Program access information

The recommended admission profiles correspond to the accreditation of having passed at least 60 credits of training at Master’s level, in the field of civil engineering, urban planning or territory, or having the degree of civil engineer, as long as their training corresponds to a minimum of 300 ECTS, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level.

The most related postgraduate training will be that corresponding to the following master’s degrees:

• Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from any accredited Spanish university.
• Master’s Degree in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning (MATTU), of the Universitat Politècnica de València, and other related fields.
• Master’s Degree in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering (MAPGIC), Universitat Politècnica de València, and other related fields.

The previous affinity will correspond to the level of knowledge and competencies obtained by taking one of the three previous university master’s degrees offered at the Universitat Politècnica de València.

A detailed list of these levels can be found in the following links:

In order to specify the above affinity, the ten specific competencies are established for each of the three possible areas of previous training or access (any of them being valid), taken from the existing competencies in the master’s degrees of the Universitat Politècnica de València (MICCP, MATTU and MAPGIC):

Other entrance profiles to the doctoral program

Other profiles could also be admitted, always linked to civil engineering, urban planning or territory, which do not correspond to the above degrees, such as, for example, the following:

• Architect specializing in urban planning, provided that their training corresponds to a minimum of 300 ECTS, with at least 50% of coincidence in terms of access competencies for the previous training area of territory and sustainability.
• These students must complete additional training to acquire these competencies.
• National or foreign graduates who have obtained a master’s degree in the fields of civil engineering, urban planning or territory, with a minimum intensity equivalent to 60 ECTS, with at least 50% of coincidence in terms of access competencies. These students will have to take additional training courses to acquire these competences.

ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AND ADMISSION CRITERIA

According to R.D 99/2011 January 28, the requirements for access to the doctorate are the following:

• 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.
• Those who are in any of the following situations are also eligible:
  • 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 and have passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in the set of official university studies, of which at least 60 must be at the Master’s level.
  • Be in possession of an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree, the duration of which, in accordance with the rules of Community law, is at least 300 ECTS credits. These graduates must take mandatory complementary training courses, unless the curriculum of the corresponding degree includes research training credits, equivalent in training value to the research credits from Master’s studies.
  • To be in possession of a degree obtained under 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.
  • Be in possession of another Spanish doctorate degree obtained in accordance with previous university regulations.

In the case of case c, the corresponding admission will not imply, in any case, the homologation of the previous degree held by the interested party or its recognition for purposes other than access to doctoral studies.

Admission criteria

The doctoral program is organized, designed, coordinated and supervised by the Academic Committee (AC) responsible for its definition, updating and quality, as well as training and research activities. This committee will be composed of between 5 and 6 members in addition to the program coordinator, all of them PhD professors at the UPV. The number of members of each research structure participating in the program in the CA will depend on the number of theses presented in the last five years by each of the research structures participating in the doctoral program. All members of the committee have at least one recognized six-year research period and have supervised theses in the last five years.

It will be the CA who will ensure compliance with the criteria for admission to the program and will be responsible for its evaluation, taking into account the following aspects:

1. Academic qualifications: Spanish or foreign university graduates with a background in civil engineering, urban planning or land use planning are preferably eligible for the program.
2. Postgraduate training: it must be accredited to have passed at least 60 credits of postgraduate training (Master) preferably in the field of civil engineering, urban planning or territory, or to have the degree of civil engineer, as long as their training corresponds to a minimum of 300 ECTS. The most related postgraduate training will be that corresponding to the following masters:
   • Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (MICCP, from any accredited Spanish university).
   • Master’s Degree in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning (MATTU) and other related fields.
   • Master’s Degree in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering (MAPGIC) and other related fields.
   The previous affinity will correspond to the level of knowledge and competencies obtained by taking one of the three previous university master’s degrees taught at the Universitat Politècnica de València.
3. Academic transcript: both undergraduate and graduate academic transcripts must be provided to be evaluated by the CA.
4. Complementary training: the admission of the student may include the requirement of complementary training, depending on the student’s previous training, according to the criteria established later on.

The CA of the program will be responsible for evaluating the admission of students by applying an evaluation index (IV) on a scale of 0 to 100 points. Those who exceed an IV#60 points will be admitted to the doctoral program. The IV will be calculated according to the following weighting on the above aspects:

1. Academic qualification: 45%.
2. Postgraduate training or equivalent: 30%.
3. Academic record: 25%.

Those who must take mandatory complementary courses will be acquired through the Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (MICCP), or the Master’s Degree in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning (MATTU) or the Master’s Degree in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering (MAPGIC).

In the event that the student comes from other Official Postgraduate Programs or from other studies with a level of training equivalent to that of the official Spanish Master’s Degree, the Doctoral Academic Committee will evaluate the affinity of the competencies acquired with the competencies foreseen in the aforementioned Master’s Degrees. In these cases, the Doctoral Academic Committee will prepare a report reflecting, when necessary, the need for the student to take some subjects of the specified Masters, according to the criteria subsequently established. Likewise, a list will be made of the research lines of the Program in which the doctoral student may participate.

The number of ECTS, contents, evaluation systems and learning outcomes of each of the subjects of the masters associated with the doctoral program are included in their respective teaching guides, which are available on the program’s website.

The languages used in the Program are mainly two: Spanish and English. The recommended levels of these languages, according to the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” are C-1 for Spanish and B-2 for English.

The academic committee of the program, after studying the student’s curriculum, will decide whether it is appropriate for him/her to take complementary courses. Where appropriate, it will define the list of subjects to be taken from the University’s postgraduate academic offer, in particular and mainly from the Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (MICCP), or the Master’s Degree in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning (MATTU) or the Master’s Degree in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering (MAPGIC), considering the specific training required by the doctoral student for the proper development of his or her research work.

Doctoral students admitted to the Doctoral Program from any of these master’s degrees and other related ones, who will be exempt from the training complements, as long as 90% of the competencies specified in section 3.1 in any of the previously defined training areas are covered.

The academic committee of the program, after studying the student’s curriculum, will decide whether it is appropriate for the student to take complementary courses. If necessary, and with a report from the assigned tutor, it will define the list of subjects to be taken considering the specific training required by the doctoral student for the proper development of his or her research work.

The academic committee of the program will use the following criteria to assign the possible training complements:

• The complementary training stage will correspond to a maximum of 18 ECTS for students who enter with competences of those masters that cover at least 50% of the competences specified in section 3.1. in any of the previous training areas.
• The complementary training stage will correspond to a maximum of 12 ECTS for students who access with competences of those masters that cover at least 70% of the competences specified in section 3.1. in any of the previous training areas.

The selection of subjects will be made from among the university’s postgraduate academic offerings, specifically and mainly from the following three UPV master’s degrees:

• Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (MICCP).
• Master’s Degree in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning (MATTU).
• Master’s Degree in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering (MAPGIC).

The subjects of these last two masters 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 entry training profile area, 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.