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Program Access Information

PhD in Water and Environmental Engineering

Information channels

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 note the following:

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, ensuring that the number of places established for the PhD programmeme is not exceeded.

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

Admission Profiles

There are two types of admission profile: the recommended admission profile, which does not require any additional training, and other admission profiles, which do require additional training.

The recommended admission profile includes applicants holding MECES Level 3 degrees in hydraulic engineering or environmental engineering, with content equivalent to that of the Master’s Degree in Hydraulic Engineering and the Environment or the Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering, both offered at UPV.

Other admission profiles based on degrees other than those listed above may also be suitable, although to a lesser extent. This may include Master’s degrees in civil engineering, industrial engineering or forestry engineering from Spanish universities, or Master’s degrees in hydraulic engineering, environmental engineering, water resources management or environmental sciences from foreign universities.

Access Requirements and Admission Criteria

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 programmeme requires applicants to hold an official Spanish Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, and an official Spanish Master’s degree, or equivalent, provided that at least 300 ECTS credits have been completed across both degrees.
  2. Applicants may also be admitted if they meet any of the following conditions: a) They hold official Spanish University degrees, or equivalent Spanish degrees, provided that they have completed at least 300 ECTS credits across these studies and have attained Level 3 of the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education. b) They hold a degree awarded under a foreign 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 admission imply official recognition of the applicant’s previous degree or its recognition for any purpose other than access to PhD studies. c) They hold a degree awarded under a foreign education system outside the EHEA, without the need for official recognition, provided that the University verifies that it is equivalent in level to an official Spanish Master’s degree and that it grants access to PhD studies in the country in which it was awarded. Under no circumstances shall admission imply official recognition of the applicant’s previous degree or its recognition for any purpose other than access to PhD studies. d) They hold another PhD degree. e) University graduates who, after obtaining a specialist training position through the corresponding entrance examination, have successfully completed at least two years of a programmeme leading to an official qualification in one of the Health Sciences specialties.

The PhD programmeme’s specific access requirements include a letter of support from the proposed PhD supervisor. Through the programmeme website, applicants may consult information on the different research teams and their research areas. The academic staff belonging to each team are also listed, together with their research profiles and contact details.

Admission Criteria

Given the international nature of PhD research and the need to consult specialised scientific literature, applicants are recommended to have sufficient academic comprehension and communication skills in 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.

When submitting their application for admission, applicants with special educational needs arising from a disability may indicate any requirements relating to curricular adaptations, alternative pathways or alternative studies, so that the Academic Committee may take them into account.

Application Assessment

Applications for admission to the PhD programmeme are assessed on the basis of three independent factors:

  • Relevance of the postgraduate degree granting access to the PhD programmeme. The degree is rated on a scale from 0 to 10 according to its content. The following table provides indicative scores for the most common fields of study:
    • Master’s Degree in Hydraulic Engineering and the Environment / Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering: 10.
    • Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering / Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering / Master’s Degree in Forestry Engineering / Master’s Degree in Water Resources Engineering and Management / Master’s Degree in River Basin Management / Master’s Degree in Hydrology and Water Resources Management: 9.
    • Master’s Degree in Environmental Management / Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development and Environmental Management / Master’s Degree in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency / Master’s Degree in Hydroinformatics and Water Management / Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering / Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing: 8.
  • The applicant’s average grade in the postgraduate degree granting access to the PhD programmeme. This average grade is also expressed on a scale from 0 to 10, either because it was originally provided in this format or because its equivalent was calculated during the pre-enrolment process.
  • Degree of saturation of the research team that the applicant proposes to join, also assessed on a scale from 0 to 10 as follows: For the current academic year, the ratio R is calculated by dividing the institutional target for the number of PhD students enrolled in the programmeme (currently 90) by the total number of PhD supervisors in the programmeme. This ratio represents the target average number of students per supervisor across the programmeme. The average number of students per supervisor in the research team that the applicant proposes to join is then calculated for the current academic year. The degree of saturation is assessed according to where the number of students per supervisor falls within a range between 0.5·R and 3·R. A score of 10 points is assigned to 0.5·R, corresponding to a team with a low level of saturation, and a score of 5 points is assigned to 3·R, corresponding to a relatively more saturated team. Scores between these two limits are assigned on a linear basis.

Once the three independent scores have been obtained, the applicant’s final score is calculated as a weighted average using the following weightings:

  • 25% relevance of the degree granting access to the PhD programmeme
  • 65% average grade in the degree granting access to the PhD programmeme
  • 10% degree of saturation of the research team

It should be noted that none of the three assessed factors is exclusionary; they are intended solely to provide a quantified overview of the circumstances in which each applicant is proposed for admission to the PhD programmeme.

Additional Training Requirements

There are two distinct admission profiles: the recommended admission profile, which does not require additional training, and other admission profiles, which do require additional training.

Following an individual assessment of each case, applicants may be required to complete additional training during the first year of the PhD programmeme. The need for and suitability of this additional training will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme (CAPD), taking into account the recommendation of the proposed PhD supervisor and the applicant’s academic profile. Under no circumstances may the total additional training requirement exceed 20 ECTS credits.

As established in the regulations in force, this specific additional training must be successfully completed during the initial stage of the PhD dissertation and, in all cases, within the first academic year. For applicants with other admission profiles, the CAPD may assign up to 20 ECTS credits of additional training in accordance with the following guidelines:

The additional training will primarily consist of subjects selected from the curricula of the degrees used as references for the recommended admission profile, such as the Master’s Degree in Hydraulic Engineering and the Environment and the Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering, both offered at UPV. The course guides for all subjects in both degrees provide detailed information on their content, learning outcomes, training activities, assessment systems, number of credits and other relevant aspects.

The additional training requirements will always be determined by each applicant’s admission profile and not by the PhD dissertation to be undertaken.