree and a university Master’s (or equivalent) degree, and must have earned at least 300 ECTS credits during the course of both.

2. Compliance with any of the following requirements also provides access to a doctoral programme:

a) Holding an official Spanish university qualification or equivalent Spanish qualification, providing the candidate has earned at least 300 ECTS credits during the corresponding courses and can prove that they have reached level 3 of the Spanish Framework of Higher Education Qualifications.

b) Being in possession of a qualification issued by a foreign education system belonging to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) - no accreditation required -  which attests to the candidate having reached level 7 of the European Qualification Framework, providing the qualification provides access to doctoral studies in the country in which it is issued. Under no circumstances does access by this pathway imply the accreditation of the qualification held by the interested party, or its recognition for any purpose other than access to doctoral studies.

c) Being in possession of a qualification issued by a foreign education system outside the EHEA - no accreditation required pending verification in accordance with the procedure established by the Postgraduate Commission, which attests to the candidate having reached a level equivalent to that of an official Spanish university Master’s degree and provides access to doctoral studies in the country in which it is issued. Under no circumstances does access by this pathway imply the accreditation of the qualification held by the interested party, or its recognition for any purpose other than access to doctoral studies.

d) Being in possession of another Doctorate.

e) Being a university graduate who, having obtained a place on a training course in the corresponding access exam for specialist healthcare training, has successfully completed at least two years of said course within a programme that leads to an official qualification in a specialist area of Health Sciences.

Article 6. Admission requirements and criteria.

1. The doctoral programme's Academic Commission may establish additional requirements and criteria to those outlined in Article 5 when selecting candidates for admission. Specifically, it may require a letter of endorsement from a researcher on the doctoral programme stating their willingness to act as supervisor of the candidate’s doctoral thesis.

2. Extra training requirements.

Admission onto a doctoral programme may include extra specific training requirements, which must be met within the maximum period of one academic year, at the beginning of the process - preferably during the first year in which the candidate is enrolled or, at the very latest, by the end of the second year. For the purposes of public fees and the bestowing of grants and study scholarships, said requirements will be considered doctoral training.

3. Admission requirements and criteria, along with the design of extra training requirements, will be established in the certified doctoral programme report, in accordance with current regulations.

4. Place reservations.

5% of places offered shall be reserved for students with a recognised degree of disability equal to or higher than 33%, as well as for students with permanent educational support needs associated with personal disability circumstances, which in previous studies have required certain resources and support to ensure full educational inclusion. If the places reserved are not filled, they will be made available to other doctoral candidates.

Article 7. Admission procedure.

1. Applications.

In general, anyone who meets the access requirements, as well as the admission requirements and criteria, or will be in a position to meet them upon enrolling, may request admission (pre-enrolment) to a doctoral programme within the established deadline. 

The admission of those with a qualification issued in a foreign country outside the EHEA will require authorisation from the Postgraduate Commission. Authorisation requests may be submitted prior to the admissions period, following the procedure established for this purpose by the Postgraduate Commission and published on the UPV/EHU website. In the event of a candidate not having submitted a request for or obtained the aforementioned authorisation at the moment they request admission onto the course (pre-enrolment), they may continue with the admissions process on a conditional basis, with said admission being automatically rendered null and void if they fail to obtain the necessary authorisation within the deadline established for formalising their enrolment in the timeframe approved by the Postgraduate Commission for each academic year.

2. Admission.

After the end of the corresponding admission application period, each doctoral programme’s Academic Commission will assess applications in light of the admission requirements and criteria set and will send the proposed decision to all interested parties within the established timeframe. The Academic Commission will also inform successful candidates of any additional training requirements with which they may be obliged to comply.

Interested parties have 3 working days in which to lodge an appeal against the proposed decision. The doctoral programme's Academic Commission will study any appeals lodged and communicate its final decision to all interested parties within the space of 10 working days.

In the event of no appeals being lodged during the established period, applications that were accepted in the proposed decision will, for all intents and purposes, be considered definitively admitted onto the course.

3. Appeal against a decision regarding admission onto a doctoral programme.

Interested parties have 3 working days in which to lodge an appeal with the Doctoral School against the definitive decision. The Doctoral School will study any appeals lodged and communicate its decision to all interested parties and the programme’s Academic Commission within the space of 10 working days. In the event of the Doctoral School also denying their appeal, the student may, within a period of one month from the date of notification, have recourse to the Vice Chancellor.

4. Publication.

The UPV/EHU undertakes to provide candidates with transparent and accessible information about all admission procedures. It also guarantees candidates access to appropriate guidance systems and undertakes to ensure that all admission information and procedures take students with disabilities or specific needs into account, placing the necessary support and consultation services at their disposal to assess all possible curricular adaptations and alternative pathways or study routes.

5. Exceptional admission procedure.

Under exceptional circumstances and for duly justified reasons (pre-doctoral contract, joint supervision or similar), a candidate may request admission onto a doctoral programme outside the established general deadline, providing they comply with all access and admission criteria.

Such applications must be submitted to the Doctoral School, which will issue its decision after first analysing the report drafted by the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme in question. Acceptance decisions will require a favourable report by the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme in question and may only be issued in those cases in which places are still available on said programme. In the event of the candidate not agreeing with the decision, they may, within a period of one month from the date of notification, submit an appeal to the Vice Chancellor or the body to which the Vice Chancellor delegates this duty. All decisions of this nature must be communicated to the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for Postgraduate Studies.

Anyone opting for this admission pathway must pay the full enrolment fee corresponding to the academic year in which their admission is formalised, regardless of the date upon which that event occurs.

Article 8. Enrolment procedure.

1. Once a candidate has been admitted, they must formalise their enrolment on the course in accordance with the established procedure and within the established timeframe. They must also pay the corresponding fee. Enrolment fees will be set by the Basque Government in its public fees order and will correspond to the entire academic year. Upon enrolling, candidates must state whether they will be studying for the doctorate full time or part time. Those opting to study part time must first gain the authorisation of the Academic Commission of the corresponding doctoral programme.

In the case of joint programmes, the agreement signed will determine the process for completing the enrolment procedure.

2. Upon enrolling, students will officially become doctoral candidatesand will be considered researchers in training.

3. If a student fails to enrol within the established deadline and in accordance with the established conditions, they may lose their place on the programme.

4. Doctoral candidates must renew their enrolment each academic year, up until the moment they present and defend their thesis.  Only doctoral candidates who are on sick leave throughout the entire academic year will be exempt from enrolling.

5. Cancellation and/or modification of enrolment in the Doctoral School.

Doctoral candidates may cancel their enrolment at any point in the academic year. This cancellation will affect the entire enrolment and will not result in the reimbursement of the public fees paid, with the exception of that outlined in section 7 of this article.

Doctoral candidates may request that their enrolment be modified in order to change from part to full time or vice versa, providing they have the prior authorisation of their programme’s Academic Commission. In the event of changing from part to full time, doctoral candidates must pay the difference in the corresponding fees. In the event of changing from full to part time, the difference in the corresponding fees will only be reimbursed if they submit their request before 31 December.

6. Failure to pay enrolment fees.

If, after enrolling, the doctoral candidate fails to pay the sum corresponding to their fees before the deadline established to that effect, they will owe the university the pending amount. Said debt will be established in a resolution issued by the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor and communicated to the interested party.

No one who has an outstanding debt with the UPV/EHU will be permitted to enrol on any course and no degrees, certificates, transfers or informative notes regarding the student's academic record will be issued. Those with outstanding debts will not be permitted to use the services provided by the UPV/EHU. Upon repayment of their debt, doctoral candidates may once again enjoy all the rights bestowed on them by their enrolment and will have access once again to the rest of the services offered by the university.

