Duration of Ph.D. studies

In accordance with Royal Decree 576/2023 of 4 July, which amends Royal Decree 99/2011 of 28 January:

• The regular duration of a full-time Ph.D. program is 4 years. This period can be extended up to 5 years.
• The regular duration of a part-time Ph.D. program is 7 years. This period can be extended up to 8 years. 

The duration of the doctoral studies shall be calculated from the date of starting the studies until the date on which the doctoral thesis is deposited.

When the doctoral student is a person with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33 percent, the duration of the doctoral studies will be a maximum of 6 years full-time and 9 years part-time.

How to check the deadline to deposit your thesis

The deadline for depositing your thesis, as shown in your online record, is the latest date by which you must deposit your doctoral thesis.

You can log in to your electronic file on SIGMA at any time to check your deadline. Go to “Doctoral Monitoring and Assessment” and you will see the “Thesis completion deadline” at the top of your file.

Please note the following information:

• You must have been enrolled in the PhD programme for a minimum of 24 months, either on a full-time or part-time basis, before you can begin the defence process.
• You must apply for the defence at least two and a half months before your submission deadline, which corresponds to the final date for completion of the thesis as shown in SIGMA.
• A minimum of 15 weeks (excluding university holidays) is required to complete the entire process, from the application for the defence to the approval of the examination board.

For valid reasons, you may request an extension or a temporary leave of absence from your studies by submitting a written request to the Academic Committee of your programme. Please use the following documents for this purpose:

• Prórroga de estudios de doctorado Application form.
• Baja temporal de estudios de doctorado Application form.

If you are a beneficiary of a pre-doctoral contract with UC3M, your enrolment status must be full-time for the entire duration of the contract, in accordance with Article 21 of Ley 14/2011, de 1 de junio, de la Ciencia, la Tecnología y la Innovación.

Your enrollment status of choice (full-time or part-time) must be stated in your application for admission. Students applying for a part-time enrollment status must include this form in their application for admission:

• Application for part-time enrollment status

If you wish to change your status later for justified reasons, you must send a formal request to the Academic Committee of your Ph.D. program: 

• Application for a change of enrollment status

Any change in enrollment status performed outside these channels will not go into effect.

If you are the beneficiary of a pre-doctoral contract with the uc3m, you must be full, time for the entire duration of the contract in application of article 21 of law 14/2011, of 1 June, on Science, Techonology and Innovation