Procedures

Introduction

This page summarizes the processes and regulations for PhD in Software, Systems and Computing students, approved by the Programme Committee:

• Enrolment
• Doctoral student training and supervision commitment agreement
• Student Continuation Policy
• PhD thesis supervisor
• Joint supervision procedure for PhD theses
• Mobility
• Internships at companies
• Thesis title
• Research plan
• International Doctor distinction
• Industrial Doctor distinction
• Joint Supervision distinction
• Extraordinary PhD awards
• Thesis development and presentation
• Calculating deadlines

The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, based on Royal Decree 99/2011 (amended by other Royal Decrees), has established all PhD-related University rules, that may be found on the Doctoral Rules web page. This site summarizes the main general aspects and the specific details of the PhD in Software, Systems and Computing.

Enrolment

Once the student has been admitted, the student must enrol in the PhD Programme each academic year by the dates specified.

Students may enrol on-line or at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos Postgraduate Office.

The process to enrol online is:

1. First, you must obtain credentials by opening an UPM email account (if you already have this email account, you may skip to the second step). Your initial password is the university PIN, which consists of the four digits corresponding to the student’s day and month of birth. We recommend changing your PIN after this step.
2. Next, you must request an appointment.
3. Finally, you must log in to the Self-Enrolment system and follow the steps to pay the academic tuition ("Tutela Académica") fee and do not select thesis defence ("Tesis Doctoral"). The academic tuition ("Tutela Académica") fee should appear automatically selected in the economic section.

For further information, please see the University Self-Enrolment web page.

Any question, issue or incident with the enrolment should be reported to Postgraduate Office.

Doctoral student training and supervision commitment agreement

Upon commencement, along with their tutors and thesis supervisor, students must sign the "Doctoral student training and supervision commitment agreement". Two signed hard copies of this commitment must be delivered to the administrative officer (office 3344). Alternatively, an electronically signed PDF file could be emailed to the Programme.

Student Continuation Policy

This section summarizes the UPM Student Continuation Policy, that is published on the UPM PhD Regulations web page.

For students that started the PhD before the 2023/2024 academic year, the regular period for PhD studies will last 3 years (full-time students) or 5 years (part-time students), spanning the effective studies start date until the thesis deposit.

For students that started the PhD after the 2022/2023 academic year, the regular period for PhD studies will last 4 years (full-time students) or 7 years (part-time students), spanning the effective studies start date until the thesis deposit.

Students mixing part-time and full-time studies will have an intermediate length of studies.

Having finished this period without depositing the thesis, students may be authorized for an extension of this period. Those students who began their studies before the 2023/2024 academic year will be automatically authorised an extension of one year (full-time) or two years (part-time) and, exceptionally, may subsequently apply for an additional extension of one more year. Those who started their studies after the academic year 2022/2023 may apply for a single one-year extension.

Temporary leaves shall not be taken into account for the purposes of computing the period above.

PhD thesis supervisor

No later than three months after enrolment, PhD candidates shall be appointed a thesis supervisor by the CADSSC to advise preparation of their PhD thesis. Thesis supervisors must be programme faculty members holding a PhD and with proven research experience. Non-faculty members shall also be eligible, provided that they comply with the PhD in Software, Systems and Computing and standard UPM PhD programme criteria. A student's tutor and PhD thesis supervisor need not necessarily be the same person.

New students are advised to contact programme faculty and UPM research groups associated with the programme in order to scope out the topic that they intend to research. Students must notify the programme administrative officer when, as a result of such contact, a faculty member agrees to supervise their thesis.

No later than three months after the start of the academic year, all students must have selected a research topic so that the CADSSC can assign thesis supervisors. Otherwise, the CADSSC shall assign a thesis supervisor ex officio to the student.

Joint supervision procedure for doctoral theses

One of the objectives of the UPM is to promote and develop scientific cooperation with other international institutions. This may be encouraged through the joint international supervision of PhD theses. Such joint supervision favors PhD candidate mobility and contributes to strengthening ties between UPM groups and groups from other universities with regard to cooperation.

The joint supervision of each doctoral thesis shall be carried out under the framework of cooperation between the UPM and another university, according to a joint supervision agreement between both universities.

The application for joint supervision must be submitted to the CADSSC, signed by the student and the supervisor, with attached documents supporting the collaboration. When it was approved, it will be sent to the UPM PhD International School.

The doctoral programme admission requirements shall be as required at each university. The doctoral candidate shall enrol at both universities, although he or she shall only be liable for tuition fees at one of the institutions and shall be exempt at the other. The agreement shall state which university charges, and which waives, the tuition fees.