Until failure to pay has been established by means of a resolution issued by the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor, this circumstance will not affect the calculation of the deadline for completing the programme.

7. Reimbursement of fees.

In accordance with that established in article 34.6 of Legislative Decree 1/2007 of 11 September, approving the modified text of the Law on Public Rates and Fees charged by the Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, requests to cancel enrolments made in the legally established manner and within the legally established period will in no way result in the reimbursement of the fees already paid.

Public fees paid may be reimbursed under the exceptional circumstances outlined below:

• When enrolment is cancelled due to an unresolvable issue. 
• When the sum paid is higher than current prices due to a calculation error or im-proper payment resulting from a cause not attributable to the doctoral candidate.
• When sums have been paid by candidates who are exempt due to the awarding of a grant or scholarship, the existence of an agreement, or because they are eligible for an exemption or subsidy, providing the application was made and accredited in time and in the proper manner, in accordance with that established in the Order regarding Public Fees for each academic year. 
• When cancelation of enrolment and reimbursement of the corresponding fees is requested prior to the end of the official enrolment period. 
• When cancelation of enrolment is requested due to denial of the subsidy or contract applied for in order to engage in doctoral studies.
• When, at any time during the year, a student is prevented from continuing their studies during the rest of the year by exceptional, unexpected and duly-justified circumstances, such as a prolonged physical or psychiatric illness, the death of the student themselves or a first degree relative, the starting of a job whose working hours are incompatible with the continuation of the course or any other similar unexpected event. 

If such circumstances should arise, students should submit their request for reimbursement to the university register, along with the documents justifying the exceptional situation. Said request should be addressed to the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for postgraduate studies.

Article 9. Supervision and monitoring of doctoral studies

1. Doctoral candidates must enrol annually at the university and must complete a Research Plan, a Personal Training Plan and an Activities Document every academic year.

2. Doctoral candidates enrolled on a doctoral programme must comply with the corresponding legal and, where appropriate, contractual system established by the specific legislation applicable in each case.

3. Once admitted onto a doctoral programme, each candidate will be assigned a tutor by the corresponding Academic Commission, along with at least one supervisor who complies with the requirements outlined in article 10.1.

4. Doctoral candidates will be attached to the department designated by their doctoral programme’s Academic Commission. Said department shall be one of those to which their supervisor(s) and/or tutor belongs or one of the other departments participating in the programme. If the department in question is not one of those participating in the doctoral programme, it must give its authorisation before the doctoral candidate can be attached to it.

Article 10. Thesis supervision.

1. Requirements for supervising a thesis.

Any PhD holder (Doctor) with accredited research experience belonging to the corresponding doctoral programme may supervise a thesis. The teaching staff attached to all doctoral programmes must be reviewed and updated annually by the programme’s Academic Commission in accordance with that established in the regulations governing doctoral proposals, at least one month prior to the start of the admission application period.

In relation to these regulations, accredited research experience is understood to mean having had at least one research activity period recognised by the National Assessment Committee for Research Activities (CNEAI), in accordance with Royal Decree 1086/1989 of 28 August, on remunerations for university lecturers, or, in the event of not being able to accredit this activity by this means, having equivalent research merits in accordance with that stipulated by the Postgraduate Commission.

2. Functions of a thesis supervisor.

The thesis supervisor is the person ultimately responsible for guiding the research tasks performed by the doctoral candidate. They are also responsible for ensuring the consistency and suitability of the training activities in which they engage and the impact and novelty in the field of the topic of the doctoral thesis, and for guiding its planning and adaptation (where necessary) to other projects and activities in which the doctoral candidate participates.

The functions of a thesis supervisor are outlined in the Commitment Document.

3. Co-supervision.

When so required for academic reasons or due to the interdisciplinary nature of the topic, or in the case of programmes with an element of national or international collaboration, a thesis may be co-supervised by more than one PhD holder, all of whom must meet the same requirements regarding research experience (outlined in this article). Co-supervisors may not belong to the doctoral programme.

The Academic Commission must give its authorisation for any co-supervision. This authorisation may be withdrawn later on if, in the opinion of the Academic Commission, the co-supervision does not benefit the development of the thesis.

The Academic Commission may authorise the co-supervision of a thesis by PhD holders who do not comply with the accredited research experience requirement established in article 10.1.

No more than three co-supervisors may be appointed.

4. Retired, emeritus and honorary collaborating lecturers may initiate and continue thesis supervision providing said thesis is co-supervised by a member of the doctoral programme. Co-supervision will not be necessary in the event of the thesis being deposited within six months following the corresponding retirement or appointment of the supervisor.

5. Having listened to the arguments presented by the doctoral candidate or thesis supervisor, the Academic Commission may appoint a new thesis supervisor at any point during the process, providing said change is duly justified. This process may be instigated by the doctoral candidate, thesis supervisor, tutor or the Academic Commission itself.

Article 11. Tutoring.

1. Requirements for becoming a thesis tutor.

Any PhD holder from the UPV/EHU who belongs to the doctoral programme in question may serve as a thesis tutor. The same person may serve as both thesis tutor and supervisor (although this does not necessarily have to be the case).

2. Functions of a thesis tutor.

Tutors are responsible for interactions between the doctoral candidate and the Academic Commission. They are also responsible for adapting training and research activities to the principles of the programmes and, where appropriate, the Doctoral School.

The functions of a thesis tutor are outlined in the Commitment Document.

3. Having listened to the arguments presented by the doctoral candidate or thesis tutor, the Academic Commission may appoint a new thesis tutor at any point during the process, providing said change is duly justified. This process may be instigated by the doctoral candidate, thesis supervisor, thesis tutor or the Academic Commission itself.

Article 12. Procedure for appointments.

The appointment of thesis supervisors and tutors, as well as changes in said appointments, are processed by the Doctoral School at the behest of the Academic Commission of the corresponding doctoral programme.

Article 13. Duration of doctoral training.

1. The maximum period from the date the doctoral candidate enrols on the programme to the date on which they commence proceedings to deposit their doctoral thesis will be 4 years for full-time students.

Nevertheless, if the candidate obtains authorisation from the doctoral programme's Academic Commission, they may opt to study part time. In this case, the maximum period from the date the doctoral candidate enrols on the programme to the date on which they commence proceedings to deposit their doctoral thesis will be 7 years.

Doctoral candidates who opt for co-supervision or who have a pre-doctoral training contract must commit to the programme on a full-time basis, except in those cases in which the call, contract or agreement governing their activities expressly permits them to study part time.

2. The doctoral programme's Academic Commission must inform the Doctoral School whether successful candidates will be studying full time or part time.

3. If the doctoral candidate has a recognised degree of disability equal to or higher than 33%, the maximum period for completing the thesis will be 6 years in the case of full-time dedication and 9 years in the case of part-time dedication.

4. Extensions.

If the doctoral candidate fails to initiate proceedings for depositing their thesis prior to the deadlines established in sections 1, 2 and 3, they may request the doctoral programme's Academic Commission to authorise an extension for the period of 1 year, under the conditions established in the corresponding doctoral programme.

5. Doctoral candidates may request temporary leave from the programme, up to a total of 2 years. Said requests should be addressed to the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission and must be duly justified. The Academic Commission has the right to decide whether or not to grant requests of this nature.

Decisions made by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission regarding extensions and temporary leave will be communicated to the Doctoral School for processing.

Withdrawal periods are independent from the situations outlined in section 6.

6. Temporary disability, birth, adoption, legal custody for the purposes of adoption, fostering, at-risk pregnancy, risk during breastfeeding, gender-based violence or any other situation contemplated in current law that may occur during the period established above will halt the calculation of the maximum period in which doctoral studies must be completed.

