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Program Access Information

PhD in Animal Production Science and Technology

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Information for prospective PhD students is available on the UPV Doctoral School website:

https://www.upv.es/entidades/edoctorado/

All information is published in Spanish, Valencian and English.

The following resources may be particularly useful for prospective applicants:

The pre-registration process for PhD studies is managed through the Polytechnic University of Valencia’s (UPV) online pre-registration system, allowing applicants to complete their application remotely, regardless of their location.

The online application system includes admission quota management, ensuring that the number of candidates admitted for each PhD programme does not exceeded the maximum.

Each application undergoes a two-stage admission process. First, the UPV Doctoral School verifies that the applicant meets the minimum requirements established in Royal Decree 99/2011. Secondly, the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme (CAPD) assesses the application to ensure that the applicant satisfies the admission criteria established in the programme’s verification report. This assessment is based on both the established selection criteria and the applicant’s Evaluation Index (IV) score and the established selection criteria.

Access Profiles

Spanish or foreign graduates with degrees in agricultural engineering/science, agri-food science, biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmacy, chemistry, marine sciences, environmental sciences or veterinary medicine are eligible to apply. The recommended admission profile refers to degrees in the following fields:

  • Agricultural Engineering/Science
  • Food Engineering/Science
  • Veterinary Medicine
  • Biology
  • Marine Sciences
  • Biotechnology

Other admission profiles: Applications from candidates with other admission profiles will also be considered, including the following:

  • Forestry Engineering
  • Pharmacy
  • Chemistry
  • Medicine
  • Mathematics
  • Other qualifications whose content shows up to 60% alignment with the research areas addressed by the PhD programme (subject to prior evaluation by the Academic Committee).

Admission Requirements and Criteria

Admission Requirements

The admission requirements are those established in Article 6 of Royal Decree 99/2011 of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies, as amended by Royal Decree 576/2023 of 4 July:

In general, admission to an official PhD programme requires holding an official Spanish bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent degree, and a university master’s degree, or an equivalent degree, provided that the applicant has completed at least 300 ECTS credits across these two degrees.

In addition, applicants who meet any of the following requirements are eligible for admission:

a) Hold official Spanish University degrees or equivalent Spanish qualifications, provided that they have completed at least 300 ECTS credits across these degrees and have demonstrated a Level 3 degree within the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education.

b) Hold a degree obtained under a foreign education system belonging to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), without the need for formal recognition, which certifies a Level 7 degree within the European Qualifications Framework, provided that it grants access to PhD studies in the country where it was awarded.

c) Hold a degree obtained under a foreign education system outside the EHEA, without the need for formal recognition, provided that the University verifies that it is equivalent to the official Spanish university master’s degree and that it grants access to PhD studies in the country where it was awarded.

d) Hold another PhD degree.

e) University graduates who, after obtaining a place through the corresponding competitive examination for specialised health training, have successfully completed at least two years of training in a programme leading to the official degree in one of the Health Sciences specialties are also eligible for admission.

Given the international nature of PhD research and the need to access specialised scientific literature, applicants are recommended to have a sufficient level of academic comprehension and communication in English, equivalent to at least B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. For applicants whose first language is not Spanish, it is recommended that they have an adequate level of comprehension of Spanish and/or that fluent communication with their thesis supervisor in a common language is guaranteed.

Admission Criteria

As for the programme-specific admission criteria, these include the endorsement of the faculty member who will supervise the thesis. Applicants will have access, through the programme website, to the different research teams and their research lines. For each team, the faculty members who belong to it, together with their research profiles and contact details, are provided. When submitting their application for admission, students with special educational needs arising from a disability may indicate their requirements regarding possible curricular adaptations, study pathways or alternative study arrangements, so that the Academic Committee can take these into account.

Evaluation of the Candidacy

The Academic Committee of the programme will be responsible for evaluating applications by applying an Evaluation Index (EI) on a scale from 0 to 100 points. Applicants who achieve an EI of 70 points or higher will be admitted to the PhD programme. The EI will be calculated as follows:

a. If the applicant has completed a university master’s degree, the following equation will be applied: EI = 30ƒ E + 20ƒ T + 50ƒ M, where ƒ E is the weighting factor for the academic record of all degrees (undergraduate and postgraduate), based on the overall average grade on a normalised scale from 0 to 1; ƒ T is the weighting factor for the bachelor’s degree; and ƒ M is the weighting factor for postgraduate education.

b. For applicants holding an official Spanish bachelor’s degree comprising at least 300 ECTS credits and classified at MECES Level 3, or an earlier degree (Licenciatura or Ingeniería) at MECES Level 3, the following equation will be applied: EI = 30ƒ E + 70ƒ T, where ƒ E is the weighting factor for the academic record of the qualifying degree, based on the overall average grade on a normalised scale from 0 to 1, and ƒ T is the weighting factor for the bachelor’s degree.

c. Foreign graduates holding degrees equivalent to the current university master’s degree level in Spain and granting access to PhD studies in their country of origin: Depending on whether the applicant holds a single qualifying degree (equivalent to a pre-Bologna Licenciatura) or two degrees (equivalent to a bachelor’s degree and a university master’s degree), applications will be evaluated as described in points a and b above.

Additional Training Requirements

There are two distinct admission profiles: the recommended admission profile, which does not require additional training requirements, and other admission profiles, which do require additional training requirements. For these admissions, the Academic Committee may require the additional training requirements detailed in Section 3.4, up to a maximum of 20 ECTS credits. As established in the current regulations, these additional training requirements must be completed during the initial stage of the doctoral thesis, within a maximum period of one academic year.

Only applicants with an ƒ M = 1 rating (a university master’s degree offered by the Department of Animal Science or another degree with 100% alignment) will be exempt from completing additional training requirements and may be admitted directly to the PhD programme. Otherwise, depending on the applicant’s undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, the Academic Committee (in consultation with the applicant’s future PhD supervisor) will determine the additional training requirements that must be completed for admission to the PhD programme. These additional training requirements may be fulfilled through the official university master’s programmes offered by the Department of Animal Science at UPV, whose content complements the training required to ensure successful PhD studies.

Applicants entering the programme with a university master’s degree whose content shows 80% alignment will be required to complete up to 12 ECTS credits of additional training from the aforementioned programmes, whereas applicants entering with a university master’s degree whose content shows 60% alignment may be required to complete up to 20 ECTS credits. The PhD Programme in Animal Production Science and Technology is supported by the specialised training offered by the University’s master’s programmes, particularly those linked to the Department of Animal Science: the University Master’s Degree in Aquaculture, the University Master’s Degree in Animal Genetic Improvement and Reproductive Biotechnology, the University Master’s Degree in Precision Livestock Farming, the University Master’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering, and the University Master’s Degree in Laboratory Animal Science.