The requirements for access to doctoral studies are set out in article 6 of Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies, as amended by Royal Decree 576/2023, of 4 July.
You can also consult these requirements on the website of the Doctoral School of the UVa:
https://esduva.uva.es/en/phd-students/access-admission-and-enrolment/access-requirements/
What do you need?
1. In general, in order to be admitted to an official doctoral programme, it is necessary to hold an official Spanish bachelor's degree, or equivalent, and master's degree, or equivalent, provided that at least 300 ECTS credits have been obtained in these two courses together.
2. Access shall also be granted to those who are in one of the following situations:
- a) Holding an official Spanish university degree, or from another country belonging to the European Higher Education Area, which qualifies for access to a master's degree in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, and having passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in official university studies, of which at least 60 must be at master's level.
- b) Holding an official Spanish bachelor's degree, the duration of which, in accordance with the rules of Community law, is at least 300 ECTS credits. These graduates must take the supplementary training referred to in Article 7.2 of this regulation, unless the syllabus of the corresponding bachelor's degree includes research training credits, equivalent in training value to the research credits from master's studies.
- c) University graduates who, after obtaining a place in training in the corresponding entrance examination for specialised health training places, have passed with a positive evaluation at least two years of training in a programme for obtaining an official qualification in one of the specialities of health sciences.
- d) Holding a degree obtained in accordance with foreign education systems, without the need for its recognition, after verification by the university that it accredits a level of training equivalent to that of the official Spanish master's degree and that it entitles the holder to be admitted to doctoral studies in the country issuing the degree. This admission will not imply, under any circumstances, the homologation of the previous degree held by the interested party nor its recognition for any other purposes than that of access to doctoral studies.
- e) Holding another Spanish doctoral degree obtained in accordance with previous university regulations.
- f) Holding an official university degree that has obtained the correspondence to level 3 of the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education, in accordance with the procedure set out in Royal Decree 967/2014, of 21 November, which establishes the requirements and procedure for the homologation and declaration of equivalence to an official university degree and academic level and for the validation of foreign higher education studies, and the procedure for determining correspondence to the levels of the Spanish Framework of Qualifications for Higher Education of the official degrees of architect, engineer, graduate, technical architect, technical engineer and graduate.
3. Doctoral students who have begun their doctoral programme in accordance with previous university regulations may be admitted to the doctoral studies regulated in this Royal Decree, subject to prior admission by the corresponding university, in accordance with the provisions of this Royal Decree and the regulations of the university itself. Admission to the doctoral studies regulated in this Royal Decree shall be open to graduates, architects or engineers who hold the Diploma of Advanced Studies obtained in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 778/1998, of 30 April, or who have achieved the research proficiency regulated in Royal Decree 185/1985, of 23 January.