Frequently Asked Questions
It is usual to have taken an Official Master's Course within the European Higher Education Area. If these courses were completed outside Europe, credentials should prove that this qualification would be valid for admission to the PhD course in the country of origin, and implies having taken at least 600 hours of classes.
Admission must be applied for by following the instructions on this website: http://www.unav.edu/web/estudios/futuros-alumnos. The paperwork is quite complicated, so it is advisable to present it at least 1 month before the admission letter deadline. Before getting started, it is advisable to write to the Programme Coordinator: Prof. Javier Laspalas (jlaspalas@unav.es).
The Programme Coordinator receives applications that were handed in to the Technical Research Secretary. At that point, applicants may be asked for further information.
a) Evidence of a good command of Spanish (copy of the Master's Thesis) and English (qualification or proof of studies).
b) Initial research project design giving details of the goals, methodology and basic bibliography.
c) Applicant appraisal issued by two persons following the model attached. At least one of them should have a PhD from the University of Navarra. Referees for each applicant should send their report directly to the Programme Coordinator.
The rest of the documentation should be sent by the applicant.
When the Academic Committee receives the application, it studies the documentation as a whole, and subsequently sends it to the relevant Doctorate School. The Doctorate School will inform the applicant of their decision.
From a legal point of view, there is no problem. However, there should be a certain relationship between the chosen Thesis topic and the applicant's prior studies. This will be assessed case by case in the admission process if necessary. In these cases, it is usual for the Academic Committee to require "additional training".
These amounts might increase slightly depending on inflation in Spain.
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Annual registration: € 1,330 (annual cost, for 5 years)
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Secretarial fees: € 95 (annual cost with registration, for 5 years)
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Training Supplements: between 6 and 12 ECTS (€ 181 for each ECTS). They can be carried out in successive years, in which case the cost is divided into several installments.
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Reading and defense of the thesis: € 660 (paid once during the Program)
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Issuance of the doctorate degree : € 435 (It is paid once during the Program)
The legislation in force in Spain only states the maximum deadline to defend a Doctoral Thesis: 3 years, that can be extended by one more year, and exceptionally one more, when studying full-time; 5 years, with the chance to extend it by 3 more, when studying part time.
There are barely any classes in the PhD course, given that the basic task is to prepare, write and defend the Doctoral Thesis.
However, there is what is known as "additional training" that might be assigned, depending on each student's profile. This represents between 6 and 12 credits.
There is also a series of activities (courses or seminars given by the University of Navarra, national or international visits, conference attendance, publications, etc.), that are usually carried out by doctorate students, helping them to improve their training.
Anyone taking the distance learning course should try to plan their month's stay so that they can include these activities in similar conditions to the rest of the students.
The University of Navarra website provides information on the different calls for existing funding:
