Admission criteria (PhD in Veterinary Sciences)

Access Requirements

Article 7 of Rector's Resolution 42/2012 of February 6, ordering the publication of the Doctorate Regulations of the University of Murcia, establishes the requirements to access a doctoral programme:

1. According to the regulations governing access to any official doctorate programme (Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January), candidates must be in possession of an official bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a master’s degree.

2. In addition, students who are in any of the following cases may also access:

a. Have an official Spanish university degree, or of another country belonging to the European Higher Education Area, giving access to a master’s degree programme as per the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, and have passed a minimum of 300 ECTS of official university studies, of which, at least 60 must be at master's degree level.

b. Have an official Spanish Graduate Diploma containing, according to EU law, at least 300 ECTS. These graduates must compulsorily complete the training supplements referred to in article 7.2 of Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, unless the syllabus of the corresponding degree includes credits in research training that are equivalent in training value to research credits in master's degree programmes.

c. University graduates who, after obtaining a training place in the corresponding test to access specialised health training, have successfully passed at least two years training in a programme to obtain the official title of one of the specialities in Health Sciences.

d. Have a qualification obtained in accordance with foreign education systems, it need not be officially recognised, the General Doctorate Committee will verify that this qualification accredits a training level equivalent to that of the official Spanish Master's degree and gives access to doctoral studies in the country where it was issued. This admission does not imply, in any case, the official recognition of a student’s previous degrees nor its recognition for purposes others than accessing doctoral education.

e. To be in possession of another Spanish title of doctor obtained according to previous university regulations.

Applicant profile

The recommended applicant profile is that of a person who has prior research training and has acquired the skills and abilities to carry out a doctoral thesis, either by:

-           Holding a master’s degree in Health Science, Experimental Sciences or Engineering, related to the breeding, management, management or health of domestic or wild animals; or

-           Holding a degree in Health Sciences with recognised research training credits.

In short, students must have completed prior studies and acquired the following competences:

-           Systematic understanding of a field of study, as well as the mastery of research skills and methods related to experimental or health sciences.

-           Ability to conceive, design, implement, and adopt a substantial research process with academic and scientific rigour.

Students must show interest in scientific research and dissemination. In addition, they must speak and write perfectly in Spanish, with a good level of spoken and written English (Level B1) that allows them to understand the scientific texts needed to carry out the research tasks also being recommended.

Admission Criteria

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 7 of Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, the selection and admissions process for the doctoral programme shall be carried out by the Academic Committee of the doctorate programme. 

For a student to be admitted onto the PhD programme, he/she must previously be accepted by one of the research groups responsible for the delivery of the programme.

The criteria considered in the student selection process are as follows:

1.         Academic training and academic records (40 %), particularly of degrees with competences and knowledge related to Veterinary Sciences, will be evaluated. In addition, other qualifications in Health Sciences, Experimental Sciences and Engineering will be considered closely related to the programme.

2.         Master's degrees related to the lines of specialisation in the doctoral programme (40%).

3.         Other merits related to the applicant’s research training (20%). Among these merits, the following will be considered:

-           Knowledge of languages.

-           Research experience.

-           Motivation letter.

-           Submission of a thesis project on topics related to the programme.

-           Recommendation letters.

In addition, when required by the Academic Committee, a personal interview might be conducted with the applicants in order to provide more information for the selection process.

At the time of admission, each student will be appointed a tutor, who may be the thesis supervisor or another scholar of the doctoral programme who is involved in the thesis research topic.

The admissions list will be published in the Veterinary Faculty of the International Doctoral School and on the TOUM (virtual bulletin board) of the University of Murcia.

Students with special educational needs

Article 8 of the Doctorate Regulations of the University of Murcia states that in the event of students with special educational needs derived from a disability, the selection and admissions systems and procedures will include the relevant action to favour, as far as possible, equality in the access conditions and integration in all aspects. To do so, the Service of Attention to Diversity and Volunteers (ADV) will evaluate the need for possible syllabus adaptations.

Number of places available: 25