Admission

Admission procedures and requirements are governed by Royal Decree 99/2011 and the accompanying regulations approved by public universities. To be eligible for admission to an official doctoral program in Spain, candidates must hold an EHEA bachelor’s degree and a university master’s degree qualification. The following candidates may also apply:

• a) Holders of an official Spanish university degree or an official degree issued by a university within the European Higher Education Area framework, which grants access to master’s degree study in accordance with the terms established in Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October. Applicants must have completed at least 300 ECTS credits as part of official university studies, at least 60 of which must correspond to official master’s degree subjects.
• b) Holders of an official EHEA bachelor’s degree issued by a Spanish university, with a total study load of at least 300 ECTS credits, as stipulated in EU law. These candidates will be required to complete the bridging courses referred to point 7.2, unless the curriculum of the bachelor’s degree used for the purpose of admission included research training credits with an equivalent student load and of equivalent content to the research credits obtained as part of university master’s degree courses.
• c) University graduates who have gained access to the training stage of a public healthcare specialization via the corresponding public examination and successfully completed at least two years of the corresponding training program.
• d) Holders of university qualifications issued by an institution outside the EHEA framework, provided the UB can verify that the qualification reflects an equivalent level of academic training to a university master’s degree issued in Spain and grants access to doctoral studies in the country of issue. Admission shall not, in any case, imply that prior qualifications have been recognized as equivalent to a Spanish degree and does not confer recognition for any purposes other than that of admission to the doctoral program.
• e) Holders of a Spanish doctoral degree issued under previous higher education regulations pre-dating the introduction of the European Higher Education Area framework.

Students enrolled on the university master’s degrees in Analytic Philosophy or Cognitive Science and Language (specialization in philosophy) are automatically entitled to apply for a place on the doctoral program and will not be required to complete bridging courses. However, standard admission requirements still apply and successful completion of the master’s degree does not guarantee admission. These students will be subject to the same admission procedure as other applicants.

Candidates must be able to demonstrate a level of academic training comparable to that obtained under the university master’s degree in Analytic Philosophy by submitting the following documents, in addition to those required for the standard pre-enrolment procedure:

• (a) A short written description of a possible topic for the doctoral thesis (800-1500 words).
• (b) A sample of written work representative of their interests and research aptitudes.
• (c) Two letters of recommendation written specifically for the purposes of the application to the Aphil doctoral program.
• (d) An up-to-date CV.
• (e) Official accreditation of English language skills at a level equivalent to B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The Academic Committee will evaluate each application, taking into account the candidate’s academic record, demonstrable research experience and skills, the scientific quality and interest of the thesis proposal, the compatibility of the chosen research topic with the experience and interests of researchers attached to the doctoral program, and the number of theses to which supervisors can be assigned at the time the applications are received. Having completed its evaluation the Academic Committee will decide whether each candidate is (a) accepted, (b) rejected, or (c) accepted subject to the successful completion of bridging courses with a total value of up to 60 ECTS credits (subjects from the APhil master’s degree).

Candidates will be notified of the decision and, if successful, be assigned one or more tutors, as deemed necessary. In most cases the tutor(s) will later be appointed as the thesis supervisor(s).

Once successful candidates have received the above information, they should contact the tutor(s) and complete the enrolment process, which requires them to submit a letter of acceptance from the tutor(s) and a proposal of the thesis topic and/or title. To finalize enrolment, the UB requires students and tutors to sign a Commitment Agreement that outlines the rights and obligations of both parties.