The Doctoral School of the University of Valladolid has a set of activities and processes aimed at guaranteeing the quality, control, review and continuous improvement of doctoral studies. These activities and processes are carried out and supervised by three bodies: the academic committees of the doctoral programmes, the Doctoral Thesis Committee and the Doctoral School itself (EsDUVa). In this process of quality control and supervision, EsDUVa is responsible for the following functions:
- To organise training activities to promote transversal research skills.
- To collaborate with the Doctoral Thesis Committee for the continuous improvement of the quality of doctoral theses defended at the University of Valladolid.
- To promote quality in the third-cycle (PhD) programmes available, participating in the verification, monitoring, and accreditation thereof.
- To approve applications for the incorporation and departure of researchers in the doctoral programmes.
- To define and document the processes and procedures aimed at guaranteeing the quality of third-cycle studies.
According under the rules governing the bodies of the Uva's quality assurance system, the competences and functions of the master's degree committees are as follows:
a) To know and evaluate the outcomes of the reports issued by the degree’s quality assurance system.
b) To issue the monitoring reports for the degree, except for inter-school degrees for which they must participate in their preparation, with the final drafting being the responsibility of the corresponding inter-school committee.
c) To ensure compliance with the annual plans for degree programme improvement at the faculty, as well as to review compliance with the internal quality assurance system for the corresponding degree programme.
d) To ensure compliance in each school with the commitments, procedures and protocols established for the degree programme in its corresponding verification report.
e) To organise and keep up to date the specific document archive of the degree programme managed through the computer application set up for this purpose to monitor and accredit degree programmes, except for inter-school degree programmes, in which case this responsibility is assigned to the corresponding inter-school committee, notwithstanding its active contribution and collaboration with the latter in this matter.
f) To cooperate with the competent bodies, through the legal channels and procedures, in resolving incidents, complaints and suggestions that may arise within the scope of the degree programme.
g) To process and approve modifications to the corresponding verification reports, to propose to the competent bodies as many duly argued and documented proposals as may be relevant, in its opinion, to improve the syllabus.
h) To report in advance any proposal for modification submitted for processing by the competent quality assurance agency within the scope of its degree programme.
i) To advise and cooperate with the competent bodies in all matters of quality linked to the degree programme at the school.
j) Any other competences attributed to it by the rules governing credit recognition and transfer and the University of Valladolid’s academic rules.
The EsDUVa Master's Committee undertakes the following functions:
a) To carry out tasks related to the management of master's degrees assigned to faculty boards by the rules governing the University of Valladolid’s rules on academic organisation, except for the tasks to be carried out by the schools where instruction takes place.
b) To carry out the tasks related to the management of master's degrees assigned to faculty boards by the rules governing the conferring of the outstanding degree award at the University of Valladolid.
c) To carry out the tasks related to the management of master's degrees assigned to faculty boards by the rules governing the bodies of the University of Valladolid’s quality assurance system.
d) To approve the creation and composition of the degree committees of the official master's degrees assigned to the EsDUVa.
e) Any other competences which may be assigned to it by the EsDUVa management committee.
The Guarantee Committee is the EsDUVa body responsible for studying and resolving complaints from doctoral and master's degree students concerning their assessment.
The Guarantee Committee has the following functions:
- To study and resolve complaints from students concerning a review of their grades in EsDUVa master's degree courses, as established in the academic rules.
- To study and resolve complaints from doctoral students concerning assessments of their performance, as issued by the academic committee of the doctoral programme.