Doctoral Program in Hispanic Linguistics 2021–2022

The RD 99/2011 highlights the high professional training of doctors in various fields, especially those that require creativity and innovation. Therefore, the doctors of the program will have acquired, at least, personal skills and abilities to:

1. Develop in contexts in which there is little specific information.
2. Find the key questions that must be answered to solve a complex problem.
3. Design, create, develop and undertake innovative and innovative projects in their field of knowledge.
4. Work both as a team and independently in an international or multidisciplinary context.
5. Integrate knowledge, face complexity and formulate judgements with limited information.
6. The criticism and intellectual defence of solutions.

The requirements for access to doctorate studies are set in RD 99/2011 and can be consulted in the corresponding Instruction of the Doctorate School (pdf). In general, an official Spanish Bachelor's and Master's degrees or equivalent are required, with a minimum global extension of 300 ECTS credits.

Candidates with university degrees issued by a country of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) may request admission directly (info). If the degree is issued by a country outside the EHEA, the application for access with a non-homologated foreign degree must be submitted (info).

Those interested can expand their information in the administrative section of the Doctoral School (web) or the administration of the program (see contact data in the program general information section).

General requirements

In accordance with Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, which regulates the official doctoral teachings, in order to access doctoral studies, it is necessary to have the Spanish official degree (or equivalent) and the master's degree university

Preferred profiles:

Main access qualifications:

Official Master's Degree, preferably in Hispanic Studies (Language and Literature) of the University of Zaragoza or another of the same level and scope, of any higher education institution of the European Higher Education Area or of third countries if they authorize access to Doctorate studies in the country of dispatch.

Selection Criteria:

The criteria for the assessment in the selection of students that will be applied by the academic committee of the program will be adjusted to the following scale, based on the fact that a maximum of 10 points will be assigned to each candidate, in accordance with the following principles:

1. Up to a maximum of 8 points for the Master's degree, according to the criteria set forth below:

• 1st. Master's in Hispanic Studies (Language and Literature) of the University of Zaragoza or official Master's degree with similar content from other universities: 8 points

• 1b. Official master's in philological and / or linguistic content of non-Hispanic scope: 6 points

• 1c. Official Master's in non-philological or linguistic content: 4 points

N.B .: The rest of the profiles recognized in Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, will be adjusted by analogy to the three strata of established scores.

2. Up to a maximum of 1 point for undergraduate or bachelor's degrees, in accordance with the criteria indicated below:

• 2a. Degree in Hispanic Philology or analogous content (see "Studies in Spanish Language and Literature", etc.): 1 point

• 2b. Other degrees of philological or / and linguistic nature, of a non-Hispanic scope: 0.5 points

• 2c. Other degrees: 0 points

3. The candidates who certify the obtaining of an Extraordinary Undergraduate or Degree Prize within the scope of Arts and Humanities will be assigned: 1 point

Profile: In the case of students who have carried out an official University Master's degree study other than the old Master's in Hispanic Studies (Language and Literature) of the University of Zaragoza, but with some similar contents, the equivalence of some ECTS may be carried out.

Additions to be taken: In that case, the student during the training period will have to complete courses until a maximum of 18 credits are completed, corresponding respectively to the core subjects of linguistic content of said Master (that is: "Problematic issues of the Spanish grammar "and" The history of the Spanish language in its texts ") and the subject of methodological character, of linguistic aspect, of the same (that is to say," Methodology of the investigation in linguistic and in theory of the literature ").

Doctoral students, as researchers in training and students of the University of Zaragoza, have to formalize every year the enrollment with the corresponding rights to the academic tutorship while continuing their doctoral training. The enrollment period will be set  in the academiccalendar approved each year by the Doctoral School. 

As a general rule, enrollment will be done online through the Secretaría Virtual ofthe University of Zaragoza. Previously a personal identification number (NIP) and password will have been obtained in the identity management service. Face-to-face registration will be allowed to those who cannot do it online, by going to the doctoral school during public service hours. PhD students must submit every year in which they enroll, documentation about their previous studies, depending on whether they have been taken in countries of the European Education Area or outside that space.

Full and up-to-date information on the enrollment procedure, including key points, is provided on the website of the Doctoral School, as well as prices, discounts and insurance, legalization and translation of documents and some others practical details.

