The Royal Decree 822/2021 of 28 September, establishing the organisation of university education and the procedure for quality assurance, states in its article 34 that the accreditation of official doctorate degrees must be renewed at least every 6 years, from the start date of the doctoral programme or the renewal of the previous accreditation.

The main objective of the evaluation process for the renewal of the accreditation is to verify whether the results of the doctoral studies are adequate and guarantee the appropriate doctoral studies continuity until the next renewal of accreditation. The results will focus on the verification of the students’ acquisition of competences and the mechanisms for assessing the acquisition of these competences that the university has developed for each degree, as well as on the analysis of the evolution of the main indicators, among other things.

The result of the evaluation process is a favourable or unfavourable report (and, if necessary, suggestions for improvement), which is sent to the Council of Universities so that it can issue the pertinent resolution on the renewal of the accreditation of the doctoral studies.