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Doctoral degree regulations

of Faculty 10 (Computing Science) of the University of Oldenburg

Table of contents

§ 1 Doctoral degrees

§ 2 Purpose of the doctorate

§ 3 Doctorate committee

§ 4 Requirements for the doctorate

§ 5 Requirements for the dissertation

§ 6 Opening of the doctoral degree procedure

§ 7 Assessment

§ 8 Examination committee

§ 9 Thesis defence

§ 10 Doctoral decision

§ 11 Repeating the thesis defence

§ 12 Legal remedy

§ 13 Publication of the dissertation

§ 14 Completion of the doctorate

§ 15 Invalidity of the doctorate

§ 16 Honorary doctorate

§ 17 Transitional provisions

§ 18 Entry into force

§ 1Doctoral degrees

(1) The faculty awards the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences (abbreviated to Dr. rer. nat.). On proposal and with the approval of the doctorate committee, the degree of Doctor of Engineering Sciences (abbreviated to Dr.-Ing.) may be awarded if the dissertation has a clear engineering focus.

(2) The degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences (abbreviated to Dr. rer. nat. h.c.) or the degree of Doctor of Engineering (abbreviated to Dr.-Ing. h.c.) may be awarded on an honorary basis for exceptional scientific achievements.

§ 2 Purpose of the doctorate

The purpose of the doctorate is to demonstrate the ability to carry out in-depth independent scientific work in Computing Science. The qualification is determined on the basis of a written thesis (dissertation) and an oral examination (thesis defence).

§ 3 Doctoral Committee

(1) The Faculty Council of Computing Science forms a doctorate committee, which is responsible for the organisation of doctoral degree procedures in the faculty. It is responsible in particular for

• the opening of the doctoral degree procedure,
• the appointment of the reviewers,
• appointing the examination committee,
• the decision on appeals against decisions of the examination committee.

The doctorate committee ensures that the provisions of the doctoral degree regulations are complied with.

(2) The doctorate committee consists of five professors or habilitated members of the faculty, including the Chair and his/her deputy, and two doctoral academic staff members of the faculty. There are two representatives for the group of professors or habilitated members and one representative for the group of academic staff. The members of the doctorate committee are elected in groups by the Faculty Council of Computing Science, the Chair and Deputy Chair are elected by the Faculty Council as a whole. The term of office for the members of the doctorate committee and the representatives is two years; re-election is permitted.

(3) The members of the doctorate committee have the right to participate in the thesis defence.

(4) The Doctorate Committee shall constitute a quorum if more than half of the voting members are present. The doctorate committee decides by simple majority. In the event of a tie, the Chair shall have the casting vote.

(5) The Doctorate Committee may delegate the handling of day-to-day business to the Chair.

§ 4 Prerequisites for the doctorate

(1) As a rule, the prerequisite for a doctorate is a successfully completed degree in Computing Science at an academic university within the area of application of the Basic Law.

(2) If a degree in another scientific degree programme has been successfully completed, as a rule, knowledge of the kind expected of a Diplom Computer Scientist must be demonstrated in two of the four subject areas of the main Computer Science degree programme (Theoretical Computer Science, Practical Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Applied Computer Science). If proof cannot be provided, the candidate has the right to provide proof of knowledge in one-hour oral examinations in each subject area. After hearing the candidate, the doctorate committee determines the subject areas to be examined and appoints the examiners from among the professors of the faculty. In all other respects, the rules of the Diploma Examination Regulations of the Faculty of Computing Science shall apply mutatis mutandis.

3) Upon proposal, the doctorate committee may also make decisions in accordance with paragraph 2 before the doctoral degree procedure is opened.

§ Section 5 Requirements for the dissertation

(1) The dissertation must make a contribution to the advancement of science and demonstrate the candidate's ability to work on research tasks independently and scientifically.

(2) If the dissertation is the result of joint research work, the candidate's contribution must be clearly identifiable.

(3) The dissertation must be written in German or English. Pre-publication of parts of the dissertation is permitted in consultation with the supervisor.

§6Opening of the doctoral degree procedure

(1) The doctoral degree procedure serves to assess the candidate's doctoral performance.