7. Doctoral candidates must inform the Doctoral School of the circumstances outlined in sections 3 and 6 for processing. After verifying their veracity, the Doctoral School will inform the Academic Commission of the doctoral programme in question.

8. In relation to that outlined in the present article, doctoral candidates who disagree with any decision made by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission may lodge an appeal with the Doctoral School.

Similarly, any doctoral candidate who disagrees with a decision made by the Doctoral School may lodge an appeal with the Vice Chancellor or body to which they delegate this responsibility.

Article 14. Customised document of activities.

1. A doctoral candidate’s document of activities is a customised record of all activities that are of interest for their doctoral studies, in accordance with that established by the Academic Commission of their doctoral programme. The document of activities records all activities of interest for the doctoral candidate’s development.

A customised document of activities will be compiled for each individual doctoral candidate once they have enrolled on the programme and will reflect all activities engaged in from that moment on.

2. The customised document of activities will be reviewed on a regular basis by the candidate’s thesis tutor or supervisor and will be assessed by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission.

Article 15. Research plan and personal training plan.

1. With the help of their thesis supervisor and tutor, before the end of the first year from the date of enrolment, each doctoral candidate will compile a document that includes a research plan and a personal training plan.

This document must be updated at least once every academic year throughout the entire doctoral process, and must be registered in the doctoral candidate’s academic record.

2. The research plan must include, at the very least, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be attained, as well as the means and timeframe for the research activities to be carried out.

It must also ensure an adequate gender balance in all research activities that use animals or human beings, their data or samples as research material. Sex/gender variables must be taken into consideration in both the methodological design and in the analysis of the results, which must always be presented separately by sex/gender. Scientific justification must be given for any exception to this rule.

3. Each doctoral candidate’s personal training plan must contain an estimation of the different training activities to be carried out during the doctoral thesis (courses, seminars, mobility, etc.).

4. The research plan and personal training plan must include all activities that will be carried out in a non-face-to-face manner (subject to agreement by all parties concerned).

Article 16. Commitment document.

1. The functions associated with the supervision of a thesis are established in the commitment document, which must be signed by the doctoral candidate, tutor, supervisor(s) and the coordinator of the doctoral programme. This commitment must be signed within the space on one month from enrolment on the doctoral programme.

2. Any change of thesis tutor or supervisor will require the signing of a new commitment document.

3. The commitment document must be registered in the doctoral candidate’s file and must comply with the template approved by the Postgraduate Commission. Said template must contain, at the very least, a procedure for resolving conflicts and aspects linked to any intellectual or industrial property rights that may be generated within the scope of the doctoral programme.

4. The commitment document must explicitly state the obligation of the doctoral candidate and any supervisors belonging to the UPV/EHU to indicate their status as such in all publications and results deriving from the doctoral thesis.

5. In accordance with current legislation, the commitment document will outline the terms governing the intellectual property of the doctoral thesis, as well as those governing the principles of confidentiality and professional secrecy to which all interested parties must adhere.  

Article 17. Assessment of progress.

1. Doctoral candidates must submit the necessary documents for assessment before the deadlines established in the official calendar published on the university’s website.

Every academic year, the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission will assess the customised document of activities and the document that includes the research plan and personal training plan, taking into the account the reports issued to that effect by the thesis tutor and supervisor.

These reports must be well-reasoned and issued even if the doctoral candidate fails to submit the required documents in the established timeframe.

2. The Academic Commission’s assessment may include improvement recommendations.

When serious shortcomings are detected, the assessment will be negative and must be justified by a report specifying the shortcomings detected. This assessment will be provisional in nature and will be sent to the doctoral candidate, as well as to the thesis supervisor and tutor.

3. The doctoral candidate has 5 working days (established in the annual assessment calendar) in which to request a review of the provisional negative assessment by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission.

The doctoral programme’s Academic Commission then has a period of 5 working days (established in the assessment calendar) in which to carry out the review. Following the review, the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission will officially record the definitive assessment.

Counting from the date on which they are notified, the doctoral candidate has 10 working days in which to lodge an appeal against the definitive assessment with the Doctoral School. If they disagree with the resolution issued by the Doctoral School, they may then lodge an appeal with the Vice Chancellor or the body to whom they delegate that responsibility.

4. In the event of a negative assessment, the doctoral candidate must be reassessed within a maximum period of six months, for which purpose they must re-write the document or documents that were assessed negatively during the first round. The Academic Commission will assess said document(s) along with the reports issued for this purpose by the thesis tutor and supervisor, under the same conditions as those outlined in section 1.

In the event of serious shortcomings being detected once again, the second assessment will also be negative, prompting the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission to issue a well-reasoned report, after first having interviewed the interested party and gathered any information it may require.

Once the periods for appealing a second consecutive negative assessment by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission have transpired, the doctoral candidate will be definitively withdrawn from the doctoral programme. This withdrawal will be processed by the Doctoral School and communicated to the interested party, the Academic Commission and the department to which the doctoral candidate was attached.

5. Doctoral candidates who were temporarily on leave from the doctoral programme during the assessment period will be assessed in light of this circumstance. The doctoral programme’s Academic Commission may agree not to assess those doctoral candidates who have been on leave from the programme for over 6 months.

Article 18. Scope of application.

1. These regulations govern mobility, understood to refer to a pre-doctoral research sojourn in an institution other than the one in which the doctoral candidate is enrolled, with the aim of completing one of the phases of the thesis.

2. These regulations govern both sojourns that doctoral candidates from the UPV/EHU wish to complete at other universities and research centres in Spain or abroad (outgoing mobility) and those that doctoral candidates enrolled at another university wish to complete within a doctoral programme run by the UPV/EHU (incoming mobility). Outgoing mobility includes, among others, sojourns required from candidates wishing to earn an International Distinction.

3. Sojourns carried out within the framework of an international mobility programme will also be governed by the regulations of said mobility programme, with the Regulations governing international mobility programmes engaged in by students at the UPV/EHU being respected at all times (where appropriate).

Article 19. Outgoing mobility.

1. Any outgoing mobility sojourns must be authorised beforehand by the host institution. The sojourn must be approved by the thesis supervisor at the UPV/EHU and authorised by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission and Doctoral School.

2. Doctoral candidates who have signed a pre-doctoral contract with the UPV/EHU must obtain the corresponding license from the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Research Staff prior to the commencement of their sojourn. The Doctoral School will inform the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the UPV/EHU of any pertinent sojourns.

3. The office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for postgraduate studies and the Doctoral School will establish the protocol for organising outgoing mobility sojourns, as well as all the documents required. 

4. Sojourns will be recorded by the Doctoral School in the application designed for this purpose.

5. At the end of the sojourn, the doctoral candidate must compile a report of all activities linked to their stay at the host institution. This must include the document of activities for the corresponding academic year. They must also request a certificate from the host institution attesting to the time they spent there.

Article 20. Incoming mobility.

1. Doctoral candidates who engage in incoming mobility within one of the UPV/EHU’s doctoral programmes must sign a document accepting the conditions of their sojourn, in accordance with the template approved by the Postgraduate Commission.

Incoming mobility sojourns may last no more than 9 months per doctoral candidate and thesis.

2. The office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for Postgraduate Studies and the Doctoral School will establish the protocol for organising incoming mobility sojourns, as well as all the documents required. 

The following documents will be required in all cases:

• Document accrediting enrolment during the current academic year in the candidate’s university of origin.
• Authorisation of the doctoral programme at the candidate’s university of origin.
• Acceptance onto the host doctoral programme at the UPV/EHU.

