Cotutelle (International joint supervision)
The UAB may execute agreements with foreign universities for PhD theses to be written under cotutelle. In this case, the PhD students will be assigned a thesis supervisor at each of the two centres subscribing to the agreement.
Agreements may only be signed within the first year of research, which is understood to begin on the date when the admission to the doctoral programme of the UAB is registered. You must keep in mind that the approximate time of processing the joint supervision is six months. Therefore, you must initiate the process, submitting the application in the Doctoral School, in sufficient time.
Once the doctoral candidate has successfully defended the thesis written under cotutelle, he/she is entitled to two PhD degree certificates, one from each centre, as agreed by both institutions.
Before starting your stay you have to contact the INSS (Social Security) to know if your stay requires any procedure or special requirement to enjoy health coverage abroad. If the INSS requires you, you must carry out the corresponding procedures. Check this link to travel abroad and Relation of universities/Institucions with Cotutela
First you must agree the basic aspects of the agreement with the other university bearing in mind:
To facilitate the process, we recommend that you use our models, since they contain all the information necessary to sign the cotutelle. However, it is also possible, in some cases, to use the models provided by the other university. In these latter cases, the deadline for processing will probably be extended, so it will be necessary to submit the application well in advance. - Model cotutelle agreement (catalan) - Model cotutelle agreement (spanish) - Model cotutelle agreement (English)
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Requests the Permanent Board of the Doctorate School to process the cotutela, using the form you will find on its website. If you have any queries about this request, you can write to ed.comissions@uab.cat (if you send an email, you must identify yourself by indicating your ID / passport, NIU, name and surname) for consideration and approval by the School for Doctoral Studies. |
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Once the Permanent Board has approved your application you can begin the signing process with the Doctoral Studies Administration Office. You should provide the number of copies requested by each university.
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From that time you should continue working on the thesis under the same general conditions as the other PhD candidates at the UAB while fulfilling any conditions specified in the cotutelle agreement, such as the commitment document, the activities, the registrations that have to be done each academic year, their payments, the annual PhD reviews, the deposit or defense of the thesis. You must justify the different stays in each university in your file, in te section activities:
The stay certificate for activity 62 cannot be signed by the thesis supervisor of the other university; it can be signed by the person in charge of the center, etc. On the other hand, the certificate for activity 63 must be signed by the thesis supervisor of the UAB. To carry out the activities management, consult the video at the beginning of this section or the UAB self-service tutorial. |
Finally, in the case of a single thesis defence and in accordance with the specific details of the agreement, the universities will issue individual PhD certificates once the specific administrative procedures have been carried out for the issue of the certificate. The UAB will include on the front of title the diligence of "Thesis on cotutelle (international joint supervision)" with the indication of the university which has made the joint supervision.
In the case of regulations for cotutelle at a higher level than those of the UAB the agreement may be affected in terms of certificate issue, composition of the examining board, etc.
If you did not find in this page the information you need, you can contact the School for Doctoral Studies at ed.comissions@uab.cat (if you send an email, you must identify yourself by indicating your ID / passport, NIU, name and surname).
For theses written under an agreement for cotutelle with a university abroad, if the defence takes place at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the procedure is the same as for theses not written under cotutelle, with the following differences.
1. The composition of the thesis examining board is determined by the cooperation agreement signed between the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the foreign university.
If the defence takes place at the other university, you must have been admitted to a PhD programme, paid the registration fees, and registered the thesis project on the corresponding PhD programme.
At the UAB you have to register your thesis at the Doctoral School, and at the other university you have to begin organising the thesis defence, following the corresponding procedure in each case.
The thesis examining board must comply with the provisions of the cooperation agreement signed between the two universities. The board needs to be approved by the foreign university and by the UAB.
The Doctoral School must be given notice of the date, place and time of the defence by the department in charge at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with sufficient time to make this information public. Additionally, the UAB's report on the thesis defence, signed by the examining board, is sent to the thesis supervisor to be signed on the day the thesis is defended at the foreign university, and returned to the Doctoral School.
The arrangements for obtaining the PhD certificate are the same as those for theses defended at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.