Doctoral Studies

The Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Awards are honorary mentions that the Menéndez Pelayo International University may grant in recognition of the high quality of Doctoral Theses, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates Official Doctoral Studies.

In the Grants and Burseries web link you can consult UIMP Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Awards Announcements.

Competency

The Rector of the Menéndez Pelayo International University will convene each academic year the Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Awards.

Applicant's requirements

The Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Awards may be granted to those Doctoral Theses presented at the Menéndez Pelayo International University that have been defended within the deadlines set out in the corresponding calls for applications and that have obtained:

• the mention "Cum Laude"
• the positive report, unanimously, of the Thesis Examining Board on the option for Doctoral Studies Exceptionalism Award.

Scope of application

The prizes will be convened for each of the Doctoral Programs:

• Doctoral Program in Science and Technology
• Doctoral Program in Economics and Government 

Call for applications

For the purpose of establishing the corresponding calls, the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Committee of the Menéndez Pelayo International University will update annually, for each Doctoral Program, the list of Doctoral Theses that have obtained the highest grade and will proceed to publish the call for the awards, taking into account what is established in the following section.

Number of Awards

An annual award may be granted, in each Doctoral Program, for every five Theses read and obtaining the highest grade in the academic year prior to the academic year immediately preceding that of the call.

In the event that the aforementioned number is not reached in the academic year, in any of the programs, the Doctoral Theses read in two or more academic years will be accumulated until the aforementioned numer is reached. If, on the other hand, the number of Doctoral Theses read exceeds this number, the number of awards that may be granted will be the result of dividing the number of Theses read by five and rounding the result to the nearest whole number.

Deadlines and submission of applications

The awards will be announced before 15 February each year.

The application must be submitted in the place and by the deadline established in the call for entries (which, in any case, must be before 31 March), together with the documentation that is to serve as the basis for the assessment.

Each applicant must compete in the quota corresponding to the area to which he/she has been assigned within the corresponding call for applications, not having the option to compete in subsequent calls for applications.

• Application for the Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Awards (Forms).

Evaluation and Award Proposal

The evaluation and proposal for the awarding of the prizes will be the responsibility of the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Committee, which will be advised by as many experts as it deems appropriate.

The provisional award proposal, which must be made before 31 May, will be based on the following evaluation criteria:

1. Scientific impact:

• Publications associated with the Doctoral Thesis - Up to 2.5 points for each publication, weighted according to the type of publication and indicating the evidence of quality of these publications: full national or international book, chapter in national or international book, article in national or international journal, with external evaluation or without external evaluation, and dissemination works. The prestige of the journal or publisher that has published the work will be assessed (e.g., the indicators published in the Journal Citation Reports, Science / Social Sciences Citation Index, Institute for Scientific Information, Scholarly Publishers Indicator or other indicators used by the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity in the respective areas). In the case of collaborations, the applicant must justify his/her participation in the work.
• Presentations at congresses associated with the Doctoral Thesis: Up to 1 point, weighted according to the type of congress (International or National). An assessment will also be made differentiating the category of the presentation (poster, communication, paper or conference by invitation).
• Patents, degree of technology transfer achieved or awards obtained - Up to 1 point.
• Invitations or stays in other academic institutions for reasons associated with the Thesis, after its defense: Up to 1 point.

2. International Doctor Mention/Theses carried out under cotutellge agreements with foreign universities: 2,5 points .

3. Other merits directly related to the Doctoral Thesis: up to 2 points.

Those members of the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Committee and those experts who have been Thesis Supervisors or Tutors of any of the applicants must abstain from intervening in the evaluation and award proposal.

Awarding of prizes and complaints

Once the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Committee has published the provisional proposals, these may be subject to complaints within the period established in the call for applications.

Once the allegations have been resolved by the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Committee, after hearing the interested party, the Committee shall submit the definitive proposals to the University Governing Council, which shall have the power to decide on the awarding of the prizes.

The final decision will be published on the website of the Vice-Rectorate of Postgraduate and Research, and will be notified personally and in writing to the beneficiaries.

All those Doctors who have been awarded a Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Award will be entitled to:

• The issue of a Diploma/Certificate accrediting the awarding of the prize.
• Exemption from, or reimbursement, where applicable, of the fees for the awarding of the Doctoral Degree Certificate.

