Steps After Registration

This section contains information on the procedures that you must complete after you formalize your registration in this program for the first time, up until the time when you deposit your thesis. Moreover, it provides information on other aspects to take into consideration in order to successfully complete your doctoral program, such as monitoring through annual evaluation, part-time vs. full-time study, extension requests or the withdrawal process.

Generally speaking, you should keep the following in mind:

• Academic monitoring mainly takes place through a student’s Virtual Secretary. This is an online application (https://matricula.udc.es/Secretaria/Login.asp) that you can access using your credentials. If you do not have these credentials, you must obtain them.
• The tutors who belong to the program have their own passwords and ways of accessing the Virtual Secretariat for the procedures that correspond to them (https://matricula.udc.es/docentes/Login.asp), being responsible for passing the evaluations and validating the merits through the virtual secretariat
• Any communication carried out in relation to your doctorate will be carried out by default using your university student e-mail (xxx@udc.es).*
• The program administrative unit is the Oza UADI. All administrative questions must be directed to this unit.

*In accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation of the Universidade de A Coruña (approved by the Governance Committee on July 23, 2019), “the institutional email address is the official address for email notifications” (item 14.4. Use of E-mail and Digital Tools). As a result, all communication via e-mail must always be carried out using your UDC e-mail.

Below is a summary of the procedures that you must follow as a student of this Doctoral Program, both during the first academic year and the following, at the time of the deposit of your thesis. A maximum duration of two years of tuition and of four years (seven years not in the case of a part-time sixth enrollment). Moreover, for a minimum duration of 18 months (30 months for enrolment and part-time), i.e., it will not be possible to proceed with the deposit of the staff for the defence of the transfers, at least 18 or 30 months from the admission to the programme, respectively.

1. First academic year
2. Second academic year
3. Third and following academic years
4. Part-time study
5. Extensions
6. Temporary withdrawal from the program
7. Changing programs
8. Definitive withdrawal from the program

1. First academic year

• At the time of registration: assignment of a thesis supervisor and director.

  The CAPD will assign a supervisor and a director to the student, which by default will be those that signed the preliminary thesis project submitted with the student’s application.

• At the time of registration: part-time study request

  Coinciding with the regular registration period, doctoral students meeting the applicable requirements must request part-time student status from the CAPD, providing the relevant supporting documents.

• Following registration: supervision commitment

  During the formalization of registration, the doctoral student must submit a supervision commitment which will be verified by the CAPD at a later date.
  The supervision commitment is a document that specifies the academic relationship between the parties, their rights and duties, their acceptance of the dispute resolution process and its duration, and the conditions under which the doctoral student’s thesis will be published.

• Approximately 6 months following registration: Submission of the student’s Research Plan and the Personal training Plan

  Before the end of the first year from the date of registration, in accordance with the deadline established each academic year in the UDC Doctoral Studies Calendar, doctoral students will be required to upload their Research Plan and Personal training plan to the Virtual Secretary. The contents of the Research plan will be the same as the template used for the preliminary thesis project used to request admission into the program. The Personal Training Plan will include a provision for the different training activities that will be carried out during the development of the thesis (courses, seminars, mobility actions, etc.) that may be modified during the course of the thesis. These plans must be endorsed via a report from the thesis supervisor and the director, submitted by the same deadline via the Virtual Secretary in order for the CAPD to be able to issue a positive evaluation

• Second two-week period of September: annual evaluation of Research Plans

  Following the completion of the academic year, during the second two-week period of the month of September, the CAPD will carry out the annual evaluation of all doctoral students registered in the program.
  Prior to this deadline, each student must request CAPD evaluation via the Virtual Secretary, as well as subsequent evaluation by his or her supervisor.
  For first-year students, a pass on the annual evaluation will require the following:

  • Having completed and received the approval of the CAPD for all prior administrative procedures.
  • A favorable report from an accredited research ethics committee with regard to his or her Research Plan, as indicated by the student’s thesis supervisor in his or her evaluation provided. A favorable report shall be added to the student’s Record of Activities for second year via the Virtual Secretary.