3. The document accepting the conditions of the sojourn must be approved by the head of the Doctoral School.

4. The Doctoral School will register the data of the visiting doctoral candidate, along with the length of their sojourn and the documents indicated above, providing them with the corresponding university card.

Article 21. Mobility agreements.

When the host institution at which UPV/EHU doctoral candidates wish to complete their sojourn (outgoing mobility), or the home institution of doctoral candidates from other universities (incoming mobility) requires a collaborate agreement to be signed, the procedure to follow will be that outlined in Chapter XIV: Collaboration Agreements with External Entities.

The signing of an agreement does not exempt interested parties from submitting the documents outlined in this chapter.

Article 22. Doctoral theses.

1. Doctoral studies culminate in the presentation of a doctoral thesis. A doctoral thesis is an original piece of research carried out by the doctoral candidate in any area of study. It must attest to the candidate’s ability to work autonomously in the field of research, development and innovation (R&D&I).

2. By way of reference, a doctoral thesis must contain the following sections: abstract, introduction, background, hypotheses and aims, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions and bibliography.

3. The front page of the thesis should feature the following elements:

• ‘Universidad del País Vasco /Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea’ and the logo of the UPV/EHU.
• Title of the doctoral thesis.
• Name of the author.
• Name of the supervisor(s).
• Year.

In the case of co-supervised doctoral theses, the logo of all participating universities may be included alongside the UPV/EHU logo. The logos of organisations, companies or institutions external to the UPV/EHU may be included on the back page or inside the document, but not on the front page.

No thesis that fails to comply with these requirements may be deposited.

4. Doctoral theses may be written in any of the languages commonly used for scientific communication in the corresponding field of knowledge.

5. Doctoral theses may take the form of a compendium of publications, under the terms established in Chapter XIII of these regulations.

Article 23. Initiating the thesis deposition procedure.

1. Once the thesis has been completed, one of the supervisors will request reports from experts in the field cited in sections 2 and 3, and will inform the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission that said reports have been requested. This process marks the start of the thesis deposition procedure, and must always be completed prior to the end of the period for which the doctoral candidate is permitted to remain in the programme.

2.  The thesis must have a minimum of two reports issued by expert PhD holders in the field from outside the UPV/EHU, who may also propose possible improvements. Experts may sit on the viva panel responsible for assessing the thesis.

3. Depending on the content of the reports, the doctoral programme's Academic Commission will set the candidate a deadline for responding to the experts and, if necessary, making any modifications necessary to their doctoral thesis prior to its registration (as outlined in article 24).

Article 24. End of the deposition procedure: thesis registration.

1. Once all the previous steps have been completed, the doctoral candidate must register the deposition of the thesis and submit a request to the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for Postgraduate Studies asking it to initiate the process for opening the thesis up to public examination. This marks the end of the deposition procedure, which may last no more than 6 months from initiation to the registration of the thesis.

2. The doctoral candidate must submit the following documents:

• The thesis in digital format, following that outlined in Article 22.
• Favourable report by all thesis supervisors. 
• Favourable report by the thesis tutor.
• Favourable report by the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached. 
• Reports from external experts and, where necessary, the doctoral candidate’s response.
• Proposal for appointing members of the viva panel, made by the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached. Said proposal must state who is to be the chairperson, the secretary and the voting members, along with all possible alternates. 
• Document of activities. 
• Authorisation issued by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission after analysing the rest of the documents required.

Prior to issuing their report, the thesis supervisor must run the document through the similarity detection tool provided by the university.

3. The submission of all documents indicated in section 2 is a prerequisite for initiating the public examination process. In the event of one or more of these documents not being submitted, the doctoral candidate will be given 10 working days in which to remedy the situation.

4. When necessary, the doctoral candidate will also be required to submit the following documents:

• Request for the 'International Doctorate' distinction. 
• Request for the 'Industrial Doctorate' distinction. 
• Request for the 'Thesis in collaboration with an external entity' distinction. 
• Request for a certificate exempting the doctoral candidate from accrediting level C2 in Basque, in accordance with that outlined in article 25. 

Article 25. Certificate exempting the doctoral candidate from accrediting level C2 in Basque.

1. In accordance with Decree 47/2012 of 3 April on the recognition of official studies carried out in Basque and exemptions from having to accredit one’s level through Basque language qualifications and certificates, if they wish to obtain a certificate exempting them from accrediting level C2 in Basque, the doctoral candidate must request said certificate when registering their doctoral thesis and must comply with the following requisites:

• At least 75% of the doctoral thesis must be written in Basque, or 50% in the case of international theses. 
• At least 50% of the viva must be carried out in Basque and this circumstance must be reflected in the corresponding graduation certificate. 

2. The procedure for processing the request for a certificate exempting the doctoral candidate from accrediting level C2 in Basque and the renewal of the assessment criteria for issuing said certificate will be established by the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Basque Language.

3. The office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Basque Language will guarantee the translation resources required in each case, with the aim of enabling all members of the viva panel to understand the public presentation given by the doctoral candidate.

Article 26. Public examination of the thesis.

1. The period in which the thesis is opened to public examination must commence within a period of 15 calendar days from the date on which the documents outlined in articles 22 and 24 are submitted, except in the event of corrections being required, in which case the deadline will be calculated from the date on which said corrections are submitted. The date on which the public examination period begins will be published on the university website.

2. During this period, the doctoral thesis may be examined by other PhD holders at the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for doctoral studies. Anyone examining the thesis may send in observations regarding its content.  Said observations are confidential and must be submitted through the General UPV/EHU Registry and addressed to the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Commission.

3. In the event of observations being submitted, the Postgraduate Commission will inform the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission, the thesis supervisor and the doctoral candidate so that they may view the content and, within a maximum period of 7 calendar days from the end of the public examination process, express their opinion (in writing) to the Postgraduate Commission regarding whether to continue with or halt the process.

Article 27. Authorisation for the doctoral thesis viva and appointment of the viva panel.

1. Following the public examination period, the Postgraduate Commission will verify that the documents received and the department’s proposal for viva panel members comply with the conditions set out in Chapter VII of these regulations. If so, then it will authorise the viva and send the list of proposed viva panel members to the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies for official appointment.

2. After the panel has been appointed, the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies will send details of the appointments and authorisation of the viva to the panel members and alternates, as well as to the thesis supervisor, the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission, the Doctoral School, the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached and the doctoral candidate him or herself.

3. The office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies will also send a copy of the thesis to the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached for forwarding to the viva panel members.

Article 28. Procedures to be completed prior to the viva.

1. The department to which the doctoral candidate is attached will have a maximum of 10 working days from receipt of the viva panel appointments to send them a copy of the thesis, the customised activities document, reports by external experts and, where appropriate, the responses sent by the doctoral candidate. The customised document of activities will not receive a quantitative mark, but will rather serve as a qualitative assessment instrument complementing the assessment of the doctoral thesis itself.

2. Following receipt by the doctoral candidate of the viva panel appointments by the department, they must enrol for the viva and pay the public fees established in the order setting the price of public higher education services provided by the UPV/EHU for the corresponding academic year.

Article 29. Publishing the date of the viva.

1. Following receipt of the viva panel appointments and having heard arguments from all members, the Chairperson will publish the date, place and time of the viva at least 2 working days before it is scheduled to take place. The Secretary of the viva panel must then inform the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor, the director of the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached and the administration of the UPV/EHU centre in which the viva is to take place, to allow them to complete the necessary administrative tasks and procedures.

The place, date and time of the viva will be published on the UPV/EHU website.

2. The date of the viva will be established by the viva panel after hearing arguments from the supervisor(s) and doctoral candidate. The date must be within a maximum period of 4 months from the appointment of the viva panel.

