Doctoral program in Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences

Presentation

Consistent with this new structure of centers, the Rey Juan Carlos University proposes a Doctorate Program in Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences to provide and offer doctoral training that contributes:

• on the one hand, to promote the training of people with competence in research and innovation in these areas of knowledge,
• and on the other, to advance, through research, in responding to the needs of society within the framework of an integrative program, whose structure and organization simultaneously allows specialization, updating and diversification of training, research and transfer.

Objectives

This program will allow:

• Offer quality doctoral training, endorsed by researchers and groups with recognized experience.
• Consolidate excellent doctoral training in Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences based on the training that has been provided in undergraduate and master's studies, in which the University already has experienced researchers.
• Train new researchers.
• Specialize postgraduates for their adequate professional, scientific and technical development.
• Promote the training of new teachers in related disciplines.
• Facilitate the training of thesis directors.
• Promote the creation of research groups and networks, national and international, and interdisciplinarity and that focus their research on the challenges of society identified in the EU Research and Innovation Framework Program, the State Plan for Scientific Research and Technical and Innovation and the current Regional Plan for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation related to the scope of the doctoral program.

In short, this Doctorate Program at the Rey Juan Carlos University has as its immediate objective the training of doctors equipped with a critical scientific spirit, capacity for research and teamwork, through teaching organized in two areas, one general (techniques and research methods, tools and resources for the same) and another area of ​​specialization typical of the different lines of specialization and consolidated research topics that are developed in it.

Competences

Basic skills

• Ability to achieve a systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of the skills and research methods related to said field.
• Ability to conceive, design or create, put into practice and adopt a substantial research or creation process.
• Ability to contribute to expanding the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
• Ability to carry out a critical analysis and evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas.
• Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general about their fields of knowledge in the modes and languages ​​commonly used in their international scientific community.
• Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural progress within a knowledge-based society.
• Ability to promote Open Science and Citizen Science, in accordance with article 12 of Organic Law 2/2023, of March 22, as a way to contribute to the consideration of scientific knowledge as a common good, through the evaluation of transversal activities carried out carried out by the doctoral student related to different dimensions of Open Science and Citizen Science, as well as the training acquired in both disciplines in micro-credential or similar format. (From the application of RD 576/2023, of July 4).

Personal abilities and skills

• Ability to function in contexts in which there is little specific information.
• Ability to find the key questions that must be answered to solve a complex problem.
• Ability to design, create, develop and undertake new and innovative projects in their field of knowledge.
• Ability to work both in a team and autonomously in an international or multidisciplinary context.
• Ability to integrate knowledge, deal with complexity and make judgments with limited information.
• Capacity for criticism and intellectual defense of solutions.

Other skills:

• Ability to identify open or unresolved problems in the Program's knowledge areas.
• Ability to acquire advanced scientific knowledge in the areas of knowledge of the Program, which allows you to generate new ideas within a line of research.
• Ability to understand the procedure, value and limits of the scientific method in the areas of the Program's knowledge areas to identify, locate and obtain the data required in a research work, as well as to design and guide basic and applied research, in addition to treat and evaluate data in a critical way, and draw conclusions and discuss them with existing prior knowledge.
• Ability to assess the importance of documentary sources, manage them, and search for the necessary information for the development of any research work.
• Ability to read and understand publications within their field of study/research, as well as their cataloging and scientific value
• Ability to produce scientific publications of impact in the areas of knowledge of the Program.
• That is capable Ability to prepare, present and defend a doctoral thesis in the area of ​​Social Sciences in which: a) a state of the art and critical analysis of the field of study, b) a systematic presentation of their original contributions, and c) an evaluation of them.
• Management capacity and autonomous organization of work.

General requirements International Doctoral School

General requirements International Doctoral School

Program Admission Criteria

The PhD program is aimed at students with a clear research vocation in the fields of Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences, who possess advanced knowledge of the fundamental concepts of these disciplines and who are willing and able to acquire new knowledge, competencies, and research skills applied to them. 

Consequently, the entry profile for the Doctoral Program in Educational Sciences and Sports Sciences will preferably correspond to students from a Bachelor's, Bachelor's or Master's degree related to Educational Sciences or Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (Profile-1), and related disciplines (Profile-2):

• Profile-1 (with priority for admission): Graduates in Educational Sciences or graduates in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, who have completed an Official Master's degree related to the same field in each case.
  • Profile-1a: The Official Master's Degree includes a training itinerary or subjects for research with an equivalence of at least 24 ECTS.
  • Profile-1b: The Official Master's Degree does not include a training itinerary or subjects for research with an equivalence of at least 24 ECTS.
• Profile-2: : The program will be open to profiles with degrees related to the fields of Social Sciences and Humanities in the case of the Doctorate in Educational Sciences, or with degrees in Biology, Health Sciences, Medicine, Pedagogy, Psychology and Sociology, provided that they have some type of connection in their life path with the field of Education in one case, or Physical Activity and Sport in the other.

More specifically, the doctoral candidate's training must be tailored to the content of the research lines chosen from among the different lines offered within the program, and they must demonstrate, in their academic credentials and resume, a minimum of research experience related to the program's lines. 

In order to successfully complete a doctorate, it will be necessary to demonstrate creative, innovative and problem-solving skills associated with the field of research, academic work and the scientific construction of knowledge, as well as an entrepreneurial profile, capable of achieving short- and medium-term objectives. Likewise, the requirement to carry out quality, constant and rigorous work requires autonomous work and planning skills, which are essential in the scientific-research work that doctoral students must develop in the doctoral program.

The acceptance or denial of admission will be carried out by the Academic Commission, taking into account, in addition to the general and specific requirements of the Program, the following criteria:

A minimum grade of 5 out of 10 is required to be admitted. This doctoral programme does not require any special entrance exam that the applicant must take. However, the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme reserves the right to request a personal interview with a student in order to clarify or comment on any of the above assessment and selection criteria; in particular, those relating to the minimum level of Spanish language in the case of non-Spanish speaking students.

Number of new admission places

The number of new admission places will be 15 students, reserving 5% of the places for students with disabilities.

Internal quality assurance system

Manual of the Internal Quality Assurance System

Composition of the commission

Composition of the commission

Code of good practices

Code of good practices

Results report

Once the follow-up of the Doctorate Program has been carried out, the most relevant quantitative information is shown on the results obtained in the follow-up of said Degree, differentiated by academic year.

Report by academic year:

• Results report

General information collection plan

Within the quality assurance system of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the following surveys are being carried out as part of the general information collection plan:

• Survey addressed to new students of doctoral programs
• Doctoral student satisfaction survey with the doctoral program
• Satisfaction surveys of the doctoral student with the training activities of the doctoral program
• Assessment surveys of supervisors and thesis tutors
• Faculty satisfaction survey with the doctoral program

Survey results:

• Indicators

Improvement actions

• Improvement actions

Renewal of accreditation

Renewal of the accreditation represents the culmination of the implementation process of the official qualifications registered in the Register of Universities, Centers and Qualifications (RUCT). The renewal of the accreditation of official degrees is organized in three phases: self-assessment report, external visit and final assessment. In the first phase, the university describes and assesses the status of the degree with respect to the established criteria and guidelines. The result is the Self-Assessment Report (IA) that is presented. The second and third phases are carried out by a group of evaluators external to the evaluated title.

• Final report renewal of accreditation

Tracking