The doctoral candidate shall perform his or her research activities at both the universities that have entered into the joint supervision agreement and shall spend one or more periods totalling at least six months at each. The stays and activities shall be specified in the agreement signed by the two parties.

The doctoral thesis shall be defended at one of the two universities. This point shall be agreed upon by the participating universities and specified in the agreement.

The doctoral thesis examination board shall be appointed by mutual agreement between the two universities, and its composition shall, whenever possible, comply with the regulatory criteria of both institutions. The board should include at most one doctoral degree holder from each signatory university.

Pursuant to the agreement, each institution shall recognize the validity of the doctoral thesis. The thesis shall be graded according to the grading system established in the country in which the thesis is defended. Furthermore, the examination board shall also enter the grade awarded under the system applicable in the other university's country. The Spanish PhD degree will include the distinction "Thesis under joint supervision".

Both institutions shall file and disseminate the thesis according to their own specific procedures.

The complete joint supervision procedure, agreement and forms are available at UPM's website.

Mobility

The PhD programme encourages student mobility by promoting sojourns at other national or international institutions of higher education or research centres of excellence where students may opt to complete part of their research for their thesis.

The sojourns must be recorded in the PhD student's Activity Log. To this end, students must submit a Mobility Application to the PhD Programme Committee beforehand. Students are asked to fully cooperate in completion of this application, as the stated information is also necessary for quality agencies to monitor and possibly evaluate the PhD Programme.

Additionally, students are reminded that, in order to be able to opt for the International PhD Mention, the minimum length of a sojourn at a higher education institution or research centre of excellence outside Spain is three months, and the PhD Programme Committee must have been previously informed of the aforesaid sojourn.

Internships at companies

Legislation allows students to conduct internships at companies; however, PhD students do not require this kind of training and there are no credits to be recognized. If this collaboration could prove useful, these are the possibilities:

• If the activity at the company is not related to the thesis, the company and the student may reach an agreement independent from the University. In any case, the student must obtain written approval from his or her tutor and supervisor and from the CADSSC.
• If the activity at the company is a research activity directly related to the student’s thesis, the student must ask the CADSSC to be included in the student’s Activities Document. An Educational Cooperation Agreement must be established, managed by the UPM's COIE. Internships must be paid, the student must be included in the Régimen General de la Seguridad Social (Spanish Social Security System) and mobility insurance must be provided. The agreement must specify that the internship is to complete the student’s education. The internship timetable must be compatible with the student’s activities at the University.
• If the company desires a longer collaboration with the University, the company may establish a Cátedra or Aula Agreement (managed by COIE) or an Industrial PhD (managed by PhD Vice-Rectorate) with the UPM.

The duration of the internship, the required timetable and the relationship with the thesis must be established in the internship agreement. The agreement should also establish the distribution of ownership over the results derived from thesis work that may be protected by patents, software registers or other intellectual and industrial property, and they will be determined according to the nature of the works, the percentage of the student's funding by the company and the University, the contracts previously signed and the participation of researchers from both parties in the results.

Thesis title

PhD students must define the PhD thesis title before the end of the first academic year, prior to the Research plan. To define the PhD thesis title or to modify an existing one, it should be requested at THESIS application and it should be approved by the thesis supervisors.

Research plan

PhD candidates must draft a research plan every year, having established the thesis title. This research plan must state at least the research methodology and goals, as well as the research resources and time chart. Students must draft their first research plan at the end of their first year of the programme. In addition, a personal training plan should be included, containing a prevision of the different training activities to be taken during the studies. This research plan shall be improved, updated and specified further in successive years.

The PhD candidate and the thesis supervisor or supervisors shall be responsible for submitting the annual research plan to the CADSSC, detailing the progress and the most significant interim results of the PhD thesis research. Only students who have paid the academic supervision fees shall be entitled to submit this report. The UPM PhD Committee shall establish the format and submission date for this report. The research plan shall be completed at THESIS.

The CADSSC shall annually assess each PhD candidate's research plan, in addition to the reports from thesis supervisors. Students shall not be allowed to continue in the programme unless they receive a positive evaluation.

In the event of a negative evaluation, whose circumstances must be duly proven, PhD candidates must prepare another research plan for reevaluation within six months. If the reevaluation is negative again, or if the Research Plan has not been sent, the PhD students shall be expelled from the programme.