When necessary, the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor may authorise the panel to set the date for the viva after this 4 month deadline.

Article 30. Viva.

1. The doctoral thesis will be assessed during a public event known as a viva (short for the Latin ‘viva voce'). During the viva, the doctoral candidate presents and defends their research before the members of the examination panel, outlining the preparatory work carried out, the content of the research and the conclusions drawn, with special attention being paid to original contributions.

2. Vivas can be held at any point during the year, except in August and those periods in which the university is closed.

3. Vivas are carried out in UPV/EHU facilities, except in the case of co-supervised theses or theses carried out in collaboration with other universities within the framework of inter-university doctoral programmes, if so specified in the corresponding agreement.

One of the viva panel members may participate remotely through videoconference. In such a case, the viva will be held in accordance with the technical conditions available in the centre in which it is scheduled to take place.

4. All members of the viva panel must be present during the viva.

Article 31. Viva procedure.

1. During the viva, the members of the examination panel must express their opinion about the doctoral thesis submitted and may ask as many questions and raise as many objections as they see fit. The doctoral candidate must respond to all questions and objections.

2. Any PhD holder present at the public viva may also ask questions and raise objections, to which the doctoral candidate must respond at the time and in the manner established by the panel chairperson.

Article 32. Marking the doctoral thesis.

1. Once the viva has been completed, the viva panel will issue a report, along with the overall mark awarded in accordance with the following scale: fail, pass, merit, distinction.

2. When panel members unanimously award the thesis the highest mark, they may also choose to award the ‘Cum Laude' distinction. This is decided in a secret vote and the result must be unanimous for the distinction to be awarded.

3. Similarly, the viva panel may choose to designate the thesis as a candidate for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards, providing said thesis has been awarded a ‘Cum Laude’ distinction and the panel decides to do so unanimously by secret vote.

To this end, any panel member who votes in favour of bestowing the ‘Cum Laude’ distinction must also emit a secret vote regarding whether or not to designate the thesis as a candidate for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

4. The mark awarded is recorded in the PhD Degree Certificate, which is signed by all members of the viva panel and the doctoral candidate.

The Degree Certificate will also reflect the language or languages in which the viva was carried out, and the respective percentages.

Article 33. Sending the pertinent documents to the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor.

1. Once the candidate has defended their doctoral thesis, the secretary of the viva panel must send the following documents to the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor:

• PhD Degree Certificate. 
• Viva panel’s assessment report.
• Votes regarding the ‘Cum Laude’ distinction and, where appropriate, the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.
• Authorisation form (where appropriate) granting free access to the thesis over the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport's website and the UPV/EHU repository. 

2. The thesis will be filed in the UPV/EHU library.

3. Once the doctoral theses has been approved, the UPV/EHU library will file it in open digital format in an institutional repository and will send a digital copy, along with all the complementary information required, to the Spanish Ministry of Universities so that it can be published in a national repository managed by the General Secretariat for Universities.

4. Under exceptional circumstances determined by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission (e.g., the participation of companies in the programme, the existence of confidentiality agreements with companies or the possibility of generating patents affecting the content of the thesis), the procedure to be followed will be defined by the Postgraduate Commission with a view to ensuring that certain aspects are not published.

Article 34. Cum Laude distinction and designation as a candidate for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

1. After receiving all the documents pertaining to the viva, the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies will read the secret votes regarding the Cum Laude distinction and designation of the thesis as a candidate for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

2. After counting the votes, the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies will communicate the results to the doctoral candidate, the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission, the thesis supervisor(s), the thesis tutor and the members of the viva panel, indicating whether or not the Cum Laude distinction has been bestowed and whether or not the thesis will be considered for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

Article 35. Proposals for panel members.

1. Once proceedings for requesting expert reports on the thesis have been completed by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission, the thesis supervisor will send the thesis and required documents to the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached so that it can issue a list of proposed viva panel members.

The list of proposed members must comply with that outlined in this chapter and that established by the Postgraduate Commission.

2.   If the Postgraduate Commission detects a failure to comply with one or more requisites, it will inform the department so that it can propose a new list in accordance with the regulations.

3. The following people may not be proposed as panel members:

• The thesis supervisor(s) and tutor may not form part of the viva panel, except in the case of theses submitted in the framework of co-supervision agreements with foreign universities that do allow them to sit on the panel.
• Anyone with a direct vested interest in the thesis or any other legal cause for abstention.
• PhD holders who are currently on leave.
• The person responsible for the sojourn leading to the international distinction.

Article 36. Composition of the viva panel.

1. All members of the viva panel must hold a PhD and have accredited research experience in accordance with that outlined in article 10.1. If any member is not in a position to accredit their experience by this means, they must present equivalent research merits, in accordance with that established by the Postgraduate Commission. Professionals from outside the university or clinical professionals who fail to comply with the requirement for research experience may be assessed on the basis of their curriculum vitae, and must have at least 6 years professional experience in a field related to the topic of the thesis. 

In all cases, the majority of the panel members must be external to the programme and the university at which the thesis is being defended. At least one of the viva panel members must belong to the UPV/EHU.

In accordance with that stipulated in additional provision 1 of Organic Law 3/2007 of 22 March, on Effective Equality between Men and Women, every effort must be made to ensure a good gender balance in the viva panel.

2. Viva panels may have 5 or 3 members. In the first case, the panel proposal should include 5 full members and 3 alternates, and in the second, it should include 3 full members and 3 alternates.

3. The person chairing the panel must have 2 or more recognised 6-year research periods, or, if they are unable to accredit this experience in this manner, equivalent research merits in accordance with that established in article 10.1. When a woman and a man both comply with the requirements for serving as chair, the woman will be appointed as a means of fostering parity in the overall count of male and female viva panel chairs.

4. In 5-member panels, at least 3members must belong to a university or public research body, and in the case of 3-member panels, at least 2 must comply with this requisite.

5. In the event of a full member needing to be replaced by an alternate, the department must inform the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Commission to ensure that all regulations are being followed.

Article 37. Allowances.

1. Once it has received authorisation for holding the viva, the department to which the doctoral candidate is attached must begin to make arrangements to ensure the attendance of all viva panel members. 

2. Panel members who have to travel from their habitual place of residence will be paid travel expenses along with board and lodging and an attendance fee by the administrative department of the centre to which the thesis supervisor (or tutor) is attached, always in accordance with the sums established by the UPV/EHU.

3. In the case of panel members from the UPV/EHU, the expenses paid will only cover travel from the centres to which they are attached.

4. Under no circumstances will the expenses incurred by anyone not sitting on the viva panel be covered.

5. The sum to be paid to cover travel expenses will be established in the corresponding appendix.

6. In the event of real expenses being higher than this sum, the difference must be covered by the department or, where necessary, the research group within the framework of which the doctoral thesis was carried out.

Article 38.PhD qualifications.

1. The completion of doctoral studies at this university leads to the following qualification: Doctorate from the University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU.

2. Certificates will be issued in standard format by the Vice Chancellor of the UPV/EHU and will be registered in the Official University Qualifications Register.

3. The issuing and collection of certificates will be governed by that outlined in these regulations and the general regulations for issuing official university degree certificates.

4. In the case of inter-university programmes or joint programmes, the certificate will be issued by the university stipulated in the corresponding agreement.

5. In accordance with established procedure, newly-qualified Doctors must submit a request to have their certificate issued and must pay the corresponding public fee.

Once this has been done, newly-qualified Doctors will receive a receipt of payment of the issuing fee for the corresponding certificate, which will provisionally have the same validity as the certificate itself, until said document has been issued.

