December 2011. The Doctoral School is born

The UPV/EHU Doctoral School (DOKe) started life as the Doctoral and Master’s School (MDe) and it was approved on 22 December 2011 at the University Board of Governors meeting. All the UPV/EHU doctoral programmes and official master’s degrees were managed at the centre (with the exception of professional master’s degrees).

2012-2013. First management team

The first management team was appointed and formed by Miren Pilare Cajaraville Bereciartua (director), Iñaki Mondragón Egaña (academic secretary) and Álvaro Arrizabalaga Valbuena (deputy director). The first MDe Management Committee was held on 19 September 2012.

Sadly, Iñaki Mondragón passed away just a few months later (on 13 February 2012) and the management team brought in Arantza Díaz de Ilarraza Sánchez, leaving the final set-up as follows:

• Director: Miren Pilare Cajaraville Bereciartua
• Academic Secretary: Arantza Díaz de Ilarraza Sánchez
• Deputy Director: Álvaro Arrizabalaga Valbuena
• Head of Administration: Flor López Márquez

2013-2016. Institutionalization of the MDe

On 23 January 2013, the Framework Regulations of the UPV/EHU Doctoral Schools were published in the BOPV [Official Gazette of the Basque Country], and on 14 March 2013 the first elections were held for the management of the MDe. There was only one candidature, and the new management team was established on 26 April 2013:

• Director: Gabriela Chotro Lerda
• Academic Secretary: Miren Karmele Urtiaga Greaves
• Deputy Director: José Antonio Sánchez Galíndez
• Head of Administration: Flor López Márquez

In the early years, the administrative and services staff that gradually joined the MDe worked from the higher education centres. On 19 June 2013, the MDe established its head office in the library building (hall 5) in Leioa (Biscay campus). On 29 January 2014, the MDe secretary’s office at the Gipuzkoa campus was extended to the Law school building. On 8 September 2015, the MDe head office was moved to its current location in the Barriola building.

The 65 doctoral programmes adapted to meet the Royal Decree 99/2011 were set up in the academic year 2014/15. At that time, the MDe also managed 105 master’s degrees.

In June 2016, all the administrative and services staff in Leioa relocated to the head office, which was extended to include hall 4 (Head of Administration and secretaries), leaving hall 5 for the management offices, meeting room, offices for technical staff, executive secretary and an administrative secretary.

Under Gabriela Chotro, the centre’s Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) was set up. The IQAS was designed in line with the AUDIT programme for quality assurance at universities. In December 2016, the AUDIT design for the MDe was submitted to UNIBASQ. We are proud to say that we were the first postgraduate centre in Spain to achieve this.

2017-2019. Transformation and expansion of the MDe

The MDe head office in Álava was established on 17 January 2017, at the Micaela Portilla centre.

The management team expanded until it had the following structure:

• Director: Gabriela Chotro Lerda
• Academic Secretary: Miren Karmele Urtiaga Greaves
• Deputy Director: José Antonio Sánchez Galíndez
• Deputy Director: Miren Itxaso Maguregui Olabarria
• Deputy Director: Arantxa Isla Ruiz
• Head of Administration: Flor López Márquez

The new management team of the Doctoral and Master’s School was elected on 14 March 2017:

• Director: Ignacio Armentia Vizuete
• Academic Secretary: Gotzone Barandika Argoitia
• Deputy Director: Eva Portillo Pérez
• Deputy Director: Kepa Ruiz Mirazo
• Deputy Director: Edurne Simón Magro
• Head of Administration: Flor López Márquez

On 27 April 2018, after Kepa Ruiz Mirazo’s resignation, Olatz González Abrisketa took over the deputy directorate for training.

On 17 May 2018, at the Management Committee, it was announced that the official master’s degrees managed at the MDe would be affiliated to the higher education centres (except the master’s degrees that come under the Network of Postgraduate Studies in Latin America).

Before the MDe became the DOKe, the centre had 35 people working as administrative and services staff, with the following distribution:

Apart from the campus head offices, the MDe had staff at the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, at the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (Sarriko) and at the PIE Plentzia marine station.

On 31 January 2019, the Board of Governors approved the Framework Regulations of the UPV/EHU Doctoral Schools, which replaced the regulations of 23 January 2013. These regulations establish that there can only be one doctoral school at the UPV/EHU (with the same name) and that in said school, they will only manage master’s degrees that come under the Network of Postgraduate Studies in Latin America.

The years 2018 and 2019 saw a lot of hard work go into ensuring that the management of the 110 master’s degrees that were affiliated to the MDe could be transferred to the higher education centres.

On 3 April 2019, the Internal Regulations of the Doctoral School were approved, and management elections were called. The last meeting of the MDe Permanent Council was held in the same session.

2019-2023. The new DOKe is born

The Management Committee of the new Doctoral School (DOKe) was established on 1 October 2019, and elections were held for the management team and the Permanent Council. The centre only formally changed its name.

The first DOKe management team was as follows:

• Director: Gotzone Barandika Argoitia
• Academic Secretary: Eva Portillo Pérez
• Deputy Director: Inmaculada Astorquiza Icazuriaga
• Deputy Director: Olatz González Abrisqueta
• Deputy Director: Edurne Simón Magro

The first DOKe Permanent Council was established on 18 October 2019, as were the centre commissions:

• Regulatory: quality and conflict resolution.
• Non-regulatory: validations and internationalisation.
• The School’s electoral commission and the Student Council.

Furthermore, 23 of the 35 administrative and services staff affiliated to the MDe were transferred to the higher education centres between January and February 2020. So, there have been 12 members of the administrative and services staff affiliated to the DOKe since the year 2020, distributed as follows:

Everyone at the Biscay campus was regrouped at the DOKe main head office, which has been cut to hall 5 of the Main Library building, as hall 4 had to be forfeited.

Under Gotzone Barandika, the Student Council was created on 18 October 2019, and it was agreed to adopt the centre’s Code of Good Practice (20 July 2020).

2023-today. Renewal of the DOKe management team

In October 2024, elections were held for the management and Permanent Council, and Aida Vallejo joined the team, taking over from Inmaculada Astorquiza Icazuriaga in the sub-directorate of internationalization and communication, leaving the new management team with the following members:

• Head of Doctoral School: Gotzone Barandika Argoitia
• Academic Secretary and Deputy Head of Internships: Eva Portillo Pérez
• Deputy Head of Education: Olatz González Abrisketa
• Deputy Head of Quality Management: Edurne Simón Magro
• Deputy Head of International Relations and Communication: Aida Vallejo Vallejo