Doctorate with a degree from a German university

First check whether you meet the formal requirements for a doctorate in accordance with § 7 and § 8 of the doctoral studies regulations. You can of course arrange a consultation with the departmental advisory services.

Then find a supervisor for your doctorate and decide on a topic for your doctoral thesis. Please read § 9 of the doctoral studies regulations.

Register online as a PhD student with the topic and supervisor of your doctoral thesis. You can find detailed instructions here.

Print out and sign the online application form and submit it to your supervisor for signature.

Then submit the application together with the documents required to verify your eligibility for acceptance as a doctoral candidate - university certificates, if applicable with a certificate of recognition, university entrance qualification, possibly language certificates - to Lisa Büschelberger in the Dean's Office of our department.

If the requirements are met, the Dean's Office will issue a written confirmation of acceptance as a doctoral candidate, the so-called notification of admission. The date of the letter of acceptance is considered the start of the doctorate. Registration as a doctoral candidate is completed when the letter of acceptance is issued.

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
If you have obtained the degree certificate entitling you to a doctorate abroad, your certificate must first be recognized by the International Admissions Office.
If you have obtained the degree certificate entitling you to a doctorate at a university of applied sciences, you must first have your degree recognized by Lisa Büschelberger.

Voluntary: Enrollment as a doctoral student
During registration - or at a later date - you can enroll as a doctoral student and use the semester ticket, eat in the canteens on campus at student prices, apply for a place in student accommodation and take advantage of various other student benefits. However, you must pay the semester fee each semester. You can also study for a doctorate without enrollment.

Please bear in mind that while working on your thesis, you are required to be available for the supervision of compulsory classes for at least three semesters. A certificate of accomplished tutoring activities (list of tutored courses) must be filed along with the thesis.

The thesis is to be filed along with the submission of the request for obtaining the conferral of the doctorate. All documents are to be handed in at Marion Müller's office.

Both of the following forms have to be submitted at the same time:

• Affirmation of independent work (in German)
• List of tutored courses (in German)
  » List of courses that can be credited as compulsory courses for doctoral students (in German)

Please submit only one printed copy of your doctoral thesis, together with the thesis in digital form as a PDF file.

The Dean's Office requests the evaluations for your doctoral thesis. Once all evaluations have been received by the Dean's Office, the dissertation display period begins. Presently, this period is two weeks.

Use the display period to arrange an appointment for the thesis defense with the chairperson and the examination committee. Please keep in mind that the defense has to take place within six months of the end of the display period. Please read § 23 of the doctoral studies regulations.

After the oral examination, hand in the obligatory copies of your dissertation at the Dissertation Acceptance Office of the University Library. You will receive a certify for the submission there. Please submit this certificate to Marion Müller.

The certificate can now be issued. You can now officially call yourself “Dr.rer.nat.”!