Period of extension

The extension request must be submitted within the three months prior to and, in any case, one month before the end of the program's duration. Under the new regulations, there are two groups, depending on the date of admission to doctoral studies:

A) FOR STUDENTS BEGINNING THEIR STUDIES AFTER 2023-24.

An exceptional extension of one year may be requested for both full-time and part-time students. To do so, you must complete the application form and send it to the Academic Committee of your doctoral program, with the approval of your director or directors. Once the Academic Committee has been informed, it will send it to the Doctoral School for registration in the student's file.

B) FOR STUDENTS WHO BEGAN THEIR STUDIES BEFORE 2023-24.

The following applications may be submitted:

• Extension to FULL-TIME for 1 year.
• Extension to PART-TIME for 2 years.
• Extension of 1.5 years, if changes have been made from TC to TP or vice versa.
• Exceptional extension for 1 more year: To request this extension, you must attach a reasoned report approved by your thesis supervisor stating that the research phase has been completed and that you are in the phase of writing, reviewing, and submitting your thesis.

The application procedure will be the same as that indicated in point A).

Drop out of doctoral studies

Temporary leave from the programme due to unforeseen circumstances

Situations of temporary disability, birth, adoption, guardianship for the purpose of adoption, foster care, risk during pregnancy, risk during breastfeeding and gender-based violence or any other situation set forth in the regulations in force during the programme will interrupt the calculation of the time limit for the duration of the doctoral studies.

This request must be made and justified to the Academic Committee responsible for the programme, which will decide whether to grant the student's request. Once the Academic Committees have been informed of the request for leave, they must send it, together with the supporting documentation, to the Doctoral School for processing

Temporary voluntary leave from the programme

Students may request periods of temporary voluntary leave from the programme for up to a total of two years. If a student requests several shorter temporary leave periods, the sum of the temporary leave periods may not exceed two years. This request must be made and justified to the Academic Committee responsible for the programme, which will decide whether to grant the student's request.

Periods of authorised temporary leave shall not be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the established length of the programme.

A positive evaluation in the first academic year of the programme of the programme is a prerequisite for requesting a voluntary temporary leave of absence. For students in their first year of the programme, a temporary voluntary leave of absence may only be requested on an exceptional basis and provided that the Research Plan and Personal Training Plan have been approved.

If at the end of the temporary leave period indicated by the Academic Committee, the doctoral student does not request the activation of their status as student, they will be permanently withdrawn from the doctoral programme.

Students will be exempt from enrolment only when the duration of the temporary leave of absence covers a full academic year and begins at the start of the academic year. In any event, the doctoral student will only be assessed on their work during the period of the academic year in which they were not on leave.

Leaves during the evaluation period

A person who is on leave during the annual evaluation process will be exempted from the annual evaluation for that year. However, any period not included in the duration of the leave and that is pending evaluation will be evaluated in the next annual evaluation. Under no circumstances may the thesis be submitted to the Academic Committee for approval and deposit without a positive evaluation in the last year and a half.

In the event that voluntary leave is requested after the evaluation period has begun, the doctoral student must complete their Activity Document before finalising the request for leave. This allows the people tutoring and/or directing the student to complete their report and enables the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme to carry out the annual evaluation.

Permanent withdrawal from the programme

Permanent withdrawal from the programme will occur for any of the following reasons:

1. At the express request of the doctoral student, submitted to the Doctoral School with a copy sent to the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee.
2. Failure to complete the enrolment process and pay the academic advising fee within the established deadlines.
3. If enrolment in the academic year is not completed within the established deadlines.
4. If the additional training required by the Academic Committee is not completed in the established timeframe.
5. If the Research Plan and Personal Training Plan have not been approved by the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee within one year from the date of first enrolment.
6. If the doctoral student receives a second consecutive negative evaluation from the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee.
7. If the doctoral student reaches the end of the period stipulated for completing the programme without having submitted their doctoral thesis for deposit.
8. If at the end of the voluntary leave period granted by the doctoral programme’s Academic Committee, the student does not request activation of their status as student.
9. Failure by the doctoral student to comply with the obligations set out in the Commitment to Good Practices document. This situation will be reviewed by the Doctoral School, after consultation with the programme’s Academic Committee.

Permanent withdrawal will imply withdrawing from the Activities Document, the Research Plan and the Personal Training Plan, and the loss of their status as a student at the EDUAH.

After hearing from the student in question, the decision to withdraw them from the programme shall be taken by the directors of the EDUAH. This decision exhausts all administrative remedies and may be appealed directly to the contentious-administrative courts, without prejudice to the possibility of lodging an appeal for reconsideration.

Re-entry to the same doctoral programme

In the event that a student has left the programme permanently and subsequently wishes to re-enter the same programme, the following must be taken into account:

If the permanent withdrawal corresponds to sections a), c) and h) of the previous point and the doctoral student's last evaluation was positive or they were never evaluated, they may reapply for admission in the same programme after three academic years have passed. This period may be shorter in duly justified cases, if approved by the EDUAH Steering Committee.

However, the student may be admitted to another programme at the University of Alcalá before the above period has elapsed.

Students who left the programme for the reason referred to in section b) of the above article may reapply for admission to the programme in subsequent academic years.