Program access information

In general, for access, the requirements set forth in art. 6 of RD99/2011 must be met:

Article 6. Requirements for access to the doctorate.

1. In general, in order to access an official doctoral program, it will be necessary to hold an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, and a Master’s degree.
2. Those who are in any of the following situations are also eligible:
   1. Hold an official Spanish university degree, or from another country of the European Higher Education Area, which qualifies for access to a Master’s degree in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of October 29, 2007, and have passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in the official university studies, of which at least 60 must be at the Master’s degree level.
   2. Be in possession of an official Spanish Graduate Degree, the duration of which, in accordance with the rules of community law, is at least 300 ECTS credits. Such graduates must be required to take the training complements referred to in Article 7.2 of this rule, unless the curriculum of the corresponding undergraduate degree includes research training credits, equivalent in training value to the research credits from Master’s studies.
   3. University graduates who, after obtaining a place in training in the corresponding entrance exam to specialized health training positions, have passed with a positive evaluation at least two years of training in a program to obtain the official degree in one of the specialties in Health Sciences.
   4. To be in possession of a degree obtained in accordance with foreign educational systems, without the need for its homologation, after verification by the university that it accredits a level of training equivalent to that of the official Spanish Master’s degree and that it qualifies in the country issuing the degree for access to doctoral studies. This admission will not imply, in any case, the homologation of the previous degree held by the interested party nor its recognition for purposes other than access to doctoral studies.
   5. Be in possession of another Spanish doctorate degree obtained in accordance with previous university regulations.

In the case of students with special educational needs derived from disability, they should indicate this in their application so that the University can establish the appropriate support and counseling services, and evaluate the need for possible curricular adaptations, itineraries or alternative studies.

Finally, for all students in the doctoral program and, as agreed by agreement of the Governing Council of December 12, 2013, all graduates, engineers or architects are considered to have completed 300 ECTS credits of which at least 60 correspond to the master’s degree level.

Admission Criteria

According to RD 99/2011 of January 28, 2011, in order to access an official doctoral program it will be necessary to hold an official Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, and a Master’s degree (or, at least, to have passed 60 ECTS at the Master’s level).

The PhD program is organized, designed, coordinated and supervised by the Academic Committee (AC) responsible for its definition, updating and quality, as well as for the training and research activities. This committee is composed of 4 professors from the UPV and 4 professors from the UPM. Annex 2 of the collaboration agreement defines the composition of the committee and the functions of the coordinator. All the members of the committee have at least one six-year research period and have supervised at least one doctoral thesis.

It will be the CA responsible for evaluating students for admission taking into account that, in terms of admission:

The UPV, in article 5 of its regulations for doctoral studies establishes:

1. The academic committees of the respective programs may establish additional requirements and criteria, which must be made explicit in the verification report, for the selection and admission of students to a specific doctoral program.
2. These criteria may include the requirement of specific training complements, which, for the purposes of public prices and the granting of scholarships and study aids, will be considered as doctoral level training. The proposal of training complements for the doctoral student will be made from the offer of postgraduate courses of the university.
3. The admission requirements and criteria referred to in section one, as well as the design of the training complements referred to in section two, shall be stated in the verification report of the doctoral program.

Thus, the following Evaluation Index (IV) on a scale of 0 to 100 points is proposed for the evaluation of students. Those who pass an IV of 60 points will be admitted to the doctoral program:

IV = 20 * E + 30 * T + 50 * M

Where E is the weighting factor of the academic record of the total studies (undergraduate and graduate) considering the overall average grade on a standardized scale from 0 to 1, T is the weighting factor of the undergraduate degree and M is the weighting factor of the graduate education. The values taken by the T and M factors are:

• Undergraduate training:
  • Degree in geomatics engineering and topography: T = 1.
  • Degrees in civil engineering, computer science, telecommunications, architecture, environmental sciences, agro-food engineering, forestry engineering, aeronautics, physics, geography or mathematics: T = 0.75.
• Master’s degree training:
  • Master’s degrees that cover 90-100% of the competencies will have M=1.
  • Those masters that cover at least 75% of the competencies will have M=0.75.
  • Those master’s degrees that cover at least 50% of the competencies will have M=0.50.