The procedures for the supervision of doctoral students are set in article 11 of Royal Decree 99/2011, which regulates doctoral studies and the rules about Thesis (Reglamento sobre Tesis Doctorales de la Universidad de Zaragoza). The doctoral student admitted to the program has to enrol each academic year in academic tutelage at the University of Zaragoza. The Academic Committee of the program will assign a Thesis Director and a tutor, who may or may not be the same. The Thesis Director will be the person in charge of the overall management of the doctoral student's research tasks, of the coherence and adequacy of the training activities, of the impact and novelty in his/her field of the subject of the doctoral thesis and of the guide in other projects and activities where the doctoral student is involved. The tutor is responsible for the adaptation of the training and the research activity to the principles of the program and the Doctoral School and will ensure the interaction of the doctoral student with the Academic Committee of the program, the body responsible for supervising the progress of the research and training and the authorization of the thesis presentation of each doctoral student of the program.

The supervisory functions of the doctoral students will be documented in the Doctorate Letter which, once the registration is made, will be signed by the doctoral student, its tutor and its director, the program coordinator and the director of the Doctoral School. Those interested can expand the information on the thesis supervision in the administrative headquarters of the program (see contact information in the general information of the program) or by consulting the program coordinator.

The follow-up of the training process leading to the presentation of the doctoral thesis is carried out through the research plan and the doctoral student's document of activities. The research plan is presented before the end of the first year of enrolment and includes, at least, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and the temporal planning to achieve it. The plan may be improved and detailed later and must be endorsed by the Director and the tutor. The document of activities is the register of all the activities -research stays, courses, attendance to congresses, or others- that the doctorate carries out from his enrolment until the presentation of the doctoral thesis. Annually, the Academic Committee of the program will evaluate the follow-up of the research plan together with the document of activities. The positive evaluation will be an essential requirement to continue in the program. In the case of a negative evaluation, the doctoral student must be evaluated again within a maximum period of six months. Those interested can expand this information in the administrative headquarters of the program (see contact information in the general information of the program) or by consulting the program coordinator.

The Doctoral School offers an annual series of voluntary activities for all doctoral students. This formation has a transversal and interdisciplinary nature. The offer is dynamic and covers the following formative aspects: communication (oral and written), access and information management, and skills for a future social and professional performance.  Information about the activities, admission and enrolment can be found in the website of the Doctoral School  (info).

Title: Zaragoza Linguistica. Mandatory

Duration: 20

Control procedures: The assistance is rigorously monitored. Students receive certification of presence in each session. Additional information can be found at the link: https://zaragozalinguistica.wordpress.com

Title: Days devoted to topics of Spanish Language (synchrony). Mandatory

Duration: 20

Control procedures: There is control of attendance at each conference (followed by debate) and, in addition, the participants have to write a paper that synthesises or discusses the contents of the Conference (around 15 pages DIN-A4 size). Coordinate and evaluate the work the Dra. Martín Zorraquino, director of the "María Moliner" Chair (non-commercial activity).

Title: Days dedicated to topics of History of the Spanish Language, Hispanic Dialectology and Aragonese Philology. Mandatory

Duration: 20

Control procedures: There is control of attendance at each conference (followed by debate) and, in addition, the participants have to write a paper that synthesises or discusses the contents of the Conference (around 15 pages DIN-A4 size). Coordinates and values ​​the work Dr. José María Enguita Utrilla, director of the "Manuel Alvar" Chair (non-commercial activity).

Title: Course on Spanish literary thinking of the twentieth century. Mandatory

Duration: 20

Control procedures: It controls and certifies the attendance of the students. Additional information can be found at the link: https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/tropelias.

Title: Training activities related to the mobility of doctoral students: stay in a foreign center. Optional

Duration: 480

Control procedures: The results of the stay in a foreign center will be incorporated into the DAD of each doctorate. To do this, the doctoral students, on the return to the University of Zaragoza, have to write a report of all the activities carried out at the foreign research center, a report that will be discussed and reviewed with the director of the thesis. It will also be necessary to provide a report of the researcher (or researchers) responsible for the work of each doctoral student in said center, a report that will complement the doctoral thesis and that must be reviewed by the director of the thesis (and commented, where appropriate, with the doctorate).

Doctoral students enrolled in doctoral programs benefit from mobility aids established in various national and international calls. The calls for the Erasmus + program stand out.

In the Erasmus + Studies mode, doctoral students can choose a wide range of destinations, since most of the agreements signed by the University of Zaragoza with other universities include places for PhD students of all branches.

In the Erasmus + Stays / Practices in companies modality, PhD students access two calls: the one from the University of Zaragoza and the one carried out by the Iberus International Campus of Excellence for the universities that comprise it, the one from Zaragoza among them.