(2) The proposal to open the doctoral degree procedure must be submitted in writing to the Chair of the Doctorate Committee. It must be accompanied by

1. the degree certificate for the higher education programme and, if applicable, supplementary evidence of examinations in accordance with § 4 para. 2;
2. a curriculum vitae;
3. a declaration as to whether and with what result the candidate has already applied to the University of Oldenburg or elsewhere for the opening of a doctoral degree procedure or has prepared a doctorate in any other way;
4. four copies of the dissertation;
5. a declaration as to whether the candidate agrees to the participation of an audience in the thesis defence;
6. if applicable, proposals for a reviewer or a member of the examination committee.

(3) The doctorate committee examines the documents for completeness, for fulfilment of the requirements for the doctorate according to § 4 and for fulfilment of the requirements for the dissertation according to § 5 para. 2 and 3. On the basis of this examination, it decides on the opening of the doctoral degree procedure and informs the candidate in writing of the acceptance or rejection of the proposal. A letter of rejection must be justified.

(4) If the doctoral degree procedure is opened, the doctorate committee shall immediately appoint at least two reviewers. All assessors must be professors or habilitated members of an academic university. The first reviewer should be the supervisor of the dissertation; at least one of the reviewers must be a professor in the faculty. If the candidate suggests a reviewer, this should be accepted unless there are important reasons to the contrary.

§7 Assessment

(1) As a rule, each reviewer shall submit a reasoned review to the doctorate committee within two months and request acceptance, revision or rejection of the dissertation. In the case of acceptance, the reviewer proposes the grade of the dissertation. The grades are: sufficient (=3), good (=2), very good (=1) and excellent (=0). The application for acceptance can be combined with suggestions for conditions for the publication of the dissertation.

(2) If at least one reviewer has requested a revision, the doctorate committee shall decide by a majority of its members, after hearing the candidate, whether the dissertation is to be returned with conditions for revision or whether acceptance is to be approved and the procedure is to be continued in accordance with paragraph 6.

(3) If the dissertation is returned to the candidate for revision, the doctorate committee shall set a reasonable deadline by which it must be resubmitted. If the candidate fails to meet this deadline without good reason, the dissertation shall be rejected. Within one month of submission of the revised dissertation, the reviewers shall comment again.

(4) If all reviewers have applied for acceptance of the dissertation, acceptance shall be approved and the procedure shall be continued in accordance with paragraph 6. If all reviewers have requested rejection of the dissertation, the doctorate committee shall reject the dissertation.

(5) If no decision is reached in accordance with paragraph 4, the doctorate committee shall decide by a majority of its members and, if necessary, after obtaining further expert opinions, whether to reject the dissertation or to approve its acceptance and continue the procedure in accordance with paragraph 6.

(6) If the acceptance of the dissertation has been approved, it shall be made available for inspection by members and affiliates of the University of Oldenburg engaged in research and teaching for a period of ten working days during office hours at the departmental office. The departments of the University of Oldenburg will be informed in good time of the time and date of the inspection. The candidate will be given the opportunity to inspect the reports.

(7) If a justified objection to the acceptance of the dissertation is submitted to the Chair of the Doctorate Committee within the deadline specified in paragraph 6, the Doctorate Committee shall decide on the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation by a majority of its members, if necessary with the involvement of further expert opinions. The doctorate committee may also impose conditions on the publication of the dissertation at this stage of the procedure.

(8) If there is no objection, the dissertation is accepted.

(9) If all reviewers have applied for acceptance of the dissertation, the grade of the dissertation is calculated as the arithmetic mean N of the reviewers' proposals (unrounded evaluation) in the following manner:

0 £ N £ 0.34 results in excellent,

0.34 < N £ 1.5 results in very good,

1.5 < N £ 2.5 results in good,

2.5 < N £ 3.0 results in sufficient.

If the dissertation has been accepted in accordance with paragraph 5 or paragraph 7, the doctorate committee shall decide by a majority of its members on the basis of all the reviews with which grade the dissertation is to be assessed.

(10) The Chair of the Doctorate Committee shall immediately notify the candidate and the Chair of the examination committee in writing of the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation. In the case of acceptance, the grade of the dissertation is communicated informally. Reasons must be given for a rejection and information on legal remedies must be provided.

(11) If the dissertation is rejected, the doctoral degree procedure is terminated without success.

(12) The dissertation and all reviews shall remain in the doctorate committee's files.

