The University of Valladolid (UVA) has been a pioneer in offering degrees related to the field of Vision Sciences and, more specifically, specialized doctoral training. 25 years ago, he promoted a movement of convergence of several Spanish universities to share different teaching programs in the field of Ophthalmology. This initiative began in 1988 with the edition of a common textbook (which included the universities of Seville, Oviedo, Extremadura, Madrid (Autonomous and Complutense), Alicante, Murcia and Valladolid) and was advancing in the remodeling of the formation of third cycle in Ophthalmology. The creation of the University Institute of Applied Ophthalmobiology (IOBA) within the UVA and its recognition as the first Institute of L.R.U. of Spain dedicated to Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences in December 1994, made possible a change of philosophy in the doctoral training of future ophthalmologists. The old doctoral program in Surgery was reoriented to offer a more specialized training in Ophthalmology research and was renamed the Doctorate Program in Ophthalmology. Subsequently, collaborations in research promoted the extension of training interests to other aspects, such as optics or cell biology, and also to the incorporation into the doctorate of students with different base training than ophthalmology but with the common interest of the view. With all this, the Doctoral Program in Vision Sciences was created.
This process of change culminated in the 2002-03 academic year when the idea of transforming the local program into an interuniversity program was coordinated, coordinated by the UVA, which encompasses the universities of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Complutense de Madrid (UCM) , Murcia (UMU), Coimbra (Portugal) and Valladolid and the “Instituto de Óptica Daza de Valdés” of the State Agency for Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC). The program thus prepared, called then Interuniversity Doctorate Program in Vision Sciences, was awarded for four consecutive years (from the 2004-05 to 2007-08 academic year) with the Quality Award given by the former Ministry of Education and Science.
This UVA doctorate has been adapting to the different changes of legislation that we have been suffering in Spanish universities, such as the separation of the teaching part in a University Master, also of interuniversity and interdisciplinary nature and denominated in Research in Sciences of the Vision, implemented since the 2006-07 academic year, verified in 2009 and functioning successfully since its inception. The Doctorate in Vision Sciences thus structured obtained the favorable information of the Mention for Excellence in 2011. It now touches the adaptation to the last legislation that has been implemented, Royal Decree 99/2011, and the proposed program is still interuniversity, although it has been expanded with new partners, and clearly interdisciplinary, with a vocation for international collaboration and a high commitment to the modern research training expected in the biomedical field.
This philosophy that has been mentioned in relation to the progress made in doctoral training in Vision Sciences in Spain has also been reinforced in recent years with the creation of the Thematic Networks of Cooperative Research of the Carlos III Health Institute (RETICs) . This networks required a program of training of researchers linked preferably to a doctoral program. Thus, the RETIC 03/13 dedicated to the “Prevention of Blindness” initially assumed that role and its training program was the Interuniversity Doctorate Program in Vision Sciences. The Network has been renewed and its current heiress, which is the Ocular Pathology Network linked to aging, Visual Quality and Quality of Life (RD07 / 0062/0013), maintains the Doctorate in Vision Sciences and the Master in Research in Vision Sciences, which is their training period, as their own training program.