International Doctorate. Royal Decree 99/2011

  1. The title of Doctor may include on its obverse the mention “International Doctor”, provided that the following conditions are met:
    1. During the training period required for the award of the doctoral degree, the doctoral candidate must have completed a stay of at least three months outside Spain at a prestigious higher education institution or research centre, undertaking study or research activities. In duly justified cases, the three-month period may be completed through several stays, each lasting a minimum of one month. The stay and the activities carried out must be endorsed by the supervisor and authorised by the Academic Committee, and shall be incorporated into the doctoral student’s activities document. The stay may not take place in the candidate’s country of habitual residence.
      Application for Authorisation of Stay for the International Doctor Mention (50.18 KB)
    2. he doctoral thesis must be written, at least in part – including the abstract and the conclusions – in one of the usual languages of scientific communication in the relevant field of knowledge, other than any of the official languages of Spain. This requirement shall not apply when the stays, reports and experts are from a Spanish-speaking country and the thesis is written in Spanish.
    3. The doctoral thesis must be supported by at least two reports endorsing it, issued by two doctoral experts belonging to a prestigious non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre.
      d) The examination board must include at least one doctoral expert belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre, and different from the academic responsible for the stay referred to in point (a).
  2. The defence of the thesis must take place at the Spanish university in which the doctoral candidate is enrolled or, in the case of joint doctoral programmes, at any of the participating universities or under the terms established in the relevant collaboration agreements.

Última actualización: 3 de Febrero de 2026