The Doctorado en "Sistemas Electrónicos" (DSE) was designed for students to facilitate an appropriate environment for learning that encourages and stimulates initiative and independent work in student training, development of a extensive critical thinking as well as the development of professional habits, quality research and teamwork. Within the development framework of this friendly environment and within the University family, a Tutorial Action Plan for Support and Guidance has been launched.

This plan is aimed at new students in the UPM coming from other universities where the main goal is to facilitate Masters' and Doctoral program for students, the School and particularly the Department of Electronic Engineering, by focusing on the different services available and what they will have to address in order to solve any problems that may arise.

The plan will also include the training of teachers so that they can guide and direct the students and services of the institutions involved so that answers may be found to problems arising at any time.

Under the Tutorial Action Plan for Support and Guidance, each student will be assigned a tutor from the moment he or she is admitted to the program. Therefore, all students will be supported by a tutor, professor of the Department, who will be responsible for conducting student activities and validating the selection of subjects and projects, ensuring coherent training through the continuous monitoring of their activities and use.

The Tutor will meet with the student at the beginning of the course and will advise him on the choice of courses appropriate to his profile, main research interests and capabilities. The Tutor will monitor the student's evolution within the program and continuously advise him or her. In the later stages of completion of the Doctorate, the functions of the tutor will be taken over by the Director of the Thesis, after the completion of the training period. To ensure an effective and efficient tutoring, we want each teacher in the Electronic Engineering Department to be tutor to only one student per course.

At the beginning of each course a day will be organized to welcome and orientatate the new students. During this event the coordinator of the program will present the program and the faculty staff to the new students. The following will be presented specifically:

• The structure and organization of Masters' and PhD studies. In this session, the students will have the opportunity to request additional information on the program, clarify doubts, etc.
• The Research Groups of the Department. Representatives from all of the research groups involved in the program will be present and will give a brief summary of the activities of their respective groups together with posible Thesis topics to be undertaken by students.

During this orientation day, the allocation of tutors to the students will take place in accordance with the Tutorial Action Plan for Support and Guidance.

For the preparation of the Thesis, the Academic Committee of the PhD program will assign a Thesis Supervisor to the PhD student. He or she will be an IDP PhD Graduate linked to the program or an external PhD Graduate, provided it meets the criteria of the PhD program and the UPM regulations for allocating the Thesis Supervisor. The PhD thesis may be co-directed by another PhD Graduate, at the request of the Academic Committee of the PhD Program to the PhD Commission of the UPM. In any case, the PhD Thesis will have a maximum of two directors.
This allocation will be carried out between the professors of the research line, by mutual agreement between the student and the director, in accordance with the training and research objectives that the student wishes to develop.

The monitoring of the student's work will be carried out on first instance by the supervisor or supervisors who will lead the day to day research of the student. Secondly, the research group in which the Thesis is carried out will give direct support to the PhD student, supporting the research carried out on an daily basis. In addition, the scheduled research seminars will include the presentation of the work done by each PhD student to the other researchers in the Program.
In addition, this PhD programme will require the completion of annual reports by all students who are in their research phase. These reports will reflect the current status of their research, the progress made in the subject being researched and the results obtained in the previous year. Furthermore, they will have to be written in English. The annual progress report will be given to the PhD Committee of UPM.

The Tutorial Action Plan for support and guidance includes special sessions dedicated to foreign students. These sessions, in addition to the overall functioning of the University, will report in detail on the academic structure that supports the mobility program: information on the academic supervisor, the International Bureau and the Departments of Relations with Latin America and rest of the world with the Department of International Relations of the UPM, the tutor assigned, etc...

There will be a survey conducted with the students during the first half of the academic year in which they will be asked about their satisfaction with:

• The quality of the information of the program given before enrollment and its adaptation to the reality found in the course
• The process of pre-enrollment, enrollment and the days of orientation and welcome
• The transparency of the admission and selection process
• The Tutorial Action Plan for Support and Guidance
• The education received, teaching materials and their suitability to the level of studies expected
• The level of teaching experience and performance of the teaching staff

The information received will be analyzed by the Management Committee on Graduate Studies, which will issue a report to the Directorate of DIE, the Directorate of ETIST and the Vice Rectorate for Graduate Studies by establishing improvement actions.

In addition to that mentioned in this section, the following procedures are attached:

• 'Host-driven actions' (PR 18)
• 'guardianship' (PR 21)
• 'Psychological attention' (PR 22)