Doctoral studies

• Doctoral degree regulations
  • Doctoral degree regulations
  • Doctoral degree regulations (EN)
• Admission
  • Application
  • Application (EN)
  • Study Plan and Time Schedule
• Supervision
• Supervisory commitment
• Supervisory agreement individual supervising
• Supervisory agreement supervisory committee
• Supervising for international doctoral students (for enrollment)
• Supervising without admission (for enrollment)
• Supervising discontinued subjects (with an asterisk *)
• Supervisory commitment
• Supervisory commitment (for enrollment)
• Supervisory agreement individual supervising
• Supervisory agreement, supervisory committee
• Other
  • Oral defense log
  • Application Section 20 PromO FakGW
• Information sheets
  • Information sheet on foreign degrees classified as A5, A3, or A4 on www.anabin.de
  • Examination commission
  • Information sheet Study Plan and Time Schedule
  • Extensions
  • Submitting the dissertation
  • Publication
  • Proof of language skills
  • Signatory regulations for supervisors and evaluators

You will receive an acceptance letter if your admission application has been successful. This effectively makes you a doctoral student at the Faculty of Humanities. There are still a few things, however, you’ll need to take care of. For example, you will need to draw up the supervisory agreement with your supervisor (supervisory agreement individual supervising) or, if you are taking part in a structured program, with the members of your supervisory committee (supervisory agreement supervisory committee).

The duration of the supervisory agreement depends upon the timetable you submit and may not exceed 36 months. The acceptance letter also includes an enrollment deadline. Important: If you do not enroll, you forfeit admission. Once you have taken care of all formalities you can start writing your thesis.

Pursuing a doctorate in a structured doctoral program also makes you a member of the graduate school in the Faculty of Humanities.

The simple path towards a binational doctorate is to request a binational supervisory committee when applying for admission to a doctorate, either pursuant to Section 6 subsection 2 (if doing a doctorate in a graduate school) or to Section 6 subsection 4. The international supervisor can later act as an evaluator and member of the examination commission pursuant to Section 8 subsections 1 and 2.

You can also do a joint PhD pursuant to Section 16 PromO FakGW. For the joint PhD, you will need to negotiate an individual contract. Be aware, however, that it is not easy to negotiate this contract and that neither Universität Hamburg nor the Faculty of Humanities provides support for this. The Doctoral Studies Office will review contract proposals and, barring any objections, it will forward the proposal to the Department of International Affairs. The review will ensure, among other things, that:

• the proposal conforms to Section 16 subsections 2–6 of the doctoral degree regulations for the Faculty of Humanities at Universität Hamburg (7 July 2010) and that, for example, there has been an explicit agreement about which of the doctoral degree regulations will be used for examinations;
• there has been no breach of the examination commission’s authority (e.g., the commission determines the language of the dissertation, providing it is neither German nor English, and appoints the Hamburg members of the examination commission after the dissertation has been submitted);
• all requisite contact information from the partner university has been provided;
• and all responsibilities have been clearly assigned.

With regard to Section 16 subsection 5 (“The examination commission consists of two professors or habilitated members of the participating faculties of the universities or equivalent research or educational institutions involved.”): This clearly means that examination commission members appointed by the international partner institution must be authorized examiners or members of the respective institution (and those appointed by Hamburg are authorized examiners by virtue of their association with Universität Hamburg).

Read this information before you apply. Universität Hamburg may have further requirements for any contract you negotiate (cf. Section 16 subsections 1 and 7 PromO FakGW).

If the PromO FakGW of Universität Hamburg governs the agreement, you can use the German agreement form (DOCX) or the English agreement form (DOCX). In this case you will also need to negotiate the terms indicated in the form directly with the foreign university.

Before you submit your dissertation make sure that you have met all requirements. This information (PDF) should be of help.

You can apply for an extension before the completion period ends. The application must include a new timetable and confirmation from your supervisor. You can find the completion period in your acceptance letter or in the signed supervisory agreement. In justifiable cases the doctoral committee can terminate procedures 8 years after admission. Read the information on extending the completion period (PDF) for more application details.

The oral defense is the second and final examination task in your doctoral procedure. It is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your abilities orally and to discuss academic issues. Oral defense procedures are recorded in a log (PDF). Oral defenses are open to the University public, unless otherwise desired. The oral defense schedule is published on this page.

Oral defense schedule (available internally and in German only)

You must publish your dissertation after completing the procedure. Read Publication of doctoral dissertations as part of the doctoral procedure (PDF).

Chair

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Frank Nikulka

Deputy Chair

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Yvonne Schulz Zinda