Doctoral guidelines Doctoral Regulations of the Faculties and Dean's Offices

Each faculty determines the responsibilities of its doctoral studies committee and sets these down in detail in its own doctoral regulations. An overview of the general functions of the doctoral committee is provided below:

The doctoral studies committee

• is the central body of a faculty that is responsible for doctoral studies
• is comprised, as a rule, of representatives of the faculty who are employed full-time and have completed a Habilitation
• is usually chaired by the dean or one of the associate deans of the faculty or by a chairperson elected by the members of the committee
• meets regularly during the semester
• meets in camera

The doctoral studies committee performs all tasks assigned to it in the doctoral regulations, in particular:

1. decisions on applications for admission as a doctoral candidate at the faculty incl. determination of additional requirements (conditions), if any;
2. decisions on applications for the prolongation of admission as a doctoral candidate;
3. decisions on bi-national doctoral studies as well as the relevant contracts;
4. decisions on applications for permission to defend the doctoral dissertation, including, where applicable, decisions on
   • the approval of examination subjects
   • the doctoral title to be awarded, in cases in which the doctoral regulations of a faculty allow for more than one doctoral title
   • the recognition of academic qualifications earned abroad
   • the admission of theses by publication
   • the composition of doctoral examination committees and, where applicable, the appointment of examiners
   • the appointment of evaluators
5. the appointment of external examiners for the doctoral defense
6. the determination of the components of structured doctoral programs (where applicable)
7. the prolongation of publication deadlines (where applicable)
8. the resolution of conflicts or problems, where applicable in cooperation with the ombudsperson for doctoral candidates
9. decisions on substantive changes in a supervisor’s acceptance within the doctoral agreement, on the revocation of an admission as a doctoral candidate, on the revocation of the permission to defend a doctoral dissertation or the retraction of a doctoral degree

Furthermore, the doctoral studies committee is the central point of contact for all matters concerning doctoral studies, in particular for matters that are not explicitly regulated in the doctoral regulations. According to the guidelines of the faculty, the doctoral committee cooperates with or involves other university committees, where applicable, and may delegate certain tasks to the relevant associate dean or dean of the faculty.

Wherever possible, we have included links to English language websites; however, not all University webpages are yet available in English. In many cases, the webpages of the individual institutes within the Faculties or the various professors’ homepages are available in English. Therefore, we have included a brief glossary of words from the Faculty websites which will hopefully help you to understand the sites better and to navigate to the pages that are of interest to you.