Article 39. Requirements for the 'International Doctorate' distinction.

Doctorate certificates will feature (on the front) the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction providing the following conditions are met: 

a) During the PhD preparation period, the doctoral candidate engaged in 1 or more sojourns abroad lasting at least 3 months at 1 or more higher education institutions or prestigious research centres with the aim of complementing and strengthening their research training. If they engaged in several sojourns, at least 1 must have lasted for no less than 1 month. Sojourns and activities must be endorsed by the thesis supervisor and authorised by the Academic Commission, and once they have been completed, they must be validated by the host institution and included in the doctoral candidate’s document of activities. When the country in which they are to engage in their sojourn coincides with the country from which non-face-to-face activities are carried out, and when so established in the research plan and personal training plan, the document of activities must justify why the doctoral candidate chose that particular place to gain their international experience.

b) Part of the doctoral thesis (at least the abstract and conclusions) is written and presented in one of the languages commonly used for scientific communication in that particular knowledge area, different from any of the official languages of Spain. This rule does not apply when the sojourns, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country. 

c) At least 2 of the experts who issued reports on the thesis (see article 23) belong to a foreign higher education institution or research institute. Said experts may not be the same people who hosted the doctoral candidate during their sojourn and acted as tutors or supervisors at the host institution that is referred to as a justification for the international distinction.

d) At least 1 expert (PhD holder) from a foreign higher education institution or research centre, different from the person hosting the sojourn mentioned in paragraph a), forms part of the viva panel. The person hosting the sojourn mentioned in paragraph a) may not sit on the viva panel.

e) The viva panel complies with the conditions outlined in Chapter VII Doctoral thesis examination panels.

Article 40. Request for and processing of the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction.

Doctoral candidates interested in obtaining the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction should submit their request to the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor when registering the deposition of their thesis. To do so, alongside the documents outlined in article 24, they should also submit the following:

a) Standard form for requesting the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction, previously approved by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission.

b) Certificate issued by the foreign institution attesting to the sojourn, signed by the person responsible for hosting the sojourn. In the event of the candidate having engaged in several sojourns, they must submit a separate certificate for each of them, indicating the period during which they took place.

Article 41. Co-supervised theses

The Doctorate Certificate will feature (on the front) the words ‘Thesis co-supervised with University X’ providing the following conditions are met:

a) The thesis was supervised by PhD holders from two or more universities, one being the UPV/EHU and the other(s) foreign, and all signatories to a co-supervision agreement.

b) During their doctoral studies, the candidate earned two or more qualifications, one from each of the higher education institutions responsible for the development of the thesis.

c) During the training period required to earn their doctorate, the doctoral candidate spent at least 6 months engaging in research at each of the institutions that signed the co-supervision agreement, either during a single period or across several periods. All sojourns and activities must be reflected in the co-supervision agreement.

d) A co-supervised thesis may also opt for the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction providing sojourns were also carried out at institutions other than those signing the co-supervision agreement, as established in section a) and providing the conditions outlined in article 39 are met.

Article 42. Co-supervision agreements.

1. For a doctoral thesis to be co-supervised, the UPV/EHU and the other participating foreign universities must sign an agreement. Engaging in co-supervised doctoral studies in no way exempts candidates from complying with the present regulations.

2. The co-supervision agreement must be processed and signed in accordance with that outlined in Chapter XIV Collaboration Agreements with External Entities and must specify the following:

• University and enrolment periods
• Enrolment fees and other charges
• Thesis supervisors
• Sojourns and activities to be carried out at the various universities
• Criteria for appointing the viva panel
• University at which the thesis will be defended
• Conditions for issuing the corresponding degree certificate

Article 43. Request for and processing of co-supervised theses.

1. Doctoral candidates who wish to have their thesis co-supervised must first have officially enrolled at either the UPV/EHU or one of the participating foreign universities.

2. Doctoral candidates who wish to have their thesis co-supervised must submit a request to the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission at the UPV/EHU. Said request must include the approval of all thesis supervisors.

3. Upon receiving the request, the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission will send it, along with its approval, to the Doctoral School.

4. The Doctoral School will check that the request complies with all the academic and procedural requirements and, if so, will proceed to draft the co-supervision agreement.

Article 44. Authorisation of co-supervised theses.

1. The decision to co-supervise a thesis and to sign a co-supervision agreement must be authorised by the Postgraduate Commission, usually within the first year of the doctoral candidate’s research work. This period is calculated from the date on which they enrol in the doctoral programme.

2. The agreement proposal will be drafted in accordance with that established in Chapter XIV Collaboration Agreements with External Entities.  Once the agreement proposal has been drafted, the Doctoral School will send it, alongside the co-supervision request, to the UPV/EHU's Postgraduate Commission.

3. Under certain duly-justified circumstances, the Postgraduate Commission may authorise co-supervision agreements during the second year of the candidate’s research work.

4. When the foreign university establishes a training period prior to the start of the research work itself, the deadline for signing the co-supervision agreement will be calculated from the end of said period.

Article 45. Enrolment in the case of co-supervised theses.

1. Once the agreement has been signed, doctoral candidates must formally enrol in the other participating universities.

2. Enrolment fees must be paid to the university stipulated in the agreement, in the established academic years and before the established deadlines.

Article 46. Drafting of co-supervised theses.

1. Any changes in thesis supervisors must follow the procedure established in these regulations and all other participating universities must be duly informed.

2. The length of the doctoral studies will be calculated from the date on which the doctoral candidate enrols in the doctoral programme at their university of origin.

3. The research that leads to the drafting of doctoral theses must be carried out in the participating universities during a period no longer than that permitted by UPV/EHU regulations, counting from the date on which the doctoral candidate formalises their enrolment at said university.

4. Doctoral theses may be written in the language commonly used for scientific communication in the corresponding field of knowledge or in one of the official languages of the signatory universities.

Article 47. Applicable regulations.

1. The presentation, deposition and defence of doctoral theses will be carried out in accordance with that established in the regulations currently in effect at the university at which the viva takes place.

2. The publication, exploitation and protection of the research results will be guaranteed by the candidate’s host institutions, in accordance with the specific procedures in place in each country, although care must be taken to comply with Spanish regulations.

Article 48. Examination panels.

1. Examination (or viva) panels will be appointed by common agreement between all participating universities, with their composition complying with the regulations in effect in the university at which the viva is to take place and always respecting the criteria established in the co-supervision agreement.

2. Viva panel appointments must be accompanied by a certificate issued by participating universities attesting to the period(s) spent by the doctoral candidate in each one.

Article 49. Defending co-supervised theses.

1. Doctoral theses must be defended at the university specified in the co-supervision agreement. The doctoral candidate must pay the fees corresponding to the thesis viva at the university where said viva is to take place and it will be that university that is responsible for covering any costs incurred by the members of the viva panel.

2. When the viva takes place at the UPV/EHU, the thesis admission, viva panel member appointments and viva itself must all comply with that outlined in Chapters VI and VII, as well as with the UPV/EHU protocol for defending co-supervised theses.

Upon registration of the thesis, the official certificate(s) attesting to the sojourns completed at the other university or universities must also be submitted.

3. If the viva is held at a university other than the UPV/EHU, the procedure followed shall be that established in the regulations in effect at that institution, and must also comply with that outlined in the UPV/EHU protocol for defending co-supervised theses.

The university at which the viva is held must send the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Studies Service an official viva certificate featuring (at the very least) the date of the viva, the mark awarded, the composition of the viva panel, a digital copy of the doctoral thesis and the votes corresponding to the ‘Cum Laude’ distinction and, where appropriate, the designation of the thesis as a candidate for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

Article 50. Issuing co-supervised doctorate certificates.