Other mobility calls are specifically designed for Latin American students and for international stays of students with predoctoral contracts. The mobility of doctoral students of the University of Zaragoza is also encouraged with cotutela agreements signed with foreign universities.

The Doctoral School of the University of Zaragoza has rules and procedures to achieve its various goals, which have been written with the agreement of the different levels of the Doctoral School, and are published on its website.

The regulations section of the Doctoral School website contains other important regulations, both national and of the University of Zaragoza, such as RD 99/2011 por el que se regulan las enseñanzas oficiales de doctorado, el Reglamento de los Estudios de Doctorado (2012) y el Reglamento sobre tesis doctorales (2014).

Rules of duration and permanence in the doctorate are established in Instrucción de23 de mayo de 2018 de la Escuela de Doctorado relativa al acceso, admisión,dedicación y permanencia en los estudios de doctorado de la Universidad deZaragoza (R.D. 99/2011).

Full-time thesis should be complete in three years, from the date of admission to the doctoral program, although the Academic Committee of the program may authorize the extension of this period for one more year. Part-time doctoral students will have five years from their admission to the presentation of the thesis, and the Academic Committee may authorize an extension for two more years. Exceptionally, an additional year of extension can be added.

PhD candidates may request a change in dedication (full-time / part-time) as well as the temporary withdrawal for justified reasons of the Academic Committee. They can cause a definitive withdrawal and see their file closed in these cases: if the available time to deposit the thesis is exceeded or if they receive two consecutive negative evaluations of the research plan.

These processes are explained in detail on our website (info) and the doctoral students are told how to proceed in cases of temporary withdrawal (info).

The academic year is governed by the deadlines established in the specific Doctoral School´s academic calendar.

This calendar sets the periods of request for entry, admission to the programs, enrollment at the University of Zaragoza, as well as how the students must present every year the research plan and the activities document, deadlines for defending doctoral theses, etc.

The Doctoral School website publishes the calendar of the current course as well as the two previous courses (info).

a) Materials and services available (classrooms and other infrastructures)

For the realization of the doctoral thesis, the University of Zaragoza and its various centers, departments and institutes, research groups and professors involved in the doctoral program, offer the resources and suitable services for its correct execution.

Specifically, the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (http://fyl.unizar.es/), center in which the Department of General and Hispanic Linguistics is located - responsible, in last term, of the doctoral program in HISPANIC LINGUISTICS , has spaces dedicated to academic and teaching activities, as well as specific service rooms, which allow the proper development of the tasks of the students and professors involved in said program.

Among the resources offered by the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, we must highlight the Technical Support Service (SEMETA) (http://fyl.unizar.es/016_audiovisuales.php). It is located on the 2nd floor of the Library of Humanities María Moliner.

b) Library and Documentation Service

The University has university libraries, with broad hours and easy access. The libraries offer the University Community a wide range of services such as book lending, access to collections in paper and electronic format, spaces with computers and individual work spaces and group work. All the information on this can be found on the following electronic page: http://biblioteca.unizar.es/.

In particular, the Library of Humanities "María Moliner (http://biblioteca.unizar.es/biblio.php?id=27), inaugurated in 2003, will facilitate access to documentary collections, bibliographic databases and scientific publications, related to the doctoral program in HISPANIC LINGUISTICS. This library has an area of ​​5,228 m 2 and has 640 reading points. In addition, all the bibliographic funds belonging to the eleven Departments of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters have been centralized in the same building. Likewise, the offices of the General University Library (http://biblioteca.unizar.es/biblio.php?id=16) and the Historical Archive of the University of Zaragoza (http: // biblioteca. unizar.es/biblio.php?id=32).

On the other hand, the doctoral students of the doctoral program of Lingüística Hispánica may also count on the support of other university libraries, such as the Library of the Faculty of Education of Zaragoza (http://biblioteca.unizar.es/biblio.php ? id = 26), the Library of the Faculty of Human Sciences and Education of Huesca (http://biblioteca.unizar.es/biblio.php?id=24) and the Library of the Teruel Campus (http: //biblioteca.unizar.es/biblio.php? id = 25). They can also count on the Library of the Institution "Fernando el Católico" (IFC) (http://ifc.dpz.es/publicaciones/biblioteca).

On the other hand, the Library has, if necessary, five tables (isolated inside the Library building, with a computer, light device and chair) for doctoral students and visiting researchers.

The accesses to the Humanities Library "María Moliner", as those of the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras of Zaragoza (and, specifically, those of the Department of General and Hispanic Linguistics) have ramps, elevators, etc. for people with physical disabilities.