Adjunto carta sin referencias a enlaces externos, para comodidad de los 
que la quieran enviar.
Raúl

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Ref: Call for PhD Fellowships issued by Spanish Government.

To whom it may concern,

The Spanish Ministerio de Educación issued on January 24 2011 a call for 
PhD fellowships under the Formacion de Personal Universitario (FPU) 
program. The call was published officially on Boletin Oficial del Estado 
number 20, Sect. III, pags 7521-7552, regulation number 1307 
corresponding to order EDU 61/2011 of January 20.

Article 27 (Chapter III) establishes the requirements for the 
candidates. Point 27.5 reads (p. 7539):

5. Los estudiantes extranjeros deberán estar en posesión del NIE, o del  
registro de ciudadano de la Unión con anterioridad a la publicación de 
la convocatoria.

That is, non Spanish citizens have either to have a Spanish Foreigner 
Identification Number (NIE) or have to be registered in the Register for 
UE citizens living in Spain prior to the publication of the call.

This is confirmed in instructions for applicants available at the 
official web page
http://www.educacion.es/educacion/universidades/convocatorias/titulados-doctores-profesores/fpu/convocatoria.html 


item "Solicitud", sub-item "Procedimiento de solicitud y documentacion" 
where point 4.1 explicitly indicates that European Citizens are required 
to have a NIE or be registered in the Register for UE citizens living in 
Spain.

So, in my understanding, while Spanish citizens are not required to be 
residents in Spain at the time of the call, citizens of other EU 
countries can not apply for  the call except if they are already 
registered as residents or has previously successfully applied for a NIE.

I therefore respectfully would like to bring this issue to your 
attention since:

a) UE citizens do not seem to be treated on equal basis as Spanish 
citizens.

b) This requirement does not seems to promote mobility within the 
European Union, on the contrary it  might be detrimental on that 
respect. In practice requirement 27.5 may  strongly limit the 
opportunities  for UE PhD students to apply for it.

c) It seems that UE citizens are not even given the opportunity to come 
to Spain and register or to apply for a NIE in order to be eligible 
candidates, since the requirement of being registered has to be 
fulfilled prior to the call itself, not prior to the call deadline or 
prior to starting the fellowship.

It is important to notice that the preamble the official call explicitly 
states (p. 7251, fourth paragraph):

"Cabe señalar al respecto que estas becas y contratos están enmarcadas 
en al ámbito de aplicación del Real Decreto 63/2006, de 27 de enero, por 
el que se aprueba el Estatuto del personal investigador en formación e, 
igualmente, en la Recomendación de la Comisión de las Comunidades 
Europeas relativa a la Carta Europea del Investigador y al Código de 
Conducta para la contratación de investigadores (EEE/2005/251/CE). En 
dicho documento se hace referencia a la formación de los investigadores 
en el Espacio Europeo de Investigación, desde el inicio de la misma como 
estudiantes de posgrado."

That is, this call is within the frame of the European Commission 
Recommendation on hiring researchers 2005/251. In the preamble of 
2005/251, items (11), (12) and (14) state:

"(11) All forms of mobility should be encouraged as part of a 
comprehensive human resource policy in R&D at national, regional and 
institutional level."

"(12) The value of all forms of mobility needs to be fully recognised in 
the career appraisal and career advancement systems for researchers, 
thus guaranteeing that such an experience is conducive to their 
professional development."

"(14) Funders or employers of researchers in their role as recruiters 
should be responsible for providing researchers with open, transparent 
and internationally comparable selection and recruitment procedures."

Apparently, requirement 27.5 of the FPU call does not seem to reconcile 
with the above indicated points.

A copy of this e-mail is being sent to the Ministerio de Educacion 
e-mail address for FPU applicants ([log in para visualizar])

Sincerely,