Before embarking on a doctorate in a Doctoral Center

Good preparation is the key to success!

You would like to do a doctorate? Then there are two basic steps to take at the beginning: find a topic and a supervisor.

For the initial contact with the supervisor, it is advisable to already have a research field in mind within which the doctoral project should be located. You can also find current job offers with the possibility of doing a doctorate on the university's website. Check regularly to see if there is something for you.

Do you have your own ideas for a doctoral topic? Then contact a potential supervisor directly and describe your project in as much detail as possible. Make sure that your supervisor gives you a clear commitment. This requires the conclusion of a written supervision agreement.

Go on: Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate

As soon as you have a supervision agreement, you can apply for official acceptance as a doctoral candidate. To do so, submit an application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate to the chairperson of the doctoral committee.

• Certified copies of the certificates and documents for the successfully completed university studies; foreign certificates are to be submitted in an officially certified translation in German
• curriculum vitae (signed), copy of identity card or passport
• a detailed, written exposé of the doctoral project to be worked on independently
• written doctoral agreement 
• Declaration as to whether and with what result acceptance as a doctoral candidate has been applied for at another higher education institution, or a comparable
• or a comparable suitability assessment procedure or doctoral procedure at another higher education institution was definitively not passed
• Survey form on doctoral statistics 

The doctoral committee will then decide whether to accept or reject the application. You will be informed of the decision by post. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the valid doctoral regulations in the initial phase of your doctorate.

Enrolment

Doctoral students of the doctoral centres whose first supervisor works at the Harz University of Applied Sciences and cooperative doctoral students whose second supervisor works at the Harz University of Applied Sciences can enrol at the Harz University of Applied Sciences.

To do so, you can fill out the enrolment application and send it digitally signed by email with the required documents to Ms Katalin Raddatz.

Further information on enrolment at the Harz University of Applied Sciences can be obtained from the Office for the Promotion of Young Academics.

During the doctorate

Exchange among academics

Now the phase begins in which you should also concentrate on completing your doctorate. Good luck! As a rule, you have five years. Regular academic exchange with your supervisor is particularly important. In this way, partial results achieved can be evaluated and an optimal outcome can be created.  In addition, a dialogue within the working group is goal-oriented, e.g. through scientific colloquia.

Doing a doctorate with support

The Harz University of Applied Sciences supports all doctoral students with the offers of the doctoral centres. The aim of these centres is to provide comprehensive support for our doctoral students. In particular, the quality of the doctoral process is ensured and further developed through interdisciplinary qualification offers, the networking of all doctoral students is promoted, and advice on all aspects of the doctorate is offered. Our recommendation is therefore: Take advantage of the events and workshops and benefit from the experience of the Harz University of Applied Sciences.

Doctoral procedure

Soon done!

Your doctoral project is finished and the dissertation thesis is almost complete? Then the next phase begins. 
The doctoral procedure is initiated by a written application from the doctoral candidate. To do this, you submit the dissertation in printed and digital form. The written doctoral application is now submitted to the doctoral committee.

You will need the following documents:

• updated curriculum vitae (signed)
• if applicable, proof of fulfilment of the requirements according to § 5 Para. 5 and 6 of the doctoral regulations (IWIT doctoral regulations, SGW doctoral regulations)
• the doctoral candidate's assurance that the criteria from § 5 of the doctoral regulations continue to be fulfilled
• the dissertation in written form in three copies and in electronic form, title page according to the submission of the doctoral regulations
• a statement as to whether the submitted dissertation has already been submitted in another procedure for the award of the doctoral degree
• affidavit 

The decision on admission to the doctoral procedure is made by the doctoral committee.

Evaluation procedure

Who looks at it?

The doctoral committee appoints at least two reviewers for the dissertation. Based on their academic qualifications, these reviewers must be able to comprehensively assess the dissertation in terms of its subject matter. Supervision and review must be carried out by different persons.

At least one reviewer must be an external reviewer (fulfilling the requirements according to § 3 HAWPromVO or a professor of a university). One of the reviewers must in any case be a full-time professor and member of the doctoral centre at the Harz University of Applied Sciences and belong to the corresponding subject area. Persons who fulfil the criteria according to § 3 HAWPromVO may be appointed as further reviewers. The doctoral candidate can propose reviewers to the doctoral committee. Please note that your supervisor may not review the thesis. Each reviewer prepares a review of the dissertation, which is usually forwarded to the chairperson of the doctoral committee within eight weeks. If all reviews are available and the acceptance of the dissertation has been determined, the dissertation and the reviews shall be made available for inspection for 14 days.  

Disputation

After the acceptance of the dissertation, an invitation to the disputation (defence) must be issued with at least two weeks' notice. The disputation is open to the public. The doctoral committee consists of other professors as well as your supervisors and the examiners. Before the disputation, you have to give a 30-minute lecture and then you will be examined for 60-90 minutes. Immediately after the disputation, you will receive your overall grade (for dissertation and disputation). This concludes the doctoral procedure.

Completion of the doctorate

Congratulations!

Your doctoral procedure is considered complete when your dissertation has been published. Depending on the doctoral centre, you have one to two years to do this. 

As soon as the deposit copies of the dissertation have been received by the doctoral centre in accordance with § 21, the doctorate is completed by handing over or delivering the doctoral certificate to the doctoral candidate. From this point on, the doctoral candidate is entitled to use the doctoral degree.

The doctoral certificate is dated on the day of the disputation.