Admission criteria (PhD in Economics)

Access requirements

Article 7 of Rector's Resolution 42/2012 of February 6, ordering the publication of the Doctorate Regulations of the University of Murcia, establishes the requirements to access a doctoral programme:

  1. According to the regulations governing access to any official doctorate programme (Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January), candidates must be in possession of an official bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a master’s degree.
  2. In addition, students who are in any of the following cases may also access:
    1. Have an official Spanish university degree, or of another country belonging to the European Higher Education Area, giving access to a master’s degree programme as per the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, and have passed a minimum of 300 ECTS of official university studies, of which, at least 60 must be at master's degree level.
    2. Have an official Spanish Graduate Diploma containing, according to EU law, at least 300 ECTS. These graduates must compulsorily complete the training supplements referred to in article 7.2 of Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, unless the syllabus of the corresponding degree includes credits in research training that are equivalent in training value to research credits in master's programmes.
    3. University graduates who, after obtaining a training place in the corresponding test to access specialised health training, have successfully passed at least two years training in a programme to obtain the official title of one of the specialities in Health Sciences.
    4. Have a qualification obtained in accordance with foreign education systems, it need not be officially recognised, the General Doctorate Committee will verify that this qualification accredits a training level equivalent to that of the official Spanish Master's degree and gives access to doctoral studies in the country where it was issued. This admission does not imply, in any case, the official recognition of a student’s previous degrees nor its recognition for purposes others than accessing doctoral education.
    5. To be in possession of another Spanish title of doctor obtained according to previous university regulations.

Applicant profile

Two different student profiles are considered:

A. Recommended Applicant Profile. Students holding a master’s degree with a research itinerary in Economics or Business.

Firstly, we refer to those general master's degrees whose syllabus covers various subjects related to economic and business science, such as the two official master's degrees linked to the doctoral programme, the Master's Degree in Economics (research itinerary) taught in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Murcia, and the Master's Degree in Research in Economics taught at the National Distance Education University.

This recommended profile also includes all those students holding a master's degree with a research itinerary oriented towards sectoral areas of Economics or Business related to the lines of research offered by the doctoral programme, such as the Master's Degree in Administration and Management of Tourist Companies and Institutions (research itinerary) taught at the Technical University of Cartagena.

Within this category, we can find master’s degrees such as:

  • Economic growth / Economic development
  • Analysis of economic conditions
  • Public economy / Evaluation of public policies
  • Health economics / Economics of health services / Administration and management of health services
  • International economy
  • Financial economy / Financial system
  • Instruments of economic analysis / Econometric analysis
  • International trade
  • Industrial economics
  • Service economics
  • Welfare economics
  • History of economics

The students who belong to this profile and who have met all the admission criteria established in the section “Admission criteria” will not have to take any training complements.

B. Related Applicant Profiles.

We distinguish two possible scenarios:

  1. Students holding a master’s degree without a research itinerary (professional itinerary) in Economics or Business.
  2. Students holding a master’s degree (with or without a research itinerary) in a related research area.

Students who belong to profile a) should take training complements in order to acquire the basic methodological and instrumental competencies to carry out research in Economics. These complements are detailed in the section on Training complements. 

With regard to profile b), this refers to master’s degrees in which you can study subjects such as:

  1. Economics which is not directly linked to the research lines.
  2. Subjects linked to any of the research lines offered in this programme and which are relevant to the programme.

Bearing in mind the interdisciplinary nature of the research and the fact that some of the research lines may be taken by different specialists, who have completed different academic training from Economics and Business but who meet all the requirements to be admitted onto this programme can also be interested in the PhD programme despite having a background that is not strictly in economics.

For this reason, this doctoral programme does not exclude the possibility of admitting them onto the programme. The criteria described in the section “Admission criteria” will be applied, provided that their backgoround, motivation, and initial proposal of interest are related to any of the research lines and to the research characteristics and interests of the PhDs belonging to the corresponding lines.  

Profile b) students would have to take the training complements described. If the student has completed postgraduate studies with a research profile, then they could be excluded from taking those complements. 

The teaching languages will be English and Spanish. If one of those languages is the mother tongue of the student, then they would need to have a B1 level in the other language. In cases where neither language is the mother tongue, then the student would have to accredit a B1 level in at least one of the two languages.  

Admission Criteria

The Interuniversity Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme is responsible for choosing the students who meet all the admission requirements. The admission criteria to be considered are as follows:

  • Academic record: 50 %. The academic record of the degree and the master’s degree will be valued at 25 % each.
  • Professional and/or research experience: 10 % 
  • Motivation and ability to carry out their doctoral thesis. This will be evaluated through the initial proposal of interests that the applicant should submit with their application: 40 %.

In addition to the documents required for their application, the student should also attach an “initial proposal of interests” in PDF, which should not exceed 1000 words. In this proposal, the student should detail the reason why they are interested in the programme and would have to explain the research line (or lines) that they seek to carry out in the doctoral studies, so that the Interuniversity Academic Committee can evaluate the characteristics and the suitability of the student’s academic training. 

If the Interuniversity Academic Committee has any doubts, then an interview will be conducted (it could be online). In this case, the initial proposal of interests will amount to 30 % and the interview 10 %.  

The assessment criteria and their respective weightings are justified as follows: it is understood that an important selection criterion must be academic, referring to the appropriateness of the academic record to the studies to be carried out and to the performance. This is found in the academic record, given that it is both an objective criterion as well as being a criterion that ensures students have the knowledge and skills to be able to successfully perform doctoral studies. However, motivation is also an essential factor in the likelihood of being successful, and this can be adequately reflected in an initial proposal of interest. With regard to the possible personal interview, this will provide the Interuniversity Academic Committee with further information on the above-mentioned aspects as well as the personal and professional maturity of the candidate, their initiative and their ability to work individually and in a team.

In order to be admitted into the programme, the student needs to reach at least 55 points from 100. If the number of students who achieved that score is higher than the number of places available, the highest scoring students would be admitted.  

To ensure equal opportunities for disabled students and to contribute to eliminating barriers to access, participate and learn for all persons with any disability who are members of the university community, each of the participating universities on this programme has specific services available.

Students with Special Educational Needs

Article 8 of the Doctorate Regulations of the University of Murcia states that in the event of students with special educational needs derived from a disability, the selection and admissions systems and procedures will include the relevant action to favour, as far as possible, equality in the access conditions and integration in all aspects. To do so, the Service of Attention to Diversity and Volunteers (ADV) will evaluate the need for possible syllabus adaptations.

Number of places available: 120