International Doctorate Distinction

The "International Doctorate" distinction (International doctorate application form) may be added to the back of the PhD degree certificate, provided all the following circumstances apply:

1. During the required PhD research period, the PhD student has completed one or more stays of at least three months studying or conducting research at a prestigious institution of higher education or a research centre outside Spain; in case of several stays, at least one of them will have a minimum duration of one month. The mobility (visit and activities) must be requested in advance and endorsed by the supervisors, and authorized by the CADSSC, and shall be added to the candidate's documented activities (after the stay. An original certificate issued by the institution of higher education or research centre where the stay was completed must be provided. This certification must include the start and end dates of the stay, as well as the name of the director of the research group in which the student collaborated.
2. Part of the PhD thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, must be written and defended in any of the common languages for scientific communication in the respective field of knowledge other than the official languages of Spain. This rule shall not apply where the stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.
3. At least two experts from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research institute must provide their review of the thesis manuscript (Expert thesis report). Those experts may not coincide with the researchers who received the student and carried out tutoring or supervision tasks in the host entity. The experts must each submit an original report, along with their resumes.
4. At least one member of the thesis examining board holding a PhD and not responsible for the visits mentioned in section 1 should be from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre.

Theses must be defended at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid shall provide a document stating that the PhD thesis has been awarded the "International Doctor" distinction. Moreover, "International Doctor" shall be added to the back side of the PhD degree certificate.

Industrial Doctor Distinction

The "Industrial Doctor" distinction may be added to the back side of the PhD degree certificate, provided all the following circumstances apply:

1. That the Thesis has developed a research project of industrial, commercial, social or cultural interest of an entity, public or private company or public administration (hereinafter, Entity), which may not be a university. The direct relationship between the thesis and the work carried out by the student in the entity must be formalized in a scientific-technical report that must be approved by the UPM.
2. That an agreement has been signed between the entity and the UPM for the academic development of the thesis, which will establish, as a minimum, the obligations of the parties and the rights of industrial property that may be generated.
3. That the student has been hired by the entity where the research project is carried out for at least 3 years in the case of full-time studies and 5 if it is part-time, being necessary that a substantial part of the thesis be developed in the entity.

In addition to student procedures, all the following circumstances apply:

1. No later than 3 months after beginning studies, the student must send the CADSSC an application for the Industrial PhD (Industrial PhD Application form). The student must provide the name of the responsible party at the company to the PhD in Software, Systems and Computing Academic Committee (this person can also be a Thesis supervisor, but in no case may the responsible person designated by the entity be part of the Thesis evaluation board). This party must be specified during the first 3 months of the PhD studies and shall be the contact person between the company and the PhD in Software, Systems and Computing Academic Committee. This party may be modified, if needed.
2. The first Research Plan should clearly specify that it is an industrial thesis. This Research Plan must be approved in order to obtain the "Industrial Doctor" distinction.
3. If the thesis is the result of a joint research project between the University and the company, they must both enter into a general contract and a specific contract. These contracts must be sent to the Vice-Rectorate related to PhD studies.
4. At the end of the thesis, and together with the requeste of the Assessment prior to PhD thesis submission, the student must send the Industrial Doctor Distinction application to the CADSSC. The student must provide:
   • A report demonstrating the relationship between the thesis and the industrial research or experimental development project of the company.
   • A copy of the employment contract with the company. This contract must cover the entire thesis development period (at least 3 years for full-time students, and at least 5 years for part-time students).
   • A copy of the agreement between the University and the company.

Theses must be defended at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Joint supervision distinction

In order to promote and facilitate internationalization, the PhD degree may include the distinction "Thesis under joint supervision", provided that the following circumstances apply:

1. That the Thesis is supervised by doctors from two universities, one of which must be the UPM and the other foreign, having formalized a joint supervision agreement.
2. That, for the Thesis work, the student obtains two degrees, one for each of the higher education institutions responsible for the development of the Thesis.
3. That, during the training period necessary to obtain the PhD degree, the student has completed a minimum stay of six months in each of the institutions with which the joint supervision agreement is established, carrying out research work, either in a single period or several. The stays and activities will be reflected in the joint supervision agreement.
4. Theses under joint supervision may also include the International Doctorate distinction in the PhD degree if stays are carried out in institutions other than those of the formalized agreement.

Extraordinary PhD awards

Awards shall be granted to worthy applicants who have defended a thesis in the previous academic year that was graded "cum laude".

Applications must be addressed to the director of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos and submitted to the UPM general registry by the closing date established by the UPM PhD Committee.

The School shall then formulate reasoned proposals for granting awards, subject to a report from the academic committees of the PhD programmes conducted by the candidates for extraordinary PhD awards. These proposals must be forwarded, along with the applications submitted by applicants, to the UPM PhD Committee by the date established by the aforesaid committee.

Finally, the UPM PhD Committee shall grant the extraordinary PhD awards, all of which shall be of equal rank.

Calculating deadlines

The periods established in these regulations shall be calculated as calendar days, not including the period from 1 to 31 August or holidays.