An appeal may be brought before the Rector of the Menéndez Pelayo University against the resolution to grant the Doctoral Studies Extraordinary Award, adopted by the Vice-Rectorate for Postgraduate Studies and Research, within a period of one month from the date of publication of the said resolution.

Curso académico 2023-2024

Curso académico 2022-2023

Academic Year 2021-2022

Academic Year 2020-2021

Academic Year 2019-2020 

Academic Year 2018-2019 

Academic Year 2017-2018

Academic Year 2016-2017 

Academic Year 2015-2016 

List of students accepted for admission by the Academic Commissions of the Studies concerned, taking into account the selection criteria set down in each program.

Academic Year 2020-2021

P03I - Doctoral Program in Science and Technology

• Final admission list  - First installment
• Final admission list - Second installment

P03J - Doctoral Program in Economics and Goverment

• Final admission list  - First installment
• Final admission list - Second installment

Contents of Proposals

The proposals for official Doctoral Studies will be set before the Vice Principal for Postgraduate Studies and Research of the UIMP, who, appointed by the Principal, is to chair the Commission for Postgraduate Studies.

So as to ensure the initiation of the process of evaluation of Doctoral Studies Programs, the following should be submitted by e-mail to the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. a Project Dossier, in standard format, wherein it is compulsory to provide full details of the contents as described in Appendix I – Full Description Dossier for the Verification of Doctoral Studies Programs, as set down in Royal Decree 99/2011, dated 28 January, by means of which official Doctoral Studies are regulated.

• Full Description Dossier for Proposals for Doctoral Studies Programs.

Only those Proposals that were to receive the approval of the Governing Council of the UIMP should also be submitted in full via the online virtual platform as set up by the Ministry of Education so as to facilitate application for verification of official Doctoral Studies Programs.

Procedure and Stipulated Periods for Approval

The Postgraduate Studies Commission will assess the proposals, according to the criteria for quality established beforehand by the University, and will prepare the corresponding report in this regard, which will be put before the Governing Council. The issuing of the report will include an analysis of the feasibility and strategic appropriateness of the proposal concerned and its compliance with current regulations, while positive value will be assigned to:

• the degree of international projection of the Teaching Staff and of the Program;
• the academic quality of the program concerned, to which end consideration will be given to the adequacy of the teaching and research, or professional, background of the group of those who will undertake the teaching;
• its coherence;
• the prior basis of the Study Plan and the interdisciplinarity that it sets out;
• the system of coordination and tutorials put forward;
• the monitoring and quality improvement procedures to be employed.

Approval of Doctoral-level Studies is incumbent upon the Governing Council at the behest of the Commission for Postgraduate Studies.

The operative introduction of official Doctoral Studies' programs within the UIMP requires having obtained, in each case, a favorable report from the National Agency for Quality Assessment (ANECA), together with a resolution involving positive verification by the Council of Universities, which will forward this same resolution to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry will place before the Government the proposal to establish the Qualification concerned officially, together with its inclusion in the Register of Universities, Establishments, and Qualifications (RUCT), the approval of which via a Ministerial Cabinet accord will be published in the Official State Gazette, BOE. This same inclusion will also entail it being considered initially as an authorized Qualification.

Once the Government has approved the official character of the Qualification, the Principal of the UIMP will give instructions for the publication of the Study Plan in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

Stipulated Periods of the Processing Schedule
On a yearly basis the Postgraduate Studies Commission will propose an annual schedule for the processing of new Doctoral Studies Programs, while taking into account the guidelines for assessment and verification as set out by the ANECA.

In general terms, the calendar will be as follows:

• July: mandatory submission of projects to the Postgraduate Studies Commission, which will issue a preliminary report.
• September: submission of completed drafts of new proposals for the following academic year to the Postgraduate Studies Commission.
• October: submission of the new proposals to the Governing Council.
• November: authorized submission of proposals to the ANECA to await its assessment report. The completion of the Project Dossier which will accompany the application for verification of the Qualifications concerned will be implemented via the online platform set up for this purpose by the Ministry of Education.

Renewal and Cancellation of Doctoral Studies

Once instituted, the official UIMP Doctoral Studies concerned will be valid for four years, at the end of which time, upon application by the Academic Commission, they may be renewed for periods of the same duration.

The proposal for renewal will be submitted to the Postgraduate Studies Commission, to await its report, prior to March 30 of the current course period for which renewal is proposed. The proposal for renewal will necessarily include the Teaching and Research Plans involved, together with an economic feasibility study of the new edition of the Studies concerned.