2. Second academic year

During the second year of the program, which corresponds to the period of the academic year, which always starts in the month of October, the following tasks must be completed:

• Renewed registration for doctoral studies in the month of October; thus, the student must consult the official admission and registration calendar to find out the exact registration period.
• If you failed your ANNUAL EVALUATION during the previous academic year, you have until the month of March to modify your Research Plan or Record of Activities in order to be reevaluated by the CAPD.
• Scientific activities related to your thesis during this second academic year must be added to your Record of Activities via the Virtual Secretary prior to September 15; moreover, your thesis supervisor and/or director must sign off on them in order to indicate his or her approval. This is essential in order for the CAPD to be able to issue a passing ANNUAL EVALUATION at the end of the month of September.
• It is important to know that in order for the CAPD to issue a passing evaluation for this second year of doctoral studies, you must have submitted your preliminary research plan to an accredited research ethics committee and received its approval, and must submit a written copy or upload this document to your academic record. If, due to the features of the research carried out, it is not mandatory to request said authorization, your thesis director/supervisor must explicitly state this in the annual evaluation via the Virtual Secretary.

3. Third and following academic years

During the third and following years of the program, the following tasks must be completed:

• Renewed registration for doctoral studies. This usually takes place in the month of October. For this reason, you must check the official calendar in order to find out the exact registration period.
• If you failed your ANNUAL EVALUATION during the previous academic year, you can modify your Research Plan or Record of Activities until March in order to be reevaluated by the CAPD.
• Scientific activities related to your thesis during the corresponding academic year must be added to your Record of Activities via the Virtual Secretary prior to September 15; moreover, your thesis supervisor and/or director must sign off on them in order to indicate his or her approval. This is essential in order for the CAPD to be able to issue a passing ANNUAL EVALUATION at the end of the month of September.

Remember that it is necessary to fill in the Research Plan and Record of Activities, exclusively via the Virtual Secretary.

4. Part-time study

Students presenting specific family or personal circumstances are eligible for part-time registration. Part-time status must be requested from the CAPD each academic year during regular registration periods. The request must be accompanied by relevant supporting documentation.

As established in regulations, part-time doctoral student status shall be granted for any of the following reasons:

• For work-related reasons: in this case, the employment shall preferentially be fixed or stable. Occasional employment, including temporary contracts, internship contracts and cooperation grants with a duration of less than six months shall not be taken into consideration
• For family or personal reasons: among others, these include situations of dependency, caring for disabled elderly people and/or children, a numerous family with school-age children and situations of gender violence
• A degree of disability greater than 33%

5. Extensions

If it will not be possible to deposit your doctoral thesis before the final deadline (4 years for full-time study and 7 years for part-time), a deadline extension shall be permitted to be requested from the CAPD during the months of July to August of the academic year in which the deadline falls.

Extension requests are submitted by the student via the Virtual Secretary and must be approved by his or her supervisor via the same means.

The extension will be for 1 year in the case of full-time registration and for 2 years in the case of part-time registration.

The extension may be authorized for a period of one more year.

6. Temporary withdrawal from the doctoral program

At any time, you are permitted to request temporary withdrawal from the program from the CAPD in the event of sickness, pregnancy or any other reason established in legislation in force, for a maximum period of one year and extendable for one additional year.

Activities carried out during temporary withdrawal from the program cannot be included in the student’s Record of Activities. Furthermore, periods of temporary withdrawal from the program will not be included when calculating the thesis periods.

7. Changing programs

At any time, a student can submit a request to the CAPD to change doctoral program. This change must be subsequently approved by the EIDUDC following the evaluation of the doctoral student’s justified request and the reports from the CAPDs of the programs involved. The program change will only be authorized if the doctoral student complies with the admission requirements of the other program and is admitted into it. This change will imply the student’s definitive withdrawal from the Doctoral Program in Health Science.

8. Definitive withdrawal from the doctoral program

At any time, you can submit a request to the CAPD to voluntarily withdraw from the program.