The access requirements will vary depending on the Royal Decree governing each doctoral programme:

RD 99/2011

List of doctoral programmes regulated by the Royal Decree 99/2011

Applied Mathematics

Architectural Design

Artificial Intelligence

Biomedical Engineering

Business Administration and Management

Chemical Process Engineering

Civil Engineering

Computer Architecture

Computing

Construction Engineering

Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics

Electrical Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Distributed Computing

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Environomical Pathways For Sustainable Energy Services (SELECT+)

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Interactive and Cognitive Environments

Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program Europhotonics, in Photonics Engineering, Nanophotonics and Biophotonics

Erasmus Mundus Joint European Doctoral Programme in Materials Science and Engineering (DOCMASE)

Geotechnical Engineering

Infrastructures and Land Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering

Natural Resources and Environment

Nuclear Engineering and Ionising Radiations

Polymers and Biopolymers

Research in Building Environment and Energy in Architecture

Statistics and Operational Research

Thermal Engineering

Urban and Architectonic Management and Valuations

Urbanism

To be eligible for a doctoral degree course a candidate must hold an official Spanish bachelor's degree (or equivalent) and a master's degree.

However, candidates in any of the following circumstances are also eligible:

1. Individuals holding an official university degree from Spain or any other country in the European Higher Education Area that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007 of 29 October, qualifies holders for master's degree courses, provided they have also completed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits of official university coursework overall, of which at least 60 must be at the master's degree level.
2. Individuals holding an official degree from Spain consisting of at least 300 ECTS credits, as required by European Union regulations. Individuals in this category are required to complete bridging courses unless the curriculum of the degree course in question included the same number of research training credits as would be required in a master's degree course.
3. University graduates who, having passed the entrance examination for specialised medical training, have completed at least two years of a training course leading to an official degree in a health-sciences specialisation.
4. Individuals holding a degree from a foreign education system. In these cases, homologation is not required, provided it can be shown that the university in question offers a level of training equivalent to that of the official Spanish master's degree and that, in the issuing country, individuals holding the degree in question are eligible for doctoral degree courses. Admission via this channel does not imply homologation of the degree in question, and the degree shall not be considered as recognised for any purpose other than eligibility for the doctoral degree course.
5. Individuals holding a Spanish doctoral degree obtained under previous university regulations.

RD 1393/2007

List of doctoral programmes regulated by the Royal Decree 1393/2007

Aerospace Science and Technology

Agribusiness Technology and Biotechnology

Applied and Computational Physics

Architecture Technology, Construction and Urbanism

Automatics Robotics and Vision

Electronic Engineering

Marine Sciences

Mechanical Engineering, Fluids and Aeronautics

Nautical Science and Engineering

Optical Engineering

Photonics

Signal Theory and Communications

Structural Analysis

Sustainability

System and Project Engineering

Telematics Engineering

Textile and Paper Engineering

Theory and History Of Architecture

Visual Communication in Architecture and Design

Taught stage

Students must be in possession of one of the following:

1. An official university qualification from a university in Spain.
2. A university qualification issued by a higher education institution belonging to the EHEA that qualifies the student for admission to master’s degree studies in the country in which it was issued.
3. A university qualification belonging to an educational system outside the EHEA. The qualification must be legalised (Appendix II) once the UPC has verified that the qualification is of a level equivalent to the corresponding official university qualification in Spain and that it qualifies the student for admission to postgraduate education in the country in which it was issued.

Research stage

Students must be in possession of one of the following:

1. An official university master’s degree.
2. A qualification equivalent to a university master’s degree issued by a higher education institution belonging to the EHEA.
3. A university qualification belonging to a educational system outside the EHEA. The qualification must be legalised (see the section on legalisations) once the UPC has verified that the qualification is of a level equivalent to the corresponding official university master’s degree in Spain and that it qualifies the student for admission to doctoral studies in the country in which the qualification was issued.
4. Sixty ECTS credits belonging to one or several university master’s degrees taught at the UPC.
5. A degree worth at least 300 ECTS credits according to EU law.
6. A degree and the Diploma of Advanced Studies in accordance with Royal Decree 778/1998, of 30 April, or research proficiency in accordance with Royal Decree 185/1985, 23 January.