The doctoral programme follows the guidelines of article 11, Supervision and monitoring of doctoral students, of Royal Decree 99/2011 and of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies of the ULL, which in its articles 14, 15 and 16 describe the composition of the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme and its functions, which include the supervision and monitoring of doctoral students during their doctoral training. The Academic Committee of the official doctoral programme will be made up of six people: four professors and/or researchers corresponding to each line of research that makes up the doctoral programme, a professor/researcher who is a member of the Quality Committee, who will act as secretary, and the Academic Coordinator, who will act as its president and who meets the requirements set out in both the Royal Decree and the ULL Regulations.
Here is the transcription of these articles:
Article 14.- The academic commission.
1. The academic committee of the official doctoral programme shall be composed of a maximum of seven professors and/or researchers participating in it, including the academic coordinator, who shall act as its president. The academic committee must include at least one member from each line of research that makes up the doctoral programme, respecting the above limit. In the event that there are more than seven lines of research, at the end of each term of office the academic committee shall be renewed, with professors and/or researchers from those lines that did not have representatives in the previous term being included as members. Where appropriate, a rotating system of designation of members for each line of research shall be established, so that each line does not have a representative on the academic committee for more than two consecutive terms.
2. Members of the academic committee who are professors or researchers must meet the same requirements established to be a thesis director in the corresponding doctoral program.
3. In addition, representatives of entities external to the doctoral programme that collaborate in its development may be incorporated as members of the academic committee, in a number not exceeding three. If necessary, a rotating system of designation of representatives by external entities will be established.
Article 15.- Functions of the academic committee.
The following functions will be performed by the academic committee:
a. Propose the admission of students.
b. Establish the training supplements that, where applicable, admitted students must take based on their access profile, in accordance with the provisions of the application for verification of the doctoral program.
c. Assign a tutor and director to each new student entering the doctoral program.
d. Collaborate with the academic coordinator in the development of his/her functions.
e. Evaluate the research plan and activity document of each student in the program within the established time frames.
f. Select the doctors who are to issue the reports on those doctoral theses that aspire to the title of Doctor with International Mention.
g. Analyze the doctoral theses that are presented to begin the defense process, with a view to issuing the corresponding report, in accordance with the provisions of article 26.2.c) of these regulations.
h. Formulate the proposal for the appointment of the doctors who will form part of the thesis committee.
i. Propose to the Rector the appointment of a new academic coordinator once the termination occurs due to the completion of the period established in these regulations, or due to any of the circumstances contemplated in the current legislation for academic positions.
j. Check each academic year that the members of the doctoral program meet the requirements established to be assigned as thesis supervisors. For this purpose, they will send an updated list of these to the Doctoral School before the beginning of each academic year.
k. Any others assigned by the competent bodies.
Article 16.- Validity of the academic commission.
1. Membership of the academic committee shall last for three academic years from the date of appointment, provided that the conditions for membership are maintained. Otherwise, the member shall be terminated and replaced in the year in which it is determined that the member does not meet these requirements.
2. Members of the research lines that make up the doctoral program may replace the members designated by them when any of the reasons contemplated in the regulations governing membership of collegiate bodies arise.
3. Membership of the academic committee may be extended once if so deemed by the members of the line of research to which the member is attached.
Likewise, Article 23 of the Regulation describes the procedures provided for by the doctoral programme for the supervision and monitoring of the doctoral student during his or her doctoral training.
Article 23.- Supervision and monitoring of the PhD student.
1. Once the doctoral candidate has enrolled, the tutor and the director will establish his or her personalised activity document for the purposes of the individualised control register referred to in article 2.5 of these regulations. All activities of interest to the development of the doctoral candidate will be recorded in it, as regulated by the university, the Doctoral School, the body responsible for the doctoral programme or the academic committee itself, and it will be regularly reviewed by the tutor and the thesis director and evaluated by the academic committee responsible for the doctoral programme referred to in article 14.
