The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport regulates aspects related to the presentation and reading of doctoral theses in Royal Decree 534/2013, of July 12, which modifies Royal Decrees 1393/2007, of October 29, which establishes the organization of official university education; 99/2011, of January 28, which regulates official doctoral education; and 1892/2008, of November 14, which regulates the conditions for access to official undergraduate university education and the admission procedures to Spanish public universities.
The rules regarding the presentation and reading of the Doctoral Thesis are detailed in the regulations of the participating universities.
University of Cantabria (UC)
The rules regarding the presentation and reading of the Doctoral Thesis are detailed in the "Regulations for the Presentation and Reading of Doctoral Theses in the Doctoral Programs of the University of Cantabria Regulated by Royal Decree 99/2011":
On February 1, 2012, the UC Governing Council approved this regulation to implement the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011. The regulation was updated on December 18, 2013, to adapt it to Royal Decree 534/2013:
Authorization and deposit of the thesis.
1. Once the thesis has been completed and the supervisor has issued a favorable report, the doctoral candidate will submit it to the competent body of the Department. Once the Department has authorized the submission of the thesis, it will send the documentation generated during the evaluation process and the proposed committee to the Doctoral Committee in accordance with the criteria established in Article 21.
2. Prior to submitting the thesis, the doctoral candidate must request the corresponding control document from the Academic Management Service, certifying that they meet the requirements established for submission. Once this document has been obtained, the doctoral candidate must submit five copies of the thesis to the University's General Registry, along with the authorization and the aforementioned document. Two copies will be deposited in the Registry, and the remaining three will be returned to the doctoral candidate for delivery to the Department and subsequent submission to the members of the Examination Panel, once they have been appointed by the Doctoral Committee.
3. The thesis must remain on deposit for twenty calendar days. The period between August 1 and September 1, and the non-teaching period corresponding to the Christmas and Easter holidays, will not be counted for these purposes. During the deposit period, any doctor may examine the thesis and, if appropriate, submit any comments they deem appropriate in writing to the Doctoral Committee.
Thesis Tribunal Proposal.
The committee proposal that the Department will submit to the Doctoral Committee after hearing from the thesis supervisor will be drawn up according to the following criteria:
1. A panel composed of three regular members and two alternates who are experts in the subject matter will be proposed. All hold doctoral degrees, are affiliated with universities or higher education or research organizations, and have proven research experience. This experience will be deemed to be proven for doctors who belong to the corps of University Professor, University School Professor, or University Professor, or are qualified for access to such corps, or who are accredited for the position of Associate Professor. Research Professors, Scientific Researchers, and Senior Scientists of the Spanish National Research Council are also considered to have proven research experience. In other cases, the Doctoral Committee may consider sufficient research experience after analyzing the doctor's curriculum vitae, which must be attached to the proposal.
2. Professors belonging to the University Teaching Bodies may be part of doctoral thesis committees even if they are on leave of absence or retired.
3. The thesis supervisor may not be a member of the committee, except in the case of theses submitted under bilateral joint supervision agreements with foreign universities, where such a requirement exists. The student's tutor may not be a member of the committee either.
4. The panels will be composed of five members: three regular members and two alternates. Of the three members of the panel who ultimately serve, two will be from outside the University of Cantabria and the program's collaborating institutions, while the third will be from one of the aforementioned institutions.
5. Among the regular members of the tribunal proposed to the Doctoral Committee, the one with the highest academic rank, seniority, and age will be appointed as president, and the one with the lowest academic rank, seniority, and age will be appointed as secretary.
Reading and evaluation of the doctoral thesis.
1. The thesis defense will take place in a public session during the academic calendar term, excluding the month of August and the Christmas and Easter holidays. It will consist of a presentation by the doctoral student of the work carried out, the methodology, content, and conclusions, with special mention of their original contributions.
2. The Academic Management Service will send the documents that must be completed during the thesis reading to the secretary of the tribunal, through the responsible Department, in due time.
3. If any of the members of the panel cannot attend the defense, they may be replaced by one of the two alternates. In this case, the requirement that the majority of the members be from outside the University and the institutions collaborating with the program must always be respected. The secretary of the panel must submit the written justification for the panel member's inability to attend, as well as the name of the alternate member who will replace them.
4. For the valid constitution of the court in charge of judging the doctoral thesis and for the purposes of holding the reading, deliberations and grading, the provisions for collegiate bodies in the Law on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and the Common Administrative Procedure shall apply.
5. The members of the committee will ask the doctoral candidate any questions they deem appropriate. Doctors present at the public event may ask questions at the time and in the manner indicated by the chair of the committee.
