According to the NHG, all doctoral candidates (with/without an employment contract, scholarship, ...) can complete their doctorate from start to finish without being enrolled at the University of Oldenburg; it is a requirement and not a must:

"The faculties can still advise doctoral candidates to enroll. This can also offer advantages for doctoral candidates in certain respects. However, enrolment should not be required. There is no obligation to enrol in order to complete a doctoral procedure from start to finish."

(Department of Law and Committees, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg)

This means:

• Yes, you can be officially accepted and admitted as a doctoral candidate without being enrolled at the University of Oldenburg.
• Yes, this also applies if you do not have an employment contract with the University of Oldenburg.
• Yes, you can submit your dissertation and thus initiate the doctoral procedure without being enrolled at the University of Oldenburg .
• Yes, the defense of your dissertation can take place without being enrolled at the University of Oldenburg, as can the (successful) completion of the doctoral procedure.

This situation represents a financial relief for many doctoral candidates. At the same time, we would like to draw your attention to the advantages of enrollment, including

• Insurance cover
• Access to workshops and training courses as well as advice and services at the University of Oldenburg

Further information can be found on the website of the Graduate Academy.

Despite university and state-wide regulations, each subject area has its own doctoral regulations; these can be found on the Graduate Academy website. If you have specific questions that are not clarified (satisfactorily or comprehensibly) in your doctoral regulations, you can contact us or the Research and Transfer Office or the Legal Department at any time.

Since 2021, the Oldenburg University Society (UGO) has been awarding the prize for outstanding doctoral supervision. If you would like to nominate your supervisor, you can find more information on the UGO website.