If the proposal for renewal were to entail modifications to the already authorized Study Plan concerned, it will be compulsory to submit them to the Postgraduate Studies Commission before being reported to the University Coordination Council. If the changes are approved by the said Council, considering, as it, the Council, were to, that they do not involve a change in the essential character and aims of the Qualification, the University will incorporate the accepted modifications into the Study Plan.

Should that not be the case, it would be deemed to be a new Study Plan, for which reason the authorization process should be initiated as if it were a new proposal that was being dealt with.

The Postgraduate Studies Commission may, at any time, justifiably, or given the application made by the respective Academic Commission, propose the withdrawal of the already implemented Doctoral-level Studies concerned. In any case, those students who may have begun those studies, and wish to do so, will be given the guarantee of being able to complete them.

 Curso académico 2023-2024

 Academic Year 2022-2023

Academic Year 2021-22

Academic Year 2020-21

Full-time students

The duration of Doctoral Studies will be no longer than three years, full-time, from the admission of the doctoral student to the program until the defense of the Doctoral Thesis. 

In the case of full-time Doctoral Studies, if a period of three years has passed without filing the application for Authorization of the Defense of the Doctoral Thesis, the doctoral student may request an extension of one additional year from the Academic Committee which, in exceptional cases, may be extended an additional year under conditions established within the corresponding Doctoral Program.  

• Application Form for extension of Doctoral Studies (Forms).

Part-time students

Nevertheless, and subject to authorization from the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program, part-time doctoral studies may be undertaken. The admission criteria will be the same for full-time or part-time students and will follow the provisions of the corresponding Study Plan.

Part-time students will have at most 5 years to complete their studies, from the admission of the doctoral student to the program until the defense of the Doctoral Thesis. In the case of part-time studies, if a period of five years has passed without filing the application for Authorization of the Defense of the Doctoral Thesis, the student may request an extension of two additional years from the Academic Committee which, also in exceptional cases, may be extended an additional year.

Any student admitted may change the modality under which he or she is studying the Doctoral Program by sending a reasoned request for the change to the Academic Committee, which will be competent to accept or reject it.

• Application Form for change in modality (Forms).

Request for temporary or permanently withdraw for Doctoral Studies

For the purposes of calculating the periods indicated above, sillness, pregnancy or any other cause included in applicable legislation will not be taken into account when calculating the time spent in the Doctoral Program.

Doctoral students may request to temporarily withdraw from the program for a maximum of one year, which may be extended one additional year. Said application must be addressed to and justified before the Academic Committee of the program, which will make a decision about whether or not to grant the request of the doctoral student.  

• Application Form for temporary or permanently withdraw for Doctoral Studies (Forms).

Queries and administrative procedures related to the stipulated periods for the convening and allotment of grants and bursaries in which the Universidad Internacional Menéndez y Pelayo shares should be submitted by e-mail to the following address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Convening of Grants and Bursaries 2013-2014

Fideas Foundation Grants to undertake PHD studies for graduates in the Master's Degree UIMP-CSIC in Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Universia Foundation Grants for training PhD students with disabilities

• Stipulated Period: Closed

2013 MINECO contracts for the accomplishment of Doctoral Thesis

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Convening of Grants and Bursaries 2012-2013

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2012. For Short Periods of Attendance

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2012. Ongoing Monitoring Dossier

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2012. New Grants

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2012. Secondments

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Convening of Grants and Bursaries 2011-2012

Training of Research Personnel, Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPI-MICINN). 2011

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Board for Advanced Studies Program (JAE) for the Training of Researchers and Technicians within the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC)

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Loans to enable Postgraduate Studies, Masters’ Degrees, or Doctoral Studies to be undertaken. Convening in 2011

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Convening of Grants and Bursaries 2010-2011

Training of Research Personnel, Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPI-MICINN). 2010

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Board for Advanced Studies Program (JAE) for the Training of Researchers and Technicians within the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC)

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2010. New Grants

• Stipulated Period: Closed

Grants for the Program for the Training of University Teaching Staff (FPU). Convening in 2010. Secondments

• Stipulated Period: Closed

System of Quality Control of Doctoral Program in Economics and Goverment (UIMP-CEMFI-FOM)

System of Quality Control of Doctoral Program in Science and Technology (UIMP-CSIC)