6. Once the defense and discussion of the thesis is complete, each member of the tribunal will formulate a written assessment of it.
7. The court will issue a report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis according to the following scale: Not suitable, approved, notable and outstanding.
8. The court may award the cum laude mention if the overall grade is outstanding and a secret vote is cast unanimously in favor of this.
The University will implement the necessary mechanisms for the final award of this mention, ensuring that the counting of votes for said award takes place in a session separate from the one corresponding to the doctoral thesis defense.
9. The University will establish a procedure for awarding honorable mentions to doctoral theses that merit it for their high level of quality, which will be reflected in the corresponding academic certificate. To this end, the members of the examining board will be given an evaluation formula for doctoral theses that have obtained the grade of < >, in which each member will secretly record their recommendation on whether the extraordinary award should be granted. This recommendation will be placed in individual envelopes, sealed with the signatures of all the members of the panel, and submitted along with the minutes and the copy of the thesis.
10. The court secretary will personally deliver the completed documentation to the Academic Management Service.
University of La Laguna (ULL)
RESOLUTION of January 17, 2013 (BOCA NUM. 17 01/25/2013), ordering the publication of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the University of La Laguna. Approved by the Governing Council at its meeting held on December 20, 2012, the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the University of La Laguna.
Article 26.- Processing of the defense of the doctoral thesis.
1. After completing the thesis and with the approval of its supervisor(s), the doctoral candidate will submit it to the academic committee of the corresponding doctoral program for processing by the Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna, in the established format, accompanied by the corresponding summary in the form and format established by the Ministry for inclusion in the relevant databases.
2. The academic committee of the doctoral program will send two copies of the doctoral thesis, in the established format, to the Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna to which the program is affiliated, and must include:
a. The corresponding authorization from the thesis director(s).
b. The report of the tutor assigned by the doctoral program, if different from the director.
c. The report stating the academic committee of the doctoral program's agreement to the public defense of the thesis and which must necessarily state that the requirements established in the doctoral program, where applicable, have been met in order to proceed with its defense.
d. The application form for the "International Doctor" designation, together with the corresponding documentation, if you are eligible for it.
3. The corresponding Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna will certify, by means of a registry and seal, that the doctoral thesis meets the requirements established in these regulations for its deposit within a period of 15 school days, under the terms established in the academic calendar for each academic year, in the General Secretariat of the University of La Laguna. One copy will remain on deposit with that Secretariat, while the second copy will remain on deposit with the Doctoral School.
4. During the deposit period, which will be opened as a public information period, any doctor may make any allegations and observations they deem appropriate to the corresponding Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna, stating their agreement or disagreement with the public defense thereof, as well as suggestions for improvements to remedy any deficiencies, all with the aim of guaranteeing its quality.
5. The Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna will ensure the publicity of this public information period.
6. Once the public information period for the doctoral thesis has ended, the Doctoral School of the University of La Laguna will be responsible for authorizing, if appropriate, the defense of the doctoral thesis.
7. If any of the circumstances described in section 4 of this article arise during the public information period, the Doctoral School will notify the doctoral candidate and the thesis supervisor, as well as the academic committee of the corresponding doctoral program, of the circumstances. The students will have 10 working days to submit the appropriate objections to the Doctoral School. Based on the documentation submitted, the Postgraduate Studies Committee will decide whether or not the thesis defense is appropriate within a period of no more than one month, and will obtain, if deemed appropriate, a report from specialists. The Postgraduate Studies Committee of the University of La Laguna must provide the reasons for the rejection.
8. The defense must be filed within a maximum of three months from the date of authorization. If the defense has not been filed within this period, the procedure must be initiated anew.
9. The Doctoral School must give the defense adequate publicity, authorizing the use of any electronic means of communication for this purpose.
10. Once the doctoral thesis has been approved, the University will archive it in open electronic format in an institutional repository and will send, in electronic format, a copy of the thesis, as well as all necessary supplementary information, to the corresponding Ministry for appropriate purposes.
11. In exceptional circumstances determined by the academic committee of the program, such as, among others, the participation of companies in the program, the existence of confidentiality agreements with companies or the possibility of generating patents that fall on the content of the thesis, the university will enable the procedure to develop what is set out in section 4 above to ensure the non-publicity of these aspects.
Article 27.- Defense of the doctoral thesis.
1. The doctoral thesis defense will take place in a public session during the academic calendar term.
2. The thesis defense will consist of the doctoral candidate presenting the methodology used, the content and conclusions of the thesis, with special mention of his or her original contributions.
