Program Access Information

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

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

All published information is available in three languages (Spanish, Valencian, and English).

Prospective applicants should take note of the following information:

• Information about the pre-registration process and its deadlines: https://www.upv.es/entidades/edoctorado/presenta-tu-solicitud-2025/
• Information on the various PhD programmes offered: https://www.upv.es/entidades/edoctorado/todos-los-programas-de-doctorado-ofertados-en-upv/
• Guidance for new students: https://www.upv.es/entidades/edoctorado/consejos-para-nuevos-estudiantes/

In addition, the pre-enrolment process for PhD studies is managed through the general pre-enrolment system of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). This provides applicants with an online platform that can be accessed from anywhere.

The online application system includes admission quota management, which ensures that the number of admissions established for the programme is not exceeded.

The admission of each applicant requires two approvals: approval from the Doctoral School, which ensures compliance with the minimum requirements established in Royal Decree 99/2011, and approval from the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme (CAPD), which ensures compliance with the requirements set out in the programme verification report, in accordance with the established criteria and the Evaluation Index (IV) score obtained by each applicant.

The admission profiles comprise the recommended admission profile, which does not require any additional training, and additional admission profiles, which do require additional training.

The recommended admission profile for the PhD Programme in Transport Infrastructure and Land Use comprises applicants who have completed a Master’s degree in a field related to civil engineering or spatial planning, providing an appropriate foundation for conducting research in infrastructure and land use.

The programme is primarily intended for graduates of the Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, as well as graduates of Master’s degrees related to transport, spatial planning, maritime and port engineering, geotechnical engineering, railway and road engineering, construction, and infrastructure management.

Several official Master’s degrees offered by the Universitat Politècnica de València in these fields also provide natural pathways into the programme. These include the Master’s Degree in Transport, Land Use and Urban Planning, the Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering Planning and Management, and the Master’s Degree in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, whose graduates are particularly well prepared to undertake the PhD programme.

Students admitted with these academic backgrounds generally possess the competences required to conduct PhD research within the programme’s research areas and are therefore not required to complete any additional training.

In addition to the recommended profile, applicants who have completed a Master’s degree in another related discipline may also be admitted. Such disciplines include industrial engineering, architecture—particularly in areas related to urban or spatial planning—geography, environmental sciences, and other fields related to the analysis and management of land or infrastructure.

In such cases, the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme shall assess the suitability of the applicant’s academic background for the programme’s research areas, taking into account their academic record, prior education, and research or professional experience.

Access Requirements

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

1. As a general rule, access to an official PhD programme requires an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent degree, and an official Spanish Master’s degree, or an equivalent degree, provided that at least 300 ECTS credits have been completed across both degree programmes.
2. Access shall also be granted to applicants who meet any of the following conditions: a) Hold official Spanish University degrees, or equivalent Spanish degrees, provided that at least 300 ECTS credits have been completed through these degree programmes and that level 3 of the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education has been attained. b) Hold a degree awarded under an education system within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), without the need for official recognition, which certifies level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework, provided that the degree grants access to PhD studies in the country in which it was awarded. c) Hold a degree awarded under an education system outside the EHEA, without the need for official recognition, provided that the University verifies that the degree certifies a level of education equivalent to that of an official Spanish University Master’s degree and grants access to PhD studies in the country in which it was awarded. d) Hold another PhD degree. e) University graduates who, having obtained a specialised healthcare training position through the corresponding entrance examination, have successfully completed at least two years of a training programme leading to an official qualification in one of the Health Sciences specialisations.

In addition to meeting the general access requirements for PhD studies established in the applicable regulations and described above, applicants to the PhD Programme in Transport Infrastructure and Land Use must meet the following specific requirement: a letter of support from the proposed PhD supervisor. Admission to the programme requires prior support from a member of the programme’s academic staff who holds a PhD and confirms their availability to supervise or co-supervise the PhD dissertation should the applicant be admitted.

Preliminary Research Proposal

Applicants must submit a Preliminary Research Plan or PhD dissertation proposal providing a concise description of the proposed research topic, its rationale, and its potential alignment with one of the programme’s research areas, together with an outline of the experimental methodology and the proposed timetable.

Languages

Given the international nature of PhD research and the need to consult specialised scientific literature, applicants are recommended to have an adequate command of academic English, equivalent to at least level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Admission Criteria

The Academic Committee of the PhD Programme shall assess the applications received in order to determine the applicants’ academic and scientific suitability for conducting a PhD dissertation within the scope of the programme.

As the number of applications received in recent years has been compatible with the number of places available, the main purpose of the admission process is to assess the suitability of applicants’ profiles for the programme rather than to conduct a competitive selection process.

For this purpose, the Academic Committee shall take the following indicative assessment criteria into account:

• Academic record for the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, or equivalent degrees (approximately 40%).
• Relevance of the applicant’s prior education to the scientific scope of the programme and its research areas (approximately 30%).
• Preliminary Research Plan and its alignment with the programme’s research areas (approximately 20%).
• Previous research or professional experience related to the scope of the programme (approximately 10%).

The Academic Committee shall assess these elements collectively in order to determine the applicant’s suitability and decide on admission to the programme.

As stated in section 3.2, there are two distinct admission profiles: the recommended admission profile, which does not require any additional training, and other admission profiles, which do.

Experience since the programme was established shows that most admitted students hold Master’s degrees directly related to civil engineering or spatial planning. However, where a student’s prior education does not sufficiently cover the competences required to conduct PhD research, the Academic Committee may require them to complete additional training.

Courses assigned as additional training shall be selected from the following Master’s degrees associated with the School of Civil Engineering:

• Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering.
• Master’s Degree in Transport, Land Use and Urban Planning.
• Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering Planning and Management.
• Master’s Degree in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering.

The links provided contain the corresponding course guide for each subject.