Admittance

Admittance to the doctorate program

Candidates for the doctorate program in Social and Cultural Anthropology must have an undergraduate degree in one of the following fields: social and cultural anthropology, sociology, history, geography, humanities, art history, law, economy, philosophy, medicine, education, journalism, or fine arts.

Exceptions can be made for students with a degree in a field not listed above, if and when the candidate demonstrates that he or she possesses the knowledge of anthropology considered to be sufficient by the selection committee.

Language requirements

The classes will be taught either in Catalan, Spanish or English depending on the language preferred by the professor; however, the students may express themselves and prepare assignments in any of these three languages, regardless of the language used in class. As such, all students need to possess a high enough level of oral and written comprehension in these languages in order to be able to follow the classes and prepare assignments in one of the three. It is also useful if students can read texts in French.

The University of Barcelona offers free introductory classes to all students who have difficulty understanding spoken Catalan (please see the homepage of the UB’s Catalan Language Service). The School of Modern Languages at the UB also offers English courses for University of Barcelona students.

Students with foreign degrees

Candidates holding degrees conferred by foreign universities (regardless of the candidate’s nationality) may be admitted to the doctorate program via one of two procedures:

A) The official recognition (homologación) by the Ministry of Education and Culture that the foreign degree is the same as the Spanish equivalent. (This process may take up to one year and is not always automatic.)
B) Without prior recognition by Spanish authorities of the degree (or engineering or architecture diploma) issued by a foreign university or higher education center as stipulated by the RD 778/98. In this case, solicitants may be admitted into the program if they obtain the express authorization of the university rector.

For this procedure, the candidate should present an application addressed to the rector along with the original or a legally certified copy of the foreign diploma, an attested photocopy and the student’s academic transcript at the secretariat of the Faculty of Geography and History. These must be official documents, expedited by the competent authorities, and must be legalized diplomatically (Ministry of Education of the country where studied, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where the documents were expedited, the Spanish diplomatic or consular representation in the candidate’s country, and the Legalization Division of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In countries that are part of the Hague Convention, an apostille issued by competent authorities in the country is sufficient for legalization.

The application and the accompanying documentation are sent on to a validation committee, which issues a report on the equivalence of the degree presented, and passes it on to the rector for the final decision. In all instances, the final decision must be made before the application registers in the program. The University of Barcelona will only accept decisions made by its own rector for access to its programs.

Access to the doctorate program via this procedure does not imply in any sense official recognition by Spanish authorities of the degree presented or recognition of the degree for other purposes unrelated to enrolment in the corresponding study program.

For more information, please consult the doctorate pages on the UB website.

For information about the methods of legalizing documents, please consult the Ministry of Education and Culture website.

Pre-enrollment application

Those who would like to enroll in the doctorate program must first pass through a process of pre-selection. To this effect, all candidates must formalize their pre-registration by sending the following documentation to the program coordinator:

The candidates may also be optionally invited to an interview if deemed necessary.

This documentation may be sent to the coordinator of the doctorate program by e-mail (doctorat.antropologia@ub.edu) o by regular mail to the following address:

Dra. Cristina Larrea Killinger
Departament d'Antropologia
Facultat de Geografia i Història
Universitat de Barcelona
c/ Montealegre 6-8
08001 Barcelona

If the applicant fulfils all of the necessary requirements for admission to the Doctorate in Social and Cultural Anthropology, he or she will be sent a letter of pre-acceptance contingent on the final selection process.

Number of places in the program and selection criteria

There are a total of 25 places in this doctorate program. The final selection among the students who meet the requirements for enrolment to the doctorate program will be made according to the following criteria:

1) The order listed above of the degrees allowing access to the program. Candidates with a degree in social and cultural anthropology will be given preference.
2) Curriculum vitae (with special emphasis on education in anthropology in the case of candidates with degrees in other fields).
3) Undergraduate grade point average.
4) The research project proposed and its fit with the program’s objectives.
5) Knowledge of the working languages of the doctorate program.

If there are more candidates who meet the admittance requirements than available places in the program, the top-scorers according to the criteria mentioned above are those who will be admitted to the program. Once the list of selected applicants appears, they will have one week to confirm acceptance of a place in the program. If a selected applicant does not respond or renounces the offer, his or her place will be assigned to the next highest ranking person in the list.

Calendar for the Application

• Application deadline: September 15, 2006.
• Final list of accepted candidates posted on the doctorate website and on the departmental bulletin board: September 21, 2006.
• Registration will take place at the end of October or the beginning of November 2006 at the secretariat of the Faculty of Geography and History.