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School of Doctoral Studies

Theses in joint supervision

A doctoral thesis can be jointly supervised by the UdG and a foreign university by agreement, with the aim of creating and developing scientific cooperation between research teams in both institutions and enabling mobility for doctoral students.

The regulations for co-supervised theses are set out in Article 8.4 of the Consolidated text of the academic regulations for doctoral studies at the University of Girona

Procedure

The student tells their thesis supervisor at the UdG that they would like to do co-supervised thesis.

A thesis supervisor who wishes to supervise a co-supervised thesis is considered the promoter and is the responsible for the agreement’s drafting.

The student must have pre-registered within the periods established in the doctoral studies calendar, and must meet the entry requirements for admission to a UdG doctoral programme.

The promoter drafts and agrees to the co-supervision agreement with the other university.

The School of Doctoral Studies puts the co-supervision agreement model found in the “Documents” section and available in several languages (Catalan, Spanish, English and French) at the disposal of the promoters. This document contains the terms and conditions that need to be agreed on for the purposes of performing the co-supervision agreement at the UdG.

The model that is provided by the other university may also be used. In that case, the processing deadline will probably be extended, as checks will have to be made to verify that its drafting contains the terms and conditions required for performing the co-supervision agreement at the UdG. 

The School of Doctoral Studies, although it is not tasked with preparing or complementing the agreement proposals on documentary templates, supports promoters in monitoring the agreements, so that such agreements follow the steps established for review by the legal advice team and signing by all the parties involved.

The promoter presents the School of Doctoral Studies with an application to process the co-supervision agreement.

The documents that need to be attached are as follows:

  • Proposed co-supervision agreement (drafted and filled in)

 

The School of Doctoral Studies forwards the Control sheet and the Proposed co-supervision agreement to the Doctoral Programme's Academic Committee for the latter's authorisation of its processing.

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme certifies the academic suitability of the directors (they fulfil the requirements required from the regulations of the School of Doctoral Studies of the UdG and they have the necessary scientific expertise for the supervision of the subject of thesis) and checks that the language of writing of the thesis is suitable, authorised with the signature of the Coordinator of the Commission on the control sheet.

The Director of the School of Doctoral Studies subsequently gives their approval by signing the Control sheet as well.

The control sheet is the document that brings together the necessary approvals to start a joint tutorship agreement (this can be found in the “Documents” section). The School of Doctoral Studies fills it in and manages the signatures through Portasignatures.

The School of Doctoral Studies forwards the proposed agreement, together with the control sheet (signed by the promoter, the Academic Committee and the director of the School of Doctoral Studies), to the office of the General Secretary which takes charge of sending it to the Legal Advisory Office for review.

The Legal Advisory Office reviews the agreement. Where an amendment has to be made, the Legal Advisory Office will send its instructions to the agreement's UdG promoter, to adapt the agreement according to its requirements and send it back to the office of the General Secretary, along with copy to the School of Doctoral Studies.

The School of Doctoral Studies manages the UdG’s signing, and the agreement’s promoter manages the other institution’s signing.

The thesis can be defended at any university participating in the joint supervision.

Option 1. Thesis defence at the UdG

The thesis is defended following the UdG’s regulations

Option 2. Thesis defence at the other university - the doctoral thesis must be deposited at the UdG before being defended at the other university.

If the thesis is not defended at the UdG, then the student must present the following documentation to the School of Doctoral Studies once the members of the panel are approved by the other University:

a) an electronic file containing the complete thesis, preferably in PDF format or in another format accepted by the University

b) the authorisation to use the electronic CV extracted from the UdG’s current CV management application

c) the document in which the other university approves the members of the examination panel (taking into account that the composition of the panel has to be adapted to the legislation applying to the university where the thesis is defended)

d) the authorisation to read the thesis at the other university.

Before a thesis can be defended, the School of Doctoral Studies has to make the above-mentioned documents available to the doctoral programme's academic committee, which must authorise within a maximum period of 30 business days, if it deems fit, the doctoral thesis defence at the other University. Should the doctoral programme's academic committee refuse to authorise a defence, the doctoral student will not be able to apply for the title of doctor from the UdG.

Once the thesis has been defended, the doctoral student will receive an email from the School of Doctoral Studies’ Academic Office of the Secretary, in which they will be informed of the closure of their record due to the successful completion of the doctoral thesis.

From this moment, they will be able submit an electronic application for the corresponding academic degree and European Diploma Supplement (EDS). They can do so by accessing the Procedures section in the Virtual Secretary’s Office (La meva UdG > Staff > Record > Procedures). They must then choose the corresponding record from the upper drop-down menu and start the “Application for PhD certificate and European Diploma Supplement” procedure.

Documents

Two documents are required for the purposes of signing a co-supervision agreement:

FAQs

Any thesis supervisor intending to supervise a co-supervised thesis shall be responsible for the agreement’s drafting and considered the promoter of that agreement.