1. Following a successful defence of their thesis, doctoral candidates may request the issuing of their doctorate certificate by participating universities, in accordance with the regulations currentlyin effect in said universities and the provisions of the co-supervision agreement.

2. The doctorate certificate issued by the UPV/EHU will include the sentence ‘Thesis co-supervised with the University of ...’.

Article 51. The ‘Industrial Doctorate’ distinction.

1. Industrial doctorates are those carried out in conjunction with social and economic stakeholders with the aim of fostering collaboration and the transfer and exchange of knowledge between the academic world and the social and economic environment, in either the public or the private sphere.

2. Doctorate certificates may feature (on the front) the ‘Industrial Doctorate’ distinction providing the following conditions are met:

a) The thesis was carried out within the framework of a research project aimed at satisfying the industrial, commercial, social or cultural interest of an entity, public or private company or public administration. This does not include universities, public research organisations (national or regional) or university hospitals. Exceptionally, the distinction may be bestowed in relation to one of the aforementioned institutions (except universities) providing the content of the thesis is eminently applicable to it. The direct relationship between the doctoral thesis and the work carried out by the doctoral candidate in the entity or company must be formalised in a scientific-technical report that must then be approved by the university.

b) An agreement has been signed between the entity, company or public administration and the university outlining the academic development of the doctoral thesis. Said agreement must outline, at the very least, the obligations of all parties and the procedure to follow in the event of any industrial property rights being generated. The agreement must be signed prior to the commencement of any collaboration with the entity. 

c) The doctoral candidate was employed by the entity, company or public administration in which they completed their research project for at least 1 year during the time they were working on their thesis, and a substantial part of said thesis must have been developed within the entity, company or public administration.

Article 52. Requirements of the research project.

1. The research project of industrial, commercial, social or cultural interest in which the doctoral candidate participates must be directly related to their doctoral thesis.

2. The doctoral candidate must draft a scientific-technical report that must be validated by the person responsible at the collaborating entity and the thesis supervisor. Said report must specify the interest of the participating entity in the development of the project.

3. The direct relationship must be formalised in the scientific-technical report, which must be approved by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission.

Artículo 53.– Desarrollo de la tesis industrial.

Article 53. Development of industrial theses.

1. The doctoral candidate’s tutor will be appointed by the university and the person responsible for their thesis will be appointed by the entity, company or public administration. In accordance with that established in these regulations, this person may be the thesis supervisor.

2. The person appointed by the company may not, under any circumstances, sit on the viva panel.

3. Once the thesis deposition has been approved, the doctoral candidate must submit the following documents to the UPV/EHU register, along with those documents outlined in article 24:

a) Form requesting an 'Industrial Doctorate' distinction.

b) Copy of the employment or commercial contract.

c) Agreement reached by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission approving the scientific-technical report.

Article 54. Thesis in collaboration with external entities

1. Doctorate certificates may feature (on the back) the words ‘Thesis carried out in collaboration with external entities’, providing the following conditions are met:

a) The collaboration between the UPV/EHU and the external entity is aimed at developing the training activities scheduled in the doctoral candidate’s research plan and personal training plan.

b) The university and external entity sign an agreement specifying the aim of the collaboration and the conditions under which it is to be developed, as well as the person responsible at the collaborating entity.

c) The collaboration between the UPV/EHU and the external entity lasts for at least two academic years.

2. The collaboration agreement must be signed in accordance with that outlined in Chapter XIV Collaboration Agreements with External Entities.

3. The collaboration agreement must be submitted alongside the request for the distinction when the thesis is registered, and must also be registered in the corresponding computer application before the end of the first academic year of the collaboration.

Article 55. Definition.

1. A doctorate by publication is a specific option for drafting and defending a doctoral thesis in order to earn a doctorate and is subject to the specific provisions of this chapter, as well as all other applicable provisions in these regulations.

2. The thesis leading to a doctorate by publication is made up of various different scientific papers focusing on a single theme, of which the doctoral candidate must provide proof of authorship and which must have been published or accepted for publication.

Article 56. Requirements.

1. To present and defend a thesis of this nature, the following conditions must be met:

• The doctoral candidate in question must have had at least 3 contributions written during their time in the doctoral programme published or accepted for publication. 
• This number may be reduced to 2, providing the doctoral candidate has made 2 additional contributions to the scientific literature in the 5 years prior to their enrolment on the doctoral programme.
• 1 of these contributions must be an original paper on the state of the art of the area under research, which complies with the conditions established by the CNEAI in the corresponding scientific field.
• In all cases, the contributions must correspond to the aims of the thesis as laid out in the candidate’s research plan and personal training plan.
• Contributions must be papers published in scientific journals featuring in the latest list published by the Journal Citation Reports (SCI and/or SSCI) or SCOPUS, or in databases listed by the National Assessment Committee for Research Activities (CNEAI) for the scientific fields corresponding to the areas of knowledge covered by the doctoral programme.
• At least 1 of them must be in the first or second quartile of their category.
• In the Arts and Humanities and Social and Legal Sciences fields, contributions may be books or book chapters, providing they carry the Seal of Quality in Scholarly Publishing or are included in Scholarly Publishers Indicators in Humanities and Social Sciences.
• In cases of co-authorship in which authors are not listed alphabetically, the doctoral candidate must be named first or second. The thesis supervisor(s) shall confirm that the doctoral candidate’s contribution is both relevant and in keeping with the research plan.
• Papers published after the date on which the doctoral candidate enrolled on the doctoral programme must include their affiliation with the UPV/EHU, as well as, where appropriate, that of their supervisor(s).
• Works which form part of a thesis by publication may not form part of any other thesis within the same category.

2. The Academic Commission of each doctoral programme may establish additional requirements for this means of presenting a thesis, providing that said requirements are compatible with the procedure outlined herein and are approved by the Postgraduate Commission.

3. The doctoral programme’s Academic Commission may accept an artistic-creative project as one of the contributions mentioned in this article, providing it complies with the conditions established by the CNEAI for the corresponding scientific field. Any candidate wishing to take advantage of this option must determine the conditions and requirements to be complied with and submit their proposal to the Postgraduate Commission for approval. Only 1 of the 3 contributions required in section 1.a) may be of this nature.

Article 57. Structure of a thesis leading to a doctorate by publication.

A thesis leading to a doctorate by publication must comprise a set of works published and/or accepted for publication which focus on a single topic, in accordance with the structure established by the Postgraduate Commission.

Article 58. Specific documents required for the thesis to be accepted for processing.

In addition to the general documents required for depositing the doctoral thesis (outlined in article 24), the following documents must also be submitted:

• Request form for submitting a doctoral thesis of this nature, signed by the doctoral candidate with the express authorisation of their supervisor(s).
• A document signed by the non-PhD-holding co-authors of the publications to be presented, expressly waiving their right to use said publications as part of any future doctoral thesis.
• Report by the thesis supervisor attesting to the fact that the publications presented are in keeping with the doctoral candidate's research plan and confirming that, in the event of co-authored papers, the candidate's contribution was substantial.
• For accepted contributions, the DOI or publisher's certificates.

Article 59. Types of collaboration agreement with external entities.

1. Any collaboration agreement signed with public or private, national or foreign centres, institutions and entities engaging in R&D&I activities that aim to foster the development of doctoral theses in collaboration with other entities and the mobility and complementary training of doctoral candidates will be subject to the provisions laid out in these regulations.

2. Agreements may be designed to enable theses to be carried out in collaboration with external entities or to permit co-supervision, industrial doctorates, research sojourns or any other arrangement leading to the established goals reflected in the document signed.

