Doctoral Programme in Humanities and Communication – Oberta University of Catalonia

First of all, students must submit proof of meeting one of the following sets of requirements:

• Hold an official Spanish bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) and an official university master’s degree (or equivalent), having passed at least 300 ECTS credits in the two degree courses.
• Hold an official Spanish university degree that was issued under a former university education system (a licenciatura, arquitectura or ingeniería degree) and corresponds to level 3 of the MECES (Marco español de cualificaciones para la educación superior) framework.
• Hold an official university degree that was issued in a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) country, entitles the holder to admission to doctoral studies in that country, and corresponds to level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
• Hold an official university degree that was issued in a country outside the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), subject to verification that the qualification is equivalent to an official university master’s degree and entitles the holder to admission to doctoral studies in that country.
• Hold a doctoral degree.
• Hold an official Spanish bachelor’s degree that, in conformity with EU law, comprises at least 300 ECTS credits. In this case, the applicant will have to take the necessary bridging courses, unless the specific doctoral programme includes research training credits that are equivalent in value to the research credits obtained in master’s degree studies.
• Hold an official university degree for which, prior to obtaining a place through the corresponding examination for access to a specialized medical training programme, candidates had to have passed with a favourable assessment at least two years of training in a programme to obtain the official certificate in one of the health science specializations.
• Hold an official university degree that corresponds to level 3 of the MECES (Marco español de cualificaciones para la educación superior) framework, in accordance with the procedure set forth in Spain’s Royal Decree 967/2014, of 21 November, establishing the requirements and procedure for officially recognizing and declaring equivalence with respect to the official university degree programme and academic level and for validating foreign higher education studies, and the procedure for determining correspondence with the MECES levels of the official arquitectura, ingeniería, licenciatura, arquitectura técnica, ingeniería técnica and diplomatura degrees.

Applicants who have not passed the Introduction to Research credits in a university master’s degree will need to take the bridging courses determined by each programme, as appropriate.
In the case of applicants who only have an official university bachelor’s degree which, in accordance with the rules of EU law, has a duration of 300 ECTS credits, or have not taken and passed a minimum number of Introduction to Research credits in a university master’s degree programme, their continuation in the doctoral programme is conditional upon them passing the bridging courses corresponding to the Introduction to Research module, pathway or courses for the corresponding period of academic training.
According to Decree 822/2021, of September 28, students with a disability equal to 33% or more have a reservation of 5% of the places.

Admission requirements
In addition to the general and additional requirements established by the University itself, the Doctoral Programme in Humanities and Communication establishes the following specific requirements:

• If you’re not a citizen of an English-speaking country, you must provide proof of a level of English equal to or higher than B2 in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
• If you have attended school or have completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree (or equivalent qualification with regards to enrolment in the doctorate programme) in English in a country where English is an official language, you will be deemed to have an equivalent level to the one required.
• You may also demonstrate your linguistic competency in English by means of another official certificate that proves you have a level equivalent to or higher than the one required. You can consult this equivalency table to see examples of certificates that correspond to these levels.

Candidates for the doctoral programme who do not reach the required level will be given the opportunity to access the doctoral programme with a B1 level if they undertake to attain a B2 level before completing the research plan at the end of the first year. According to regulations, if the student does not attain this level, the research plan cannot be approved.

The UOC’s Centre for Modern Languages offers English courses to attain the minimum level required for admission into the different doctoral programmes.

The UOC offers an online English language proficiency test, which can be accessed via this link, to accredit your knowledge of English. A score of between 72 and 94 accredits a level corresponding to B2 as defined by the CEFR. When taking this test, you must specify the code that corresponds to the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya): 4418. This code does not exempt the student from paying the corresponding exam cost and fees.

If you apply for a UOC grant, you must accredit a level equal to or higher than B2 from the time of application. For other grants, financial aid or research contracts, please consult the terms and conditions and requirements for each case (level of English and part-time or full-time format).