The School of Doctoral Studies puts the co-supervision agreement model found in the “Documents” section and available in several languages (Catalan, Spanish, English and French) at the disposal of the promoters. This document contains the terms and conditions that need to be agreed on for the purposes of performing the co-supervision agreement at the UdG.

The model that is provided by the other university may also be used. In that case, the processing deadline will probably be extended, as checks will have to be made to verify that its drafting contains the terms and conditions required for performing the co-supervision agreement at the UdG. 

The School of Doctoral Studies, although it is not tasked with preparing or complementing the agreement proposals on documentary templates, supports promoters in monitoring the agreements, so that such agreements follow the steps established for review by the legal advice team and signing by all the parties involved.

The co-supervision agreement must to be signed during the first year of a thesis

Given that the administrative processing of the agreement can last for months, applicants are advised to start procedures sufficiently in advance.

When signing the agreement, the doctoral student will have to have their pre-enrolment formalised and enrol, if they have not yet done so, at both universities.

Doctoral students:

  • Will have to meet the requirements for admission to each of the doctoral programmes at both the universities

The pre-enrolment in the UdG will be compulsory in order to verify the fulfilment of these requirements. Pre-registration for the doctoral programme can be done on the dates established by the academic calendar, the step prior to admission to the doctoral programme granted by the corresponding Academic Committee, and subsequently to enrolment.

  • Will be required to enrol at both universities, every academic year, for as long as their co-supervision remains valid, in accordance with the respective academic regulations.

Will have to pay the entire amount of their enrolment fees to the university they will be defending their thesis at or, if payment by instalments and alternately to both universities have been agreed to, their academic years must be specified.

As for the university where the thesis will not be defended (and unless otherwise specified), doctoral students will only have to pay for the administrative part of their enrolment fees (that is, they will be exempt from paying academic-supervision fees

Payments to the UdG will be governed by the prices set out in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia for each of the academic years of the student’s enrolment.

The doctoral student will be deemed to be in their first year at the UdG once they are enrolled there for the first time. 

Co-supervised doctoral students will have to carry out alternating periods of stay at both universities. Such stays will be carried out in accordance with the scientific requirements and conditions for preparing their thesis, with prior authorisation from the directors.

The minimum stay at each university is 6 months, which can be performed during one or more periods.

To start the review process of a doctoral thesis at the UdG, the doctoral student must have received the following: 

  • Positive evaluation of their research plan (report presented to the Academic Committee of the respective doctoral programme in the first year of enrolment at the UdG)
  • Positive evaluation of the follow-up report (report presented to the Academic Committee of the respective doctoral programme each year from the second year of enrolment at the UdG)

A thesis can be defended in either of the universities participating in its co-supervision. The defence of a thesis shall be subject to the regulations of the university it is held at and result in a single exam result, in accordance with the regulated documents of the university the thesis is defended at, of which an attested or authenticated copy will be sent to the other university.

The university playing host to the board of examiners will be responsible for reimbursing the expenses of the latter’s members.

 

The student will have to present the School of Doctoral Studies with the following documents once the composition of the examination board has been approved by the other university:

a) an electronic file containing the complete thesis, preferably in PDF format, or in another format accepted by the University,

b) the authorisation to use the electronic CV extracted from the UdG’s current curriculum management application,

c) the document approving the composition of the examination board by the other university (taking into account that the composition has to be adapted to the legislation applying to the university where the thesis is defended), and

d) the authorisation to read the thesis at the other university.

Link to the information for the procedure https://www.udg.edu/ca/estudia/Tramits-normatives-i-preus/tramits/detall?id=20

Before a thesis can be defended, the School of Doctoral Studies has to make the above-mentioned documents available to the doctoral programme's Academic Committee, which it is required to authorise within a maximum period of 30 work days, where it deems fit, the defence of the doctoral thesis in the other University. Should the doctoral programme's Academic Committee refuse to authorise a defence, the doctoral student will not be able to apply for the title of doctor from the UdG.

After the doctoral programme's Academic Committee has given its approval, and once the thesis has been defended, the thesis director at the UdG will have to provide the School of Doctoral Studies with a copy of the documents accrediting the defence, showing the qualification obtained in the current system in the country of the other University, together with the UdG's official certificate which the School of Doctoral Studies will have to provide it with before the defence.

Should the qualification awarded by the board of examiners be the maximum possible under the current system in the country of the other University, each of the board's members will cast their vote, by secret ballot, on whether or not a “cum laude” mention from the University of Girona should be awarded for the thesis. For these purposes, the procedure described in the consolidated text of the Academic regulations for doctoral studies at the University of Girona shall be followed and the “cum laude” mention granted where the proposal is unanimously accepted after the counting of the votes cast. The thesis director will be provided with a link to an application for taking the vote and be responsible for conveying this link arrive to the tribunal's members.

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