PhD in Education
What is it?
The doctoral programme in education is directed at the training of researchers with a high degree of professional specialization, with a special emphasis on the research methodologies and techniques used in the field of education, where candidates will complete their dissertation. The doctoral programme also aims to strengthen the variety of focuses and approaches that exist as well as find balance between basic and applied research in such a way that an intellectually rich environment is created, a necessary condition to ensure quality doctoral research.
Thus, doctoral candidates must participate in activities, workshops, congresses, seminars, the creation of scholarly articles, etc. in order to obtain the basic research abilities that enable him/her to design and carry out research and disseminate related knowledge orally and in writing via a public defence of his/her dissertation. This study programme awards graduates with a doctorate.
What will you learn?
The main goal of this programme is to prepare top researchers in the various fields of education. Thus, it is focused on training educational research professionals and scholars in any of the field's contexts (didactic, curricular, social, methodological, historical, institutional, professional, technological, anthropological, comparative, psychological, etc.).
The doctoral programme in education is focused on providing students with the competences that will enable them to plan, carry out, defend, and disseminate a research project in education. As such, the programme aims to promote the acquisition of the following competences:
Basic competences:
Systematic understanding of the field of study and mastery of the research abilities and methods related to this field.
The capacity to envisage, design or create, put into practice, and undertake a substantial research or creation process.
The capacity to contribute to expanding the frontiers of knowledge through original research work.
The capacity to perform a critical analysis and assessment as well as synthesize new, complex ideas.
The ability to communicate with the academic and scientific communities and with society in general regarding the field of knowledge covered in the study programme in the typical language and manner in which the international scientific community does so.
The ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic, and cultural advancement in a knowledge-based society.
Personal competences:
Develop oneself in contexts in which there is little specific information.
Find the key questions that must be answered in order to solve complex problems.
Design, create, develop, and carry out new, innovative projects in the field of knowledge of the study programme.
Work autonomously in a team and also in international or interdisciplinary contexts.
Integrate knowledge, tackle complexity, and make judgements based on limited information.
Make intellectual criticism and defence of solutions.
High-quality official study
Legislation requires that official Spanish degree programmes receive a positive assessment from the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA, by its Spanish acronym). This process is known as verification, and it serves to ensure that education programmes are properly designed to provide the competencies and reach the learning goals around which the programmes are built.
The European Higher Education Area requires that there be a system in place to ensure the quality of degree programmes.
The doctorate programme is subject to constant assessment and improvement processes that guarantee that it maintains a certain level of prestige and renown in Europe. You can see the results of the assessment processes in the results section.
