The University, as a trainer of researchers and an instrument of national, regional and local development, plays a fundamental role in the Knowledge Society. But a Knowledge Society is possible if it manages to meet three fundamental requirements: producing knowledge, mainly through scientific research work; disseminating and socializing said knowledge through teaching, scientific meetings, publications, etc.; and, thirdly, its transmission and exploitation through technological innovation.
Doctoral programmes have a fundamental impact on the primary mission of the University. According to the structure of the European Higher Education Area, doctoral programmes represent the third and final cycle in the academic career of a university student, as well as the first step in the career of a researcher.
Since the IV Bologna Process Conference in Bergen in 2005 stressed the need to strengthen ties between higher education and research, the European University Association (EUA) has carried out a study presenting the basic principles for the development of doctoral programmes. The report, Doctoral programmes in European universities: achievements and challenges (2007), contains the main conclusions on the changes that Europe must undertake if it wants to retain or attract the most talented young researchers. The aim is to position universities and postgraduate studies as one of the pillars of the new Europe of Knowledge, as well as placing the European Union in a position to compete with the USA in the new Knowledge Society.
In this international context, the University Strategy 2015 (EU2015), approved by the Council of Ministers of Spain on January 30, 2009, after being informed to the Science and Innovation Committee of the Congress of Deputies and subsequently to the Senate, aims to place the Spanish University in the context of the European Higher Education and Research Area, improving its global positioning.
EU2015 thus proposes to carry out a broad structural reform, with special attention to the rationalisation of master's and doctoral degrees, through the aggregation of activities and strategic objectives of institutions in order to "increase research capacity and its impact on the progress, well-being and competitiveness of Spain".
In order to strengthen research capacity and international competitiveness, the Spanish Government has defined the provision of high-quality doctoral programmes as a strategic objective. Spain, like Europe, needs to increase the number of researchers and doctoral programmes are a cornerstone to achieving this goal. This means organising doctoral programmes in a more structured way, integrating them into Doctoral Schools, as specific independent units, with a high quality component in the Programmes.
The University of Murcia, in its Governing Council on 23 December 2011, in accordance with Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies, created the International Doctoral School (EIDUM), with a clear strategy, according to its Internal Regulations: to guarantee leadership in its fields of knowledge and a sufficient critical mass of professors and doctoral students. To this end, it has set out some requirements that must be met by the Doctoral Programmes that wish to join it (RRI, art. 13):
1. That all participating professors have accredited research experience.
2. That the participating professors prove that their lines of research have received public or private funding and have produced quality scientific work. That among the professors of each doctoral program there are at least five who meet the minimum requirements established to be the coordinator of a doctoral program as established in Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28.
3. That no professor of a doctoral program attached to a School may participate in other doctoral programs of the school itself or of the University of Murcia.
4. In addition, the following will be assessed:
Specifically, the Fourth Transitional Provision of the RRI introduces the following requirements for initial registration with the EIDUM:
1. That it is proven that the programme has the infrastructure and material resources necessary for the correct development of its lines of research.
2. That the program has at least 15 doctors.
3. That the 60% of the teaching staff of each program meets at least one of the following requirements:
a) Have two six-year terms.
b) Have a six-year term of which no more than six years have elapsed.
c) Having directed two doctoral theses in the last five years
4. That at least five professors of the program meet the minimum requirements established to be coordinator of a doctoral program as established in Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28.
5. Each research team must have at least one competitive project (international, national or regional) on the topics of the research lines of the programme. The funding included in a programme cannot be used in the proposal of any other programme. In order for funding to be accepted as being associated with a programme, the principal investigator or person in charge must be a professor of said programme or a member of the staff of an entity that collaborates in it.
6. That 25 scientific contributions from the last five years of the research staff participating in the doctoral program be listed, in accordance with the criteria established in the ANECA support guide for evaluation for the verification of official doctoral studies.
7. That the research staff of the programme list at least 10 doctoral theses directed in the last five years, distributed among the research teams of the programme with a complete reference to a scientific publication derived from each of the ten theses, indicating data on the objective impact of the results.
Taking into account this international, national and institutional context, six Spanish universities (University of Alicante; University of Almería; University of Castilla-La Mancha; University of La Laguna; University of Zaragoza; University of Murcia) have believed it necessary to carry out a strategic alliance in order to design an Interuniversity Doctoral Program, which is capable of being integrated into EIDUM and, in any case, which serves to add professors and researchers around research teams and Projects with greater impact and excellence.
Specifically, our interuniversity Doctorate Program, as required by the EIDUM RRI,
1. It has the collaboration of international doctors in all its lines of research. Specifically, 62 foreign researchers participate.
2. It represents a relevant critical mass within the Spanish philosophical field. It has 58 doctors (100% of the national participants). Among them 14 Professors, 36 Tenured Professors and 8 Contracted Professors (permanent)
3. It has the infrastructure and material resources necessary for the correct development of its lines of research.
4. 62,06% of the Program's teaching staff (36 researchers) have two or more six-year periods. There are currently 108 six-year periods accredited. The average number of six-year periods for all Program researchers is 1.86.
5. 20 professors (34,48%) have directed 2 or more theses and have completed 2 or more six-year periods; that is, they meet the minimum requirements established to be the coordinator of a doctoral program as established in Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28.
8. All research teams have at least 2 competitive research projects (international, national or regional) on the topics of the program's research lines and their principal investigators are professors of the Program.
9. Accredits 25 scientific contributions from the last five years by research staff participating in the doctoral program, in accordance with the criteria established in the ANECA support guide for evaluation for the verification of official doctoral studies.
10. Provides proof of at least 10 doctoral theses directed in the last five years, which have at least one scientific publication with clear indications of quality.
On the other hand, as an academic justification, we must point out that the Interuniversity Doctorate Programme in Philosophy that we present is linked to broad research traditions. Specifically, it has among its antecedents the current Doctorate Programmes taught at the Universities of La Laguna, Zaragoza and Murcia.
Indeed, doctoral studies in the philosophical field have a long tradition at the University of La Laguna. In fact, the current Program: “Philosophy, Culture and Society”, integrated within its Official Postgraduate Program of the same name, and which has deserved the Mention of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Education (Resolution of October 6, 2011, Reference MEE2011-0739, BOE of October 20, 2011) for the academic years 2011/12; 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, has its immediate antecedents in the Doctoral Program “Epistemology and Practical Philosophy”, in force during the biennium 1999-2001, 2000-2002, 2001-2003 and 2002-2005 and in the Doctoral Program “Philosophy. “Theory and Praxis in the Modern World” taught since 2004.
This is also the case at the University of Zaragoza, where the current Doctoral Program in “Philosophical Studies” (RD 1393/2007 with verification date 07/15/2009) is the result of the transformation of the program previously taught at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, under the title “Philosophy, History, Thought”, since the 1994-1995 academic year; so that Doctoral studies in Philosophy have been taught uninterruptedly at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Zaragoza for at least 18 years.
As regards the University of Murcia, the current PhD Programme in Philosophy, in force since the 2010/2011 academic year, is a transformation of the PhD Programme in Philosophy that was integrated in the 2007/2008 academic year into the Official Postgraduate Programme (Master's + PhD) and which, in turn, was a transformation of two previous PhD programmes taught in the Department of Philosophy: “Spain and Europe, intellectual history of a dialogue”, which obtained the Quality Mention in the 2004-2006 and 2005-2007 bienniums (MCD2004-00446/ MCD-2005 00203); and “The Configuration of the Modern Subject”. In any case, PhD studies at our Faculty have been taught uninterruptedly since its constitution as the Faculty of Philosophy in the 1992/1993 academic year.