3. The thesis defense, in addition to Spanish, may be conducted in any official language of the European Union. In this case, it is guaranteed that the committee can evaluate it appropriately and upon reasoned request to the Doctoral School, which will assess whether the request is appropriate.
4. The members of the committee must express their opinion on the presented thesis and may raise any questions and objections they deem appropriate, to which the doctoral candidate must respond. Likewise, the doctors present at the public event may ask the doctoral candidate questions and objections at the time and in the manner indicated by the chair of the committee, who will indicate the time allotted for this purpose.
5. The examining committee will have access to the doctoral student's activity report, referred to in Article 2.5 of these regulations, detailing the training activities carried out by the doctoral student. This monitoring document will not result in a quantitative score, but will constitute a qualitative assessment tool that complements the evaluation of the doctoral thesis.
6. The court will issue a report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis in terms of "pass" or "fail".
7. In a separate, closed-door session held on the same day as the thesis defense, and if the thesis has been awarded a grade of "pass," each member of the committee will issue, by secret ballot, their opinion on whether the thesis submitted merits a Cum Laude distinction. The result of this vote will be recorded in minutes signed by all members of the committee and will not be made public. The committee may only propose that the thesis be awarded a Cum Laude distinction if a unanimous secret vote is cast in favor.
8. Once both transcripts have been received by the Doctoral School, the director of the School will decide, based on the proposal issued by the examining committee, whether to award the doctoral thesis with a Cum Laude distinction. If the decision is favorable to the award of a Cum Laude distinction, it will be added to the doctoral student's file.
After the corresponding resolution is issued, it will be communicated to the interested party.
University of Oviedo (UNIOVI)
The regulations are derived from the "Agreement of June 17, 2013, of the Governing Council of the University of Oviedo, approving the Regulations for Doctoral Studies" and are detailed in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, No. 146 of June 25, 2013:
4.- Thesis submission and public exhibition period
Once the authorization for submission of the thesis and corresponding documentation has been received at the International Postgraduate Center, the thesis will be deposited for a period of 15 calendar days, starting the day after the documentation is received at the International Postgraduate Center, for public display online. During this public display period, any doctoral candidate may examine the thesis on deposit. Those who wish to do so may submit any comments they deem appropriate regarding the doctoral thesis in writing to the International Postgraduate Center.
If any comments are made, they will be communicated to the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program, the thesis supervisor, and the doctoral candidate. The candidate will have a period of 7 days to provide the International Postgraduate Center with their written opinion on whether the process should be continued or suspended. The Doctoral Committee will make a decision within a maximum of one month.
5.- Authorization of the Doctoral Commission for the defense of the thesis and appointment of the committee
Once the submission period has ended without any comments being submitted, or once any comments have been resolved, the Doctoral Committee will authorize the defense of the thesis, ruling, where appropriate, on the doctoral student's requests for the International Doctorate mention, the possibility of reading the thesis in another language, or any other issue raised. The decisions made must be communicated to the doctoral student and the doctoral program director. The committee will also appoint the examining committee that will judge the thesis, based on the proposal submitted by the program's governing body, which may be amended if deemed appropriate. The committee members will be notified of the appointment, and the committee will then be deemed constituted.
The doctoral candidate will send the necessary copies of the thesis to the body responsible for the program so that they can be sent, along with their curriculum vitae, to the members of the examining board.
6.- Call for the defense of the thesis
The thesis defense will be convened by the chair of the committee. The chair or the secretary will notify the members of the committee and the International Postgraduate Center in writing of the date, place, and time of the defense, at least 7 calendar days in advance of its celebration. The International Postgraduate Center will announce the defense on the University's website and send the secretary all necessary documentation.
7.- Defense of the thesis
The defense of the thesis will take place during the academic period within three months following authorization, in any department of the university.
If the defense is to be held outside the University of Oviedo, express authorization from the Doctoral Committee will be required.
The doctoral thesis defense will consist of an oral presentation by the doctoral candidate of the work carried out, the methodology, content, and conclusions, with special mention of their original contributions. The members of the examining board will express their observations on the presented thesis and may ask any questions they deem appropriate, to which the doctoral candidate may respond. Likewise, the doctors present at the public event may ask questions, and the doctoral candidate may respond.
The members of the committee will have access to the doctoral candidate's CV, including the activities carried out during the thesis development period.
This document will not result in a quantitative score, but will constitute a qualitative assessment tool that will complement the evaluation of the doctoral thesis.
8.- Thesis evaluation
Once the thesis defense and discussion are complete, the committee will issue the evaluation report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis, which may be Failed, Passed, Distinction, or Outstanding. The committee may award the "cum laude" mention if the overall grade is Outstanding, and a unanimous vote is cast secretly to that effect. Likewise, each member of the committee may indicate, anonymously and in a sealed envelope, whether they consider the thesis worthy of an Extraordinary Award.
