Program access information

The requirements for access to official doctoral programs are those established in Royal Decree 99/2011 of January 28th. Thus, in general, for access to an official doctoral program it will be necessary to be in possession of an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, and a Master’s degree. Likewise, those who are in any of the cases regulated by article 6 of the aforementioned Royal Decree may also be admitted.

There is a recommended access profile that will not require additional training. This profile corresponds to students whose degree of access to the program includes specific training in Agricultural Economics, Environmental Economics and Natural Resources and/or Development Economics for an equivalent of 60 ECTS.

There are also two other admissible access profiles:

1. Applicants with a background in economics (economics or business) or social sciences (political science, sociology).
2. Applicants with a more technical background (engineering, environmental sciences) related to agribusiness and the environment, and with a background in economics (as included in many curricula of these degrees).

The Academic Committee will take into account the profile of the admitted students to establish, in the latter two cases, the training complements that will correspond to subjects taught in the Master’s Degree in Agrifood and Environmental Economics. In the corresponding section (section 3.4) the criteria used for the establishment of such complements are specified.

For those students who request part-time doctoral studies, the Doctoral Program Committee will evaluate the applicant’s circumstances and the reasons that justify such dedication (compatibility with other work activities, family situation, etc.).

Students accepted on a part-time basis will have a different schedule of training activities than full-time students (see section on training activities below).

The training process may be carried out indistinctly in two languages: Spanish and English. In any case, the applicant must demonstrate a high level of proficiency in either language (mother tongue or official qualification). In the evaluation criteria for admission, see below, knowledge of both or third languages will be considered.

Applicants will be admitted by applying the following criteria and weightings. For a student to be admitted, it will be necessary to obtain a minimum score of 75 points out of 100.

• Academic qualification (30%)
• University Master’s Degree (40%)
• Master’s academic record (20%)
• Other merits (including knowledge of languages, professional experience) (10%)

In turn, each merit will be corrected with a coefficient of affinity with the lines of research of the doctoral program. This coefficient will range from 0 (no affinity) to 1 (maximum affinity).

For part-time students and students with specific needs, a personal interview will be conducted in order to establish and consider their specific limitations (time, accessibility). In this way, it will be possible to establish a design and a time schedule of the training activities that will facilitate their realization by these students.

The academic committee of the program, having studied the curriculum of the doctoral student and his or her admission profile, will decide whether it is appropriate for the student to take complementary training, considering the specific training required by the doctoral student for the proper development of his or her research work. If necessary, such training complements will correspond to subjects of the Master’s Degree in Agrifood and Environmental Economics taught by the Department of Economics and Social Sciences of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.

Students coming from the recommended profile do not need additional training.

For students accessing with each of the other two admissible access profiles, the Academic Committee will select the subjects to be taken according to the following criteria:

• For the profile of economics or social sciences, students will choose the subjects of the master’s degree that bring them closer to the characteristics and particularities of the agri-food sector and the environment, as well as rural development.
• For the technical profile, the courses of the master’s degree with a greater component of economic and instrumental theory will be chosen to reinforce the economic training of students who are already familiar with the aspects referred to in the previous profile (agri-food sector, environment, rural development).

In these two cases, the Academic Committee will also evaluate the degree of affinity (high or intermediate) of the student’s access degree (for example, a forestry degree will not be the same as an industrial degree) to determine the number of subjects to be taken.

The selection of the subjects that will make up this complement will be made by the Academic Committee, based on the academic offer of the Master’s Degree in Agrifood and Environmental Economics, according to the line of research in which the student intends to carry out the doctoral thesis.

The subjects that make up this master’s degree are:

• Mandatory module
  • Market and sectoral policy analysis
  • Accounting and tax management of agri-food companies
  • Financial management of the agribusiness company
  • Business management and economic framework
  • Agri-environmental economics and policy
  • Market research
• Elective module:
  • Social economy and agri-food sector
  • Trade and development
  • Rural development processes and policies
  • Marketing planning and internationalization
  • Water policies and irrigation efficiency
  • Analysis of efficiency and productivity in agriculture

The master’s degree from which the training complements are configured, has among its general learning outcomes more linked to research, the following: Knowing how to analyze, synthesize and interrelate the information received from a critical perspective; Showing the ability to analyze information and know how to find the answer to problems of various kinds; Demonstrating the ability to communicate both orally and in writing and being able to convey information or opinions correctly and in an appropriate language, and Knowing the main characteristics of the agri-food sector and the environment and the main economic figures. Likewise, each of the different subjects has specific learning outcomes.

Since these complements correspond to subjects of the aforementioned master’s degree, the specific contents, the learning outcomes, the training activities contemplated in each one and the evaluation systems are specific to each one of them (although in the case of evaluation in all cases this is of a continuous nature). Passing the corresponding subjects will imply the recognition by the academic committee of the doctoral program of having passed the training complements.

Basics

• Systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of research skills and methods related to that field.
• Ability to conceive, design or create, implement and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.
• Ability to contribute to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
• Ability to critically analyze, evaluate and synthesize new and complex ideas.
• Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general about their fields of knowledge in the modes and languages commonly used in their international scientific community.
• Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural progress within a knowledge-based society.

Personal skills and abilities

• To develop in contexts where there is little specific information.
• Find the key questions to be answered to solve a complex problem.
• Design, create, develop and undertake novel and innovative projects in their field of knowledge.
• Work both in a team and autonomously in an international or multidisciplinary context.
• Integrate knowledge, deal with complexity and make judgments with limited information.
• Intellectual criticism and defense of solutions.

Other competencies

• To situate and contextualize the research topic of the doctoral student in the field of knowledge of agri-food economics and its different fields of specialization.