3. The Postgraduate Commission may approve agreement templates to facilitate processing and signing.

Article 60. Report justifying agreements.

1. All agreements require a report that outlines, among other things, the benefit obtained or need satisfied, the activities to be carried out, the commitments made by all parties, the infrastructure required and the staff and resources available to ensure the aim of the agreement is achieved.

2. To initiate the processing of the agreement, this report must be drafted by the UPV/EHU body or structure involved in its establishment. Whenever an agreement is established within the framework of doctoral training in general or the training of a specific doctoral candidate, the instigating structure must be the thesis supervisor(s) at the UPV/EHU.

3. In general terms, the report justifying the agreement must be signed by the coordinator of the doctoral programme and approved by the Doctoral School.

When the agreement is instigated by the Doctoral School itself, the personal in charge of said school must sign the report.

When the agreement is instigated by a Pro-Vice Chancellor’s office, someone from said office must sign the report.

4. Reports justifying mobility agreements must be signed by the coordinator of the doctoral programme.

When pertaining to outgoing mobility, reports must be drafted by the thesis supervisor; when pertaining to incoming mobility, they must be drafted by the person from the UPV/EHU responsible for the candidate’s sojourn at that university.

Article 61. Collaboration agreements.

1. Agreements may take the form of the templates prepared for that purpose by the Postgraduate Commission (although this is not obligatory), although in all cases, it will be said Commission that is responsible for overseeing their drafting and processing.

2. Agreements that take the form of a pre-prepared template will be drafted by the Doctoral School at the behest of the coordinator of the doctoral programme in light of the content of the report justifying the agreement.

Agreements that do not take the form of a pre-prepared template and have been proposed to the Doctoral School by the coordinator of the doctoral programme will be drafted by the Doctoral School in collaboration with the thesis supervisor and the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission.

3. Specific co-supervision agreements must be drafted in collaboration with the other participating universities, with the Doctoral School being the entity responsible for this task at the UPV/EHU.

4. When necessary, the Doctoral School will request the assistance of technical experts from the office of the competent Pro-Vice Chancellor when drafting agreements.

Article 62. Processing and signing of agreements.

1. When the agreement takes the form of a template previously approved by the Postgraduate Commission, it may be signed by the persona responsible from the Doctoral School without the need for prior approval.

2. If an agreement does not take the form of a previously-approved template, the Postgraduate Commission must approve it prior to its signing at the behest of the Doctoral School. In such cases, favourable reports from all affected areas are required.

The office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for doctoral studies will gather reports from all bodies or services that may be affected by the terms of the agreement and that are necessary for its approval.

When an agreement is proposed by the office of another Pro-Vice Chancellor, no report is required from that area.

3. All agreements, whether or not they take the form of a pre-approved template, must be signed by a representative of the collaborating entity with the necessary authority, as well as by a member of the Management Team from the Doctoral School, again with the necessary authority. However, it may also sometimes be opportune and desirable for the agreement to be signed also by the Vice Chancellor.

4. Specific co-supervision agreements must always be approved by the Postgraduate Commission and then signed by the Vice Chancellor or the person whom they delegate to do so.

Article 63. Modification and extension of agreements.

1. In general terms, non-substantial modifications to and extensions of signed agreements are permitted providing favourable reports are issued by all affected areas and the corresponding addenda are duly signed.

2. Substantial modifications will require all interested parties to repeat the procedure outlined in article 62 (Processing and signing of agreements).

3. Substantial modifications to co-supervision agreements require prior authorisation from the UPV/EHU’s Postgraduate Commission and must then be signed by the Vice Chancellors of the participating universities.

4. Any modifications must be made and signed within the period for which the agreement is valid.

Article 64. Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

1. Every academic year, a series of Extraordinary Doctoral Awards are bestowed on those theses defended during the previous academic year that are deemed to be particularly meritorious and received the ‘Cum Laude’ distinction.

Awards are bestowed under the conditions outlined in the call issued each academic year, with 1 being awarded for every 10 doctoral theses defended (or fraction thereof) in each of the following fields: Sciences, Engineering and Architecture, Health Sciences, Social and Legal Sciences, Arts and Humanities.

2. The call for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards is drafted by the Doctoral School and sent to the Postgraduate Commission for approval.

3. The call is made public and sent by email to all newly-qualified PhD holders who comply with the requirements outlined in section 4.

4. To be eligible for an Extraordinary Doctoral Award, candidates must send a request to the Doctoral School, along with documents accrediting the merits claimed. They must also comply with the following requirements:

• Their doctoral thesis must have been defended during the academic year established in the call.
• The viva panel examining the thesis must have designated it as a candidate for the awards and bestowed the ‘Cum Laude’ distinction.
• As a result of their thesis, the doctoral candidate must have had at least one publication accepted by a journal of international prestige or have submitted at least one patent. In the Arts and Humanities and Social and Legal Sciences fields, publications may be books or book chapters, providing they carry the Seal of Quality in Scholarly Publishing or are included in Scholarly Publishers Indicators in Humanities and Social Sciences.

5. For each of the fields mentioned in section 1, the UPV/EHU Doctoral School will appoint a judges’ panel made up of three lecturers from different areas of the university (all of whom must hold a PhD). Those who served as supervisor or tutor to eligible candidates may not be selected as members of the judges’ panel.

6. Each judges’ panel will analyse the requests received and may ask for any further information deemed necessary from the candidates themselves or external arbitrators, before sending their assessment to the Doctoral School.

7. Having analysed the assessments sent in by the judges’ panels, the Doctoral School will send a list of proposed winners to the Postgraduate Commission.

8. After reviewing the proposals submitted by the Doctoral School, the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Commission will approve the granting of the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards.

Not all awards must necessarily be bestowed.

Additional provision one. Authority to interpret these regulations.

Authority in the matter of any interpretation or resolution issues that may arise during the application of these regulations is delegated to the Pro Vice-Chancellor responsible for Doctoral Studies.

Additional provision two. Re-issuing of a doctorate with an ‘Industrial Doctorate’ distinction.

Within the space of one year from the entry into force of these regulations, anyone who earned a doctorate from the UPV/EHU in accordance with the Doctoral Studies Management Regulations approved by agreement of the UPV/EHU Governing Council on 12 December 2019 and complies with the requirements for obtaining an industrial distinction established in the present regulations, may request that a new degree certificate be issued that includes said distinction. Issuing fees apply.

Transitional provision one.  Doctoral candidates who are engaged in doctoral studies on the date on which these regulations enter into force.

Doctoral candidates who, on the date on which these regulations enter into force, have already initiated their doctoral studies in accordance with previous regulations will be subject to those regulations in everything related to their studies and the issuing of their degree. Notwithstanding, all provisions relating to viva panels, vivas and the assessment of doctoral theses (including Extraordinary Doctoral Awards) outlined in the present regulations will be applied to said doctoral candidates from the 2024-2025 academic year onwards.

Transitional provision two.  Doctoral candidates who initiated their studies during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Doctoral candidates who initiated their studies during the 2023-2024 academic year may request a third supervisor, who will start to fulfil that role during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Single derogatory provision. Repeal of existing regulations.

The Doctoral Studies Management Regulations published in the Basque Country Official Gazette on 5 march 2020 are hereby repealed, with the exception of that stated in transitional provisions one and two of the present regulations. 

Final provision one. Authority to establish complementary provisions.

The Postgraduate Commission is authorised to establish complementary provisions to develop these regulations.

Final provision two. Management procedures.

The UPV/EHU Postgraduate Commission will establish any additional procedures to these regulations required to manage doctoral studies and will publish them on the university’s website.

Final provision three. Entry into force.

These regulations will enter into force on the day after their publication in the Basque Country Official Gazette.