PhD Entry Requitements
PHD ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Entry requirements for PhD studies at Málaga University applicable to foreign students are regulated by RD (Royal Decree) 99/2011.
As laid down in RD 99/2011, in order to be eligible for an official PhD program the candidate, in general, should hold the official degrees of bachelor, or equivalent, and master’s.
However those who come under one of the following categories can also apply:
a) Holder of an official Spanish university degree, or any country within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which would enable them to enroll on a master’s degree course, according to that laid down in Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, dated 29th of October. The candidate would have to have completed official university studies with a total of at least 300 ECTS credits, of which, at least 60 should be from their master’s degree.
b) Holder of Spanish bachelor’s degree, the duration of which, according to European Union law, has to be equivalent to 300 ECTS credits. These degree holders must agree to undertake obligatory, additional training as decided by the PhD Academic Committee except in those cases that the study plan undertaken within the bachelor’s degree includes research credits. These credits must be equivalent, in training credits, to those of a master’s degree.
c) Those university graduates who having previously gained a place on a preparation course for entrance exams for specialised health training and who have passed with positive evaluations at least two years of training in a program related to a recognised degree in one of the specialities of the Health Sciences.
d) Holder of a degree awarded under a foreign education system. There is no need for homologation of the degree if the university can verify that this proves to be of an equivalent level to a Spanish postgraduate qualification of master’s and in the country of origin the person would be able to enrol in a PhD program with this qualification. This does not imply, under any circumstances, the homologation of any other degrees held by the student, nor does it mean it will be legally recognised for the purposes of entry requirements for PhD studies.
e) Holder of another Spanish PhD awarded under previous university ordinances.
Further to these requirements, each PhD program can demand any additional requirement, in accordance with that established in its verification report. For this reason it is of utmost importance to check the information available for each program before applying for a place on it.
In the case that a candidate holds a degree awarded from a foreign education system, it will be the responsibility of the Postgraduate Committee at the University of Málaga to verify that this represents a level of education equivalent to an official Spanish master’s degree and that in the country of origin, this degree would grant this person a place on a PhD program. This acceptance does not, under any circumstances, imply the homologation of any previous degrees awarded to the interested party or the recognition of the same for the purposes of entry requirements for PhD studies.
