The regulations governing official doctoral studies and the doctoral degree at the University of Granada, approved at the extraordinary session of the Governing Council on May 2, 2012, establish the following rules for remaining in doctoral studies in Article 4. These rules are taken from Article 3 of Royal Decree 99/2011:

• 1. The duration of the full-time Doctoral studies will be a maximum of three years, starting from the admission of the doctoral student to the Program until the presentation of the doctoral thesis.

• 2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, and with prior authorization from the Academic Committee responsible for the program, doctoral studies may be undertaken on a part-time basis. In this case, such studies may have a maximum duration of five years from admission to the program until the submission of the doctoral thesis.

• 3. In the case of full-time doctoral studies, if the dissertation submission has not been received within the aforementioned three-year period, the Program's Academic Committee may authorize a extension. Exceptionally, this extension may be granted for an additional year, under the conditions established in the corresponding Doctoral Program.

• In the case of part-time studies, the extension may be authorized for two additional years. Exceptionally, this extension may also be granted for an additional year.

• In all cases, the second extension must be approved by the Doctoral School's Steering Committee.

• 4. In calculating the duration of studies, absences due to illness, pregnancy or any other cause provided for by current regulations will not be taken into account.

• 5. The doctoral candidate may request a temporary leave of absence from the Program for a maximum period of one year, extendable for up to one additional year. This request must be submitted and justified to the Academic Committee responsible for the program, which will issue a reasoned decision and inform the International Graduate School so that the competent body, the Doctoral School's Steering Committee, can either accept or reject the temporary leave of absence.

Until the Doctoral Schools and their corresponding Steering Committees are formalized, the functions attributed to it in these rules of permanence will be fulfilled by the Doctoral Advisory Council.

* Important * This doctoral program is in-person, therefore any stay outside the University of Granada must be approved by the supervisor, director, and the Academic Committee. The maximum stay is 6 months per year, except in the case of joint doctoral theses, where the doctoral candidate must remain at the University of Granada for a minimum of six months throughout the entire doctoral period.