The Doctoral Programme in Biotechnology and Genetic Resources of Plants and Associated Microorganisms is articulated in two phases or periods that are determined at the admission, according to the student background:
- Training period, which will be carried out only by those students who, at the time of being admitted to the program, have training deficiencies that could affect their research work during the doctorate. During this period, students must take the Training Complements designated by the Academic Comission at the time of acceptance. These complements will preferably be subjects associated with the Official Master's Degree in Biotechnology and Plant Bioengineering of the UPM.
- Research period, where the student is directly integrated into the research lines associated with the consolidated Research Groups. Most "Bio-" degree students go directly to this phase.
The Research Period of the Doctoral Programme is structured around two basic aspects:
- The exposure of the student to some research work carried out in Biotechnology laboratories.
- The development of its own research project integrated into the existing research lines in the associated Departments and Centers.
As a result of this research period, the doctoral student must prepare and defend the corresponding Doctoral Thesis. Passing this period will entitle him/her to obtain the title of Doctor.
The name of the title will be Doctor from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
The Doctoral Program follows the guidelines of Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, 2011, which are included in the Doctorate Model of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, approved by the Governing Council in its session of December 21, 2011.
The duration of the Doctoral Thesis is reflected in the Regulations for the preparation and evaluation of the doctoral thesis, with a recent modification. The duration of the doctoral studies will be a maximum of four years and a minimum of one, full-time, from the admission of the doctoral student to the program until the deposit of the doctoral thesis. If the deposit of the thesis is not submitted after this time, the UPM Doctoral Commission, at the request of the center responsible for the doctoral program, may exceptionally authorize the extension of this period for one extra year. Part-time doctoral studies may be carried out, with the previous authorization of the UPM Doctoral Commission, at the request of the Academic Commission of the Doctoral Program. Part-time will be implemented the following semester after its authorization. Part-time studies will have a maximum duration of five years from admission to the program, with the possibility of requesting an extension for two more years which, likewise, and exceptionally, could be extended for another additional year.
In the first 6 months of the Doctoral Thesis, the doctoral student as well as his Thesis Director (and the Tutor, if applicable) must sign a DOCTORAL STUDENT TRAINING AND SUPERVISION COMMITMENT AGREEMENT (COMPROMISO DE FORMACIÓN Y SUPERVISIÓN DEL DOCTORANDO), which have to be delivered in duplicate to the Secretariat of the Program to be countersigned by the Coordinator of the Academic Commission of the Programme, the Deputy-Director of the School and the Vice-Rector. This document dictates the rights and obligations of the doctoral student and their supervisors.
The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program will annually evaluate the Research Plan and the Activities Document of each doctoral student, together with the reports that the tutor and the director must issue for this purpose. This report will be completed through the THESIS in the period indicated by the Vice-Rector's Office for Research, Innovation and Doctorate (usually at the end of the academic year). A positive evaluation will be an essential requirement to continue in the program. In the event of a negative evaluation, which will be duly motivated, the doctoral student must be evaluated again within a period of six months, for which purpose he will elaborate a new Research Plan. In the event of a new negative evaluation, the doctoral student will permanently withdraw from the program. Simultaneously with the Research Plan, the Doctoral Program will request the delivery of a Student Notebook of Activities.
The rules that regulate the permanence of students are included in the link Rules of permanence.