9.- Documentation of the doctoral thesis defense
Within five business days of the defense, the secretary of the committee will send all the necessary documentation for the defense to the International Postgraduate Center. The University will archive the thesis in open electronic format in an institutional repository and will send a copy of the thesis along with all necessary supplementary information to the Ministry of Education.
The complete regulations can be consulted here.
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
RESOLUTION of May 30, 2013, of the Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Studies and International Relations of the University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, by which the Regulations for the Management of Doctoral Studies are published.
RESOLUTION of October 11, 2013 (pdf, 232 Kb), of the Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Studies and International Relations of the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, by which the modifications to the Regulations for the Management of Doctoral Studies are published
CHAPTER IV. PRESENTATION AND DEFENSE OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS
Article 16. Deposit of the Doctoral Thesis.
1. Once the documentation referred to in Articles 13 and 14 has been submitted to the General Registry of the UPV/EHU and it has been verified that the doctoral candidate meets the required requirements, a 15-day deposit period is established during which objections may be submitted. The start date for deposit will be published by the General Secretariat and the corresponding Doctoral School.
2. The doctoral thesis may be examined by the General Secretariat by any doctor, who may present any objections they deem appropriate regarding its content. These objections shall be submitted through the General Registry to the Postgraduate Committee and shall be confidential. The Postgraduate Committee shall send the Thesis Director, the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program, and the doctoral candidate a verbatim transcript of the objections, so that any of the aforementioned may submit to the Postgraduate Committee any responses to these objections they deem appropriate.
Article 17. Authorization of the defense of the Doctoral Thesis.
1. Once the deposit period referred to in Article 16 has elapsed, the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Committee, in light of the documents received and any additional information it may gather from specialists it deems appropriate, will decide whether to authorize the defense of the thesis or, on the contrary, withdraw it. Once the defense of the thesis has been authorized, the President of the Postgraduate Committee will appoint the five regular members and three alternate members of the panel that will judge it, in accordance with the report of the Postgraduate Committee, within a maximum period of 15 calendar days from the date the deposit period ends.
2. Once the Court has been appointed, the President of the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Committee will send the appointment and authorization for defense to the regular and alternate members of the Court, to the Thesis Director, to the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program, to the Doctoral School, to the Department where the Thesis is registered and to the doctoral student.
3. The Department in which the thesis is registered will have ten calendar days from the date of the appointment to send the members of the Court the copies of the thesis to be judged, along with the doctoral student's activity report, detailing the training activities carried out by the doctoral student. This monitoring document will not result in a quantitative score but will constitute a qualitative assessment tool that complements the evaluation of the doctoral thesis.
4. The Postgraduate Studies Service will request the appropriate Service Commissions from Universities, Research Centers, etc.
5. Upon receipt of this authorization, the doctoral student must register for the defense and pay the corresponding fees.
6. Under no circumstances may the thesis be defended before 30 days have elapsed from the start date of its deposit.
Article 18. Publicity of the date of defense of the Doctoral Thesis.
1. Once the authorization for public defense has been received, the President of the Court, after hearing the members of the same, must make public, at least two calendar days in advance, the date, place and time of the Doctoral Thesis defense, which must be communicated to the President of the UPV/EHU Postgraduate Committee by the Secretary of the Court.
2. This same information must be communicated to the administrator of the UPV/EHU Center where the defense will take place, in order to carry out the corresponding administrative procedures.
Article 19.- Registration for the defense of the Doctoral Thesis.
The prices for official university degrees in higher education are set by the Basque Government's Department of Education, Universities and Research for each academic year.
Article 20.- Defense and grading of the Doctoral Thesis.
The doctoral thesis will be evaluated at the defense ceremony, which will take place in a public session and will consist of the doctoral candidate presenting and defending their research work before the members of the committee, including the preparatory work carried out, the thesis content and conclusions, with special mention of their original contributions.
The doctoral thesis defense may take place throughout the year, except for the month of August.
The doctoral thesis defense will take place at the UPV/EHU, except in the case of jointly supervised theses or theses carried out in collaboration with other universities within the framework of interuniversity doctoral programs, when this is established in the corresponding agreement.
In the event of a regular member of the Court resigning for justified cause or becoming unable to attend, the President will replace him or her with one of the alternates.
In no case may the Court act with fewer than five members appointed for this purpose.