Competencies

The doctoral program is aimed at graduates who meet the access conditions established in Article 6 of RD99/2011 and who have acquired the following competencies:

• C1. Know in detail and know how to use and apply the physical and mathematical fundamentals of the different geomatics disciplines (Geodesy, Geophysics, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Cartography, Topography and Geographic Information Systems).
• C2. Knowledge of instruments, space platforms and geomatic sensors for the acquisition of georeferenced data (LiDAR, Global Positioning Satellite Systems, topographic instruments, geophysical instruments, photogrammetric instruments, sensors and platforms for obtaining images, inertial navigation systems, laser scanners, etc.), ability to use them identifying the most suitable for each type of study or application. Understand their internal operation, master their calibration and the processing and treatment of the data they provide.
• C3. Properly handle the various mathematical tools to read, visualize and obtain useful geomatics information from observations from instrumentation, space platforms and geomatics sensors, appreciating their limitations.
• C4. Know the basic characteristics of storage formats, structuring and representation of geomatic information, apply the necessary corrections, as well as understand the techniques of validation and evaluation of the quality of geomatic information.
• C5. Know the metadata specification regulations, its standards and quality of spatial information and be able to design cartographic applications according to them.
• C6. Have the ability to configure and put into production geomatics information servers and the design and development of geoportals.
• C7. Appropriate application of the specifications and standards that allow the interoperability of data and services in the geomatics information environment.
• C8. Ability to develop spatial analysis and applications based on the management of databases, images and other spatially referenced data.
• C9. Know the basic aspects of territorial structure and planning, the use of geographic data and know how to analyze and model the environmental risks associated with different scenarios.
• C10. Have the ability to develop geomatics applications using free or commercial software.
• C11. Know the techniques of representation, visualization and 2D, 3D and 4D modeling of spatial information.
• C12. Know and use bibliographic information sources and updated geomatics databases to extract information.

Recommended entry profile

The above competences can be acquired by taking the degree in Geomatics Engineering and Surveying and one of the following master’s degrees (or others with similar competences):

• University Master’s Degree in Geomatics and Geoinformation of the UPV
• Master’s Degree in Geodetic and Cartographic Engineering of the UPM
• University Master’s Degree in Cartographic Geotechnologies in Engineering and Architecture (University of Salamanca)
• Master’s Degree in Valuation, Cadastre and Geographic Information Systems in the Rural and Natural Environment (Miguel Hernández University of Elche).
• Master’s Degree in Geomatics, Remote Sensing and Spatial Modeling Applied to Forest Management (University of Cordoba)
• Master’s Degree in Geographic Information Systems (Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca)
• Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (University of Oviedo)
• Master’s Degree in Geomatics and Navigation (Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya)
• University Master’s Degree in Specialization in Topographic Geotechnologies in Engineering (University of Extremadura)
• Master’s Degree in Sustainable Land and Territory Management (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela)
• Master’s Degree in Geographic Information Technologies (Universidad de Alcalá)
• Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing (Universitat de València)

Only those students who meet a score of M=1 in the master’s level training will be exempt from taking complementary training.

Otherwise, the CA will approve the training complements to be taken by the student in order to cover the necessary access competences.

These training complements will be acquired through the specific training offer in geomatics engineering of the official master’s degree of the UPV (Master in Geomatics and Geoinformation). This training stage will correspond to a maximum of 18 ECTS for students who access with competences valued with a weighting factor M=0,5; and up to a maximum of 12 ECTS for students who access with competences valued with a weighting factor M=0,75.

The subjects of this master’s degree include all the competencies required for access to the doctoral program (many of them include several competencies), so it will be the task of the CA to study, based on the student’s admission profile, which subjects should be taken to cover the competencies required for the completion of the doctoral thesis.

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

• Ability to carry out research activities with social responsibility and scientific integrity and rigor.