Doctoral Program in Economy and Management of Organisations 2019–2020

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.

Other competencies, specific to the program

CB01 - No additional competences are contemplated in this program.

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).

Preferred profiles:

The most suitable profile is a Master Degree (MSc) in Management, Strategy and Marketing or another with equivalent content. Interested students must apply to the Academic Committee for admission to the program within the period established in the academic calendar (normally, during the months of June and July) and according to the procedure that is determined annually. This Committee, once the documentation has been analyzed, will determine the adequacy of the candidate's profile and establish, where appropriate, the need to take training complements with the aim of homogeneize the knowledge and basic competences to all students admitted to the program. These complements will consist of the realization of up to eighteen ECTS of the MSc in Management, Strategy and Marketing (taught at University of Zaragoza).

In relation to other issues related to the admission process, you can consult the website of the Doctorate School (https://escueladoctorado.unizar.es/admisi%C3%B3n-en-un-programa-de-doctorado-puntos-clave).

Dedication regime 

The master's degree can be completed either full-time or part-time. The admission process will be common for both types of students.


Selection criteria:

Among those students who meet the established requirements and in case that the number of applications exceeds the number of places available, the Academic Committee will select the candidates according to the following criteria:

- Academic records in the degree that gives access to the program: 80%


- Previous research experience (attendance and presentations in congresses and seminars): 10%


- Other merits: 10%.

Title: Internal seminars

Duration: 20 hours

Control procedures: The attendance of the doctoral students will be controlled and certified. In addition, the doctoral student must submit, within a period of three weeks from the conclusion of each session, a document of approximately two pages in which he or she will summarize the objectives of the work and the main results that derive from it. They will also identify both the main strengths of the research and its main weaknesses. This document will be subject to evaluation by the thesis director.

Title: Seminars of research groups

Duration: 10 hours

Control procedures:  The attendance will be controlled and certified, and will be included in the DAD (Documento de actividades del doctorando -Document of activities of the doctoral student). In addition, the doctoral student must submit, within a period of three weeks, a document of approximately two pages in which he or she will summarize the objectives of the work and the main results that derive from it. They will also identify both the main strengths of the research and its main weaknesses. This document will be subject to evaluation by the thesis director.

Title: Research stays

Duration: 160 hours

Control procedures: The doctoral student will present a certificate of the stay as well as a report of the activities carried out.

Title: Presentations in research seminar. 

Duration: 2 seminars

Control procedures:  The director of the doctoral student must issue a brief report highlighting the originality of the paper, his or her communication ability, as well as the capacity to answer appropriately to the proposed questions.

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).

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).

The University of Zaragoza and the Departments of Management and Marketing, and also the research groups and Faculty involved in the doctoral program, provide the resources and suitable services for its correct execution. Among these resources should be highlighted:

- Library and Documentation Service: The University has university libraries with extensive and easily accessible schedules. The libraries provide a wide range of services such as loan of books, access to electronic journals and documents, and spaces with computers and individual work facilities.

- Escuela de Doctorado: It is the unit of the University of Zaragoza responsible for providing technical and administrative support to the university community regarding doctoral studies.

- International Relations Section: the International Relations Service promotes mobility, welcomes international Doctoral students and facilitates their integration in the University.

- Other resources: Center for mobility of researchers (EURAXESS). The University of Zaragoza, through the Vice-Rectorate for Scientific Policy, is part of the EURAXESS European Network of Aragon and is an information point that provides personalized assistance to foreign researchers they move to Aragon to develop their research work.