At the defense, the Committee will have access to the copy of the thesis sent to the Department where the doctoral thesis is registered, which includes the Doctoral Degree Certificate, and an unbound Doctoral Degree Certificate. Both will be signed by all members of the Committee and by the doctoral candidate once the defense is complete.
The members of the Court must express their opinion on the submitted thesis and may raise any questions and objections they deem appropriate, to which the doctoral candidate must respond. Likewise, the doctors present at the public event may raise questions and objections, which the doctoral candidate must respond to, all at the time and in the manner indicated by the President of the Court.
In any case, once the defense and discussion of the Thesis has concluded, each member of the Tribunal will formulate a written assessment of it.
Once the thesis defense is complete, the Committee will issue a report and give the overall grade according to the following scale: "Fail," "Pass," "Notable," and "Outstanding."
The Court may propose that the thesis be awarded the distinction of "cum laude" if the overall grade is "Outstanding" and a secret vote is cast unanimously. To this end, each member of the Court must cast their positive or negative vote in a sealed envelope. The counting of this vote must take place in a separate session from the one corresponding to the defense of the doctoral thesis.
The Committee may grant the candidate the opportunity to apply for the Extraordinary Doctoral Awards if he or she receives the mention "Cum Laude" and if a secret vote is cast unanimously. To do so, each member of the Committee will cast their affirmative or negative vote in a sealed envelope. If the affirmative vote is unanimous, the new doctor may apply for the Extraordinary Doctoral Award in the corresponding call.
For the thesis to be certified as having been defended in a language, the 45% defense must be conducted in that language, which must be reflected in the corresponding degree certificate.
Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC)
Academic regulations for doctoral studies at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Vice-Rector's Office for Research. July 20, 2011
A set of defined standards applicable to university doctoral programs implemented at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and verified in accordance with the regulations for official university programs established by Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, which regulates official doctoral programs.
Once authorization has been obtained for processing the thesis, the doctoral student must formalize the registration for the thesis deposit.
To do so, you must submit the following documentation:
a) The application for registration.
b) A paper copy of the thesis.
c) A copy of the thesis in electronic format (PDF).
d) A summary of the thesis in electronic format (PDF) of a maximum of 4,000 characters, in Catalan or Spanish and in English.
e) The doctoral student's activity document, signed by the tutor and the director.
f) Authorization for reading by the thesis director(s) and the speaker.
g) Authorization from the academic committee of the doctoral program to formalize the defense process, to which the originals of the two external reports issued by an expert or the committee's declaration that the quality of the thesis is externally endorsed for its defense (for example, with the existence of publications) must be attached.
h) Acceptance by the members of the court in original format.
i) Optional: the application for international doctorate mention, together with the rest of the required documentation (see section III.9).
For its part, the program's academic committee will send the committee's proposal and the resumes of the necessary members to the management unit in electronic format (PDF).
At the time of registration for the thesis submission, the tutoring session must be satisfactorily evaluated, and the doctoral student must be up to date with all annual tutoring fees. Otherwise, they must pay any fees for tutoring sessions not paid in previous academic years. Tuition will not be considered valid until full payment has been made.
Deposit
The doctoral thesis will be deposited for ten school days, starting on the day after the registration fee is paid. The Doctoral Office will announce the thesis deposit via the UPC website.
In specific cases, determined by the academic committee of the doctoral program, such as the participation of companies or the possibility of generating patents related to the content of the thesis, the Doctoral Office will implement the appropriate procedure to ensure that these aspects are not made public.
The program's academic committee must notify the teaching and research staff of the program's sponsoring unit(s) that the deposit has been made.
The Doctoral Office will facilitate the procedure to be followed so that accredited doctors can examine the full text of the thesis on deposit and can address any comments they deem appropriate in writing to the Doctoral Office.
One of the two copies of the thesis submitted at the time of deposit registration must be delivered to the Doctoral Office, and the other to the headquarters of the sponsoring unit.
The Doctoral Committee will examine the thesis and the committee's proposal and may make observations on them.
If any comments are made, the Doctoral Office will notify the doctoral candidate, the supervisor(s), the presenter (if applicable), and the program's academic committee. Within five school days, the program's academic committee must inform the Doctoral Office in writing of its position on continuing or suspending the process.
Admission to the reading process and appointment of the court
Once the ten-day period for submitting the thesis has elapsed without any comments being submitted, or once any comments have been resolved, the Doctoral Committee will admit the thesis for review and appoint the review committee based on the prioritized proposal.
The academic committee of the program must send to the members of the panel, at least ten school days before the reading:
· notification of his/her appointment,
· the date, time and place of reading,
· a copy of the thesis so that they can examine it,
· the doctoral student's activity document.