2. Before the end of the first year, the PhD candidate will prepare a Research Plan that will include, at least, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and timetable for achieving them. This Plan may be improved and detailed throughout the student's stay in the programme and must be endorsed by the tutor and the director.
3. The academic committee of the programme will annually evaluate the development of the Research Plan and the document of activities carried out by the doctoral student together with the reports that, for this purpose, must be issued by the tutor and the director.
4. A positive evaluation will be an essential requirement for continuing in the programme. In the event of a negative evaluation, the academic committee will issue a report justifying the evaluation, proposing the appropriate corrective measures for the next evaluation. In the event of a negative evaluation, the doctoral candidate must be evaluated again within six months, for which purpose a new Research Plan will be drawn up. In the event of a new negative evaluation, the doctoral candidate will be permanently withdrawn from the programme.
In addition to the assignment of the tutor, the deadlines established for said assignment, as well as the procedure established for the modification of this assignment, according to Article 10 of the ULL Regulations, points 5, 6 and 7, the Academic Committee of the doctoral program will ensure an adequate and proportionate distribution of doctoral students between the lines of research that make up the doctoral program and the directors, establishing a series of limitations in order to avoid the accumulation of work under the same line and direction, the excessive lengthening of the doctoral thesis for reasons beyond the control of the students, or the lack of publications based on the results of the thesis.
Here is the content of points 5, 6 and 7 of article 10:
5. The academic committee of the doctoral programme will ensure an adequate and proportionate distribution of doctoral students among the lines of research that make up the doctoral programme and the directors. To this end, the following limitations are established:
a) In the same academic year, the same thesis director may not be appointed to more than three new students with full-time dedication, or equivalent.
b) It is established that a director may not simultaneously direct more than four doctoral theses that are being carried out on a full-time basis, or its equivalent on a part-time basis. Likewise, the same team of director and co-director may not direct more than four theses simultaneously.
c) The limit indicated in the preceding section may be raised to eight in the case of directors whose previously directed theses have each given rise to at least two publications in scientific journals with international censors. In any case, from the fifth doctoral thesis onwards, a co-director must be required, without prejudice to the provisions regarding limitations in the preceding section.
d) Theses completed under the joint supervision modality will not be counted for the purposes indicated in this section.
e) For each thesis for which there is no evidence of receipt of at least one publication by the corresponding publishing entity within a period of no more than one year after its defence, the limits indicated for thesis supervision in this section will be reduced by one.
6. The work of supervising doctoral students and directing their theses will be recognised as part of the teaching and research dedication of the teaching staff in accordance with the terms established by the corresponding regulations of the University of La Laguna.
7. For any supervisor whose doctoral students defend their theses within a period of more than four years, the limit established in article 10.5.b of these regulations will be reduced by one for each thesis defended within a period of more than that indicated. The same will apply, in equivalent time terms, to theses that are being carried out on a part-time basis. For these purposes, voluntary withdrawals by doctoral students or their disengagement as a result of negative evaluations of their research plans will not be taken into account.
With regard to the procedure used to control the activity record of each doctoral student and certify their data, the program proposes, depending on the training activity in question, that it be the Tutor or the Director, or both, who collect this information and send it to the Academic Committee of the program for certification, since according to article 15 of the ULL Regulations, mentioned above, it is said committee that has the function of annually evaluating the Research Plan and the Training Plan contained in the activity document of each student of the program within the established deadlines for this. Likewise, said committee must approve the forecast of stays of doctoral students in other centers, national and international, joint supervisions and European mentions, according to the Procedure to request the International Mention in a doctoral thesis of the ULL.
It is expected that students from the second year onwards will be able to undertake at least a three-month stay (both for full-time and part-time students spread over time) in other centres, provided that funding is available (a training activity in this regard is planned).
Co-supervision and international mentions are also encouraged under the conditions outlined there (see final section 5.1).
The participation of international experts is planned for theses with international mention, as indicated by the existing regulations. Likewise, the presence of international experts is recommended in the rest of the cases, especially when the subject of the thesis requires it.