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 recommended admission profile does not require any additional training.

Recommended admission profile: Regarding the programme’s academic requirements, applicants holding a Spanish or foreign Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering or a related field, or an equivalent foreign degree, may be admitted. At postgraduate level, applicants must demonstrate that they hold a Master’s degree, or an equivalent foreign degree, in Computer Science aligned with the programme’s main areas: Cloud Computing and High-Performance Computing; Computer and Network Engineering; Software Systems Engineering and Technology; and Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Digital Imaging. This recommended admission profile does not require any additional training.

Applicants with other admission profiles shall not be considered.

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. Under no circumstances shall such admission imply official recognition of the applicant’s previous degree or its recognition for any purpose other than access to PhD studies. 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. Under no circumstances shall such admission imply official recognition of the applicant’s previous degree or its recognition for any purpose other than access to PhD studies. 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.

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. Applicants whose native language is not Spanish should demonstrate an adequate command of Spanish and/or ensure effective communication with their PhD supervisor in a common language.

Admission Criteria

The programme’s specific admission criteria include a letter of support from the proposed PhD supervisor. Information on the various research teams and their research areas is available on the programme website. For each team, the members of academic staff, their research profiles and their contact details are provided.

The Academic Committee shall ensure compliance with the programme’s admission criteria and shall assess applicants on the basis of the following aspects:

1. Academic record: applicants must submit their Bachelor’s and Master’s degree academic records for assessment by the Academic Committee.
2. Academic qualifications: applicants holding a Spanish or foreign degree in Computer Engineering or a related field may be admitted to the programme.
3. Postgraduate education: applicants must provide evidence that they hold a Master’s degree in Computer Science.

The Academic Committee of the PhD Programme shall assess applications by applying an Evaluation Index (IV) on a scale from 0 to 100 points. Applicants who obtain an IV score of 70 points or more shall be admitted to the PhD programme. The IV shall be calculated in accordance with the following cases: 

Case 2.1: Applicants who hold a Master’s degree. Case 2.2: Applicants who have not completed a Master’s degree but hold an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree comprising at least 300 ECTS credits at MECES level 3, or a former pre-Bologna degree at MECES level 3. Case 2.3: Applicants holding degrees awarded under foreign education systems. Case 2.4: Applicants who hold another Spanish PhD degree.

Case 2.1: Where the applicant holds a Master’s degree, the following equation shall apply: IV = 20f_exp + 80f_gra, where: • f_exp is the weighting factor for the overall academic record, covering undergraduate and postgraduate studies, based on the overall average grade on a normalised scale from 0 to 1; • f_gra is the weighting factor for the Bachelor’s degree.

The f_gra values are specified in the following table: | Degree | f_gra | | :— | :— | | Computer Engineering and related fields | 1 | | Telecommunications Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Mathematics | [0.75–1.00] | | Industrial Engineering, Physics | [0.50–0.75] |

For degrees whose weighting factor is expressed as a range, the Academic Committee shall determine the applicable value on the basis of the following criteria: • where the degree includes a specialisation, the relevance of that specialisation to the field of Computer Science; • the relevance of the degree to the research area in which the applicant has expressed an interest.

With regard to postgraduate education, given the wide range of Master’s degrees in Computer Science, the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme shall determine the alignment of each degree with the programme’s main areas: Cloud Computing and High-Performance Computing; Computer and Network Engineering; Software Systems Engineering and Technology; and Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Digital Imaging.

Case 2.2: Where the applicant has not previously completed any Master’s-level credits and holds an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree comprising at least 300 ECTS credits at MECES level 3, or a former pre-Bologna degree at MECES level 3, the following equation shall apply: IV = 20f_exp + 80f_gra. Here, f_exp is the weighting factor for the academic record, based on the overall average grade on a normalised scale from 0 to 1, and f_gra is the weighting factor for the Bachelor’s degree, whose value is determined according to the table provided for Case 2.1. Applicants assessed under this case must have completed coursework in Computer Engineering.

For Case 2.3, concerning degrees awarded under foreign education systems, and Case 2.4, concerning applicants who hold another Spanish PhD degree, the applicant must demonstrate that they hold a University Master’s degree in Computer Science. The Academic Committee of the PhD Programme shall determine the relevance of that degree to the programme’s main areas: Cloud Computing and High-Performance Computing; Computer and Network Engineering; Software Systems Engineering and Technology; and Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Digital Imaging.

Applicants who do not meet the recommended admission profile shall not be admitted. Therefore, no additional training requirements are established.