Doctorands will be trained in the field of educational research through methodology activities, attending seminars and conferences, writing scientific reports, mobility, etc. and in core research skills. Meanwhile, they will also design and undertake research leading to submission of a written PhD thesis that will be presented in a viva voce.
Along these lines, students will learn to develop a research project by working in a research group, analyse data, draw conclusions and communicate these in a professional or more outreach setting. They will also acquire tools enabling them to continue lifelong professional learning.

The main goal is to train expert researchers in different fields of education. In this sense, it aims to train scholars and professionals in educational research from multiple perspectives: didactics; curricula; social; methodological; historical; institutional; professional; technological; anthropological; comparative; psychological, etc.

The PhD in Education is designed for students to acquire skills enabling them to plan, develop, defend and communicate educational research work.
 

Future doctors in education will be able to undertake a career in research at research centres or an academic career combining research and lecturing at universities. They may also undertake applied research on R&D&i projects at public institutions or businesses in the education sector, as well as provide guidance and consulting services in the field of education.

Major opportunities include:

• Teaching and research posts (PDI) at universities and higher education institutions in Spain or overseas: all universities regularly offer lecturer posts (for the UIB, please see https://seu.uib.cat/informacio/Convocatories/PDI/PDI-contractat-i-interi/). The natural next step in Spain after completing a PhD is to take a post as assistant lecturer with a PhD. In any event, assistant lecturer, contract lecturer or private university lecturer posts require holders to have a PhD and national accreditation to this effect. In the Balearic Islands, the accreditation agency is the AQUIB (http://www.aquib.org/cat/acreditacio-i-avaluacio-del-professorat/) or the National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Assessment Agency (ANECA) via the PEP programme (http://www.aneca.es/Programas-de-evaluacion/Evaluacion-de-profesorado/PEP).
• Grants and bursaries for post-doctoral fellowships. There are many national and international post-doctoral grants (see the grants section at the UIB https://estudis.uib.cat/Beques-i-ajuts/ or https://edoctorat.uib.eu/en/Informacio/Beques/). The most important include:
  • Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions (https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/): these activities include individual grants (MSCA-IF) for young researchers to undertake their research and supplement their post-doctoral training at a renowned research centre, or European or global university.
  • Fulbright Scholarships (https://fulbright.es/programas-y-becas/becas-para-espanoles/): these grants include different activities for post-doctoral training at centres of excellence in the United States for short and long stays.
  • Juan de la Cierva contract grants (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.dbc68b34d11ccbd5d52ffeb801432ea0/?vgnextoid=909662ecfa1de610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=115222e988f75610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD): Juan de la Cierva-training grants aim to encourage hiring young PhD holders for a two-year term to supplement their post-doctoral research training at R&D centres in Spain different from the universities where they undertook their pre-doctoral training.
  • Post-doctoral fellowships in the Balearic Islands (http://www.caib.es/eboibfront/es/2019/10999/623031/resolucion-del-vicepresidente-y-consejero-de-innov): the Margalida Comas, Vicenç Mut and Felip Bauçà programmes aims to incorporate researchers into the scientific community in the Balearic Islands.
  • Post-doctoral fellowships in other autonomous regions: nearly all the autonomous regions in Spain run a programme for ongoing post-doctoral training.

  More information can be found at FECYT, which has published a guide for research careers in Spain https://www.fecyt.es/es/publicacion/researcher-career-path-spain-glance-5th-edition

• Contracts for research support technicians: there are calls from the Spanish government (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.dbc68b34d11ccbd5d52ffeb801432ea0/?vgnextoid=f40eee563a4fe610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=deef865dd69b2610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD) as well as specific projects at universities and research projects (https://snss.uib.cat/seccions/cont/).
• Posts as research specialists in educational administration at research-oriented institutes and units such as the Institute for Quality Assurance in the Education System (IAQSE) (http://iaqse.caib.es/cat/index.html), the National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Assessment Agency (ANECA) (http://aneca.es/) or the University Quality Agency of the Balearic Islands (AQUIB http://www.aquib.org/cat/aquib/).
• Posts as research specialists in public administrations dedicated to social services, such as the Balearic Islands Youth Observatory (https://www.caib.es/govern/organigrama/area.do?coduo=993759&lang=ca) or the Majorcan Senior Citizens Observatory (http://blogs.imasmallorca.net/mayores/).
• Posts as research specialists at Education Research Institutes such as the IRIE (https://irie.uib.cat/).
• Posts at foundations, confederations or associations in education research departments such as the GADESO Foundation (http://www.gadeso.org/) or the Spanish Confederation of Persons with Physical and Organic Disabilities (https://www.cocemfe.es/).
• Posts at private businesses in research and development departments or supervising training, such as academic director at Planeta: https://grupoplaneta.talentclue.com/es/node/60835836/4590.

The PhD in Education provides students with the opportunity to undertake study periods across Spain or internationally thanks to specific ERASMUS grants, the global links of the participating research groups and other scholarships offered by the Doctoral School or the International Relations Office.

Please see 'Useful information > Grants, awards and general aid' for information on available grants, and 'Management of doctoral students > Procedures > Mobility and exchange' for information on how to apply for a stay.

Stays undertaken on the PhD programme by doctoral students

Legislation requires that official Spanish degree programmes receive a positive assessment from the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA, by its Spanish acronym). This process is known as verification, and it serves to ensure that education programmes are properly designed to provide the competencies and reach the learning goals around which the programmes are built.

The European Higher Education Area requires that there be a system in place to ensure the quality of degree programmes.

The doctorate programme is subject to constant assessment and improvement processes that guarantee that it maintains a certain level of prestige and renown in Europe. You can see the results of the assessment processes in the results section.