FAQs

Full-time mode: in accordance with Royal Decree 576/2023, the duration of full-time doctoral studies will be a maximum of four years, which will start as of the enrolment of the doctoral student in to the programme and run until submission of the doctoral thesis. If after this period of four years, the application for submission of the thesis has not been made, the Academic Committee may authorize an extension of a further year.

Part-time mode: in accordance with Royal Decree 576/2023, doctoral students who undertake doctoral studies part time will have seven years as of enrolment in to the programme until submission of the doctoral thesis. If after this period, the application for submission of the thesis has not been made, the Academic Committee may authorize an extension an extension of a further year.

• Royal Decree 576/2023, of 4 July

The Government of Catalonia sets the prices each academic year for credits and other academic services for the Catalan public universities and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

• General information about prices and fees
• Specific information about the doctoral programmes

To be admitted on one of the UOC's doctoral programmes, you must meet the admissions requirements and follow the application procedure for the programme in question.

• Admission requirements
• Specific information about the doctoral programmes

The vehicular languages of the doctoral programmes is English, but the research plans and the doctoral theses may be written in English, Catalan or Spanish.

For students who do not come from English-speaking countries, they need to hold a certificate that accredits a level of skill in a foreign language (English). In the case of the doctoral programmes, students must have level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The UOC provides accreditation of knowledge of English by offering a TOEFL level test. To take the test, you should specify the code for the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: 4418.

Students can also demonstrate their English language skills with another official qualification that accredits a level equivalent to or higher than the one required.

Examples of qualifications that accredit these levels: http://secure.vec.bc.ca/toefl-equivalency-table.cfm.

UOC doctoral programmes are officially verified and validated qualifications by the competent bodies of the Catalan and Spanish governments. Therefore, the recognition of these qualifications is the same as any doctoral qualification in the Catalan and Spanish university systems.

To be eligible for a UOC Doctoral School grant, you must meet the requirements published in the call for applications and state your desire to apply for a grant in the doctoral programme admission request form.

• Call for UOC - Doctoral School grants

Students on the doctoral programmes wo are following the part-time distance education mode will not need to come in person to the University, with the exception of the oral examination of the doctoral thesis, which is face-to-face.

The vehicular languages of the doctoral programmes is English, but the research plans and the doctoral theses may be written in English, Catalan or Spanish. Doctoral students will have to submit the doctoral thesis with a brief abstract of the research in English and another in Catalan or Spanish. In the case of a justified reason, the Academic Committee of the programme in question may authorize the submission of a doctoral thesis in a different language from the three mentioned above.

To complete the doctoral thesis, doctoral students will have a thesis supervisor or a maximum of two co-supervisors. One thesis supervisor must necessarily be a full-time lecturer or researcher at the UOC and the other may be from any other university, institution or research centre (including from abroad).

It is the tutor who makes the formal proposal regarding the thesis supervisor to the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme, which is the collegiate body responsible for approving the proposal. Evidently, the opinion of the doctoral student will be taken into account in the thesis supervisor selection process.