§ Section 8 Examination Board

(1) The Doctorate Committee shall appoint an examination committee immediately after the doctoral degree procedure has been opened and shall appoint its Chair. The examination committee shall consist of a professor from the faculty as Chair, the assessors and a research assistant with a doctorate from the faculty. The Chair of the examination committee may not be an assessor.

(2) The tasks of the examination committee are

1. Scheduling, conducting and evaluating the thesis defence;
2. Determining the grade of the doctorate;
3. if necessary, checking the fulfilment of conditions for the publication of the dissertation.

(3) The examination committee shall reach its decisions by consensus. If no consensus can be reached, it shall reach a decision by majority vote. The examination committee is only quorate if more than half of all members are present. In the event of a tie, the Chair has the casting vote.

(4) The examination committee can delegate the completion of individual tasks to the Chair.

§9Disputation

(1) In the thesis defence, the candidate shall demonstrate the ability to present his/her research results, to place them in the overall context of Computing Science, to justify them and to defend them against critical objections.

(2) The date for the thesis defence is set by the examination committee after notification of acceptance of the dissertation.

(3) The thesis defence shall take the form of a colloquium. As a rule, it lasts 90 minutes and begins with a presentation by the candidate lasting a maximum of 30 minutes. The focus is on the topic dealt with in the dissertation. Based on this, the thesis defence may extend to questions relating to other areas of Computing Science.

(4) The thesis defence is chaired by the Chair of the examination committee. The members of the examination committee and the doctorate committee have the right to ask questions during the thesis defence. The main topics and results of the thesis defence must be recorded in minutes.

(5) Anyone who has applied for the doctoral degree procedure to be opened is admitted as a member of the audience, unless the candidate has objected to this in his/her proposal for the doctoral degree procedure to be opened. Additional members of the audience may be admitted if the candidate has agreed to this. If the Chair of the examination committee agrees, the candidate is authorised to give the presentation in public in accordance with paragraph 3, sentence 2, second half-sentence, thereby fulfilling the doctoral requirements in accordance with Section 13 (6).

(6) If the candidate does not appear for the thesis defence or breaks off the examination, it shall be deemed to have been failed, unless he/she can cite a valid reason. If the doctorate committee accepts the reason, a new date for the thesis defence must be set immediately.

§ 10Doctoral decision

(1) Immediately following the thesis defence, the members of the examination committee shall make proposals for the assessment of the thesis defence. The grades specified in § 7 (1) apply for the assessment if the thesis defence was passed and insufficient (=4) if the defence was not passed. If all proposals are sufficient or better, the grade of the thesis defence is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the proposals (unrounded assessment) by rounding in accordance with § 7 para. 9. The same applies if exactly one assessment proposal is insufficient, but another is good or better. In all other cases, the thesis defence is failed.

(2) If the dissertation is accepted and the thesis defence is passed, the grade of the doctorate shall be determined. The following grades are used:

The grade is calculated by rounding the unrounded assessment of the thesis defence and the double-counted unrounded assessment of the dissertation as in § 7 para. 9.

(3) Immediately after completion of the deliberations, the Chair shall inform the candidate of the results of the doctoral degree procedure in the presence of the members of the examination committee.

(4) The examination committee shall inform the doctorate committee of the decisions made. The Chair of the Doctorate Committee shall immediately inform the candidate in writing of the results of the doctoral degree procedure. If the thesis defence has not been passed, the notification shall contain information on legal remedies. If the thesis defence has been passed, any conditions for the publication of the dissertation must be communicated in addition to the doctoral award.

§11 Repetition of the thesis defence

(1) The candidate may repeat the thesis defence only once, within one year of failing the defence. The date for repeating the thesis defence shall be set by the doctorate committee.

(2) In justified exceptional cases, the doctorate committee may, at the proposal of the candidate, admit a second repetition of the thesis defence if the candidate fails the repeat defence. The candidate must submit a reasoned proposal to the doctorate committee in writing within six weeks of the repeat defence. The second repeat defence must be held within one year of the first repeat defence; the date will be set by the doctorate committee.

§ 12

Legal remedy

(1) An appeal may be lodged against decisions of the doctorate committee or the examination committee or the assessors in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Court Regulations. The appeal must be submitted in writing or for the record to the Dean or the Chair of the Doctorate Committee.

(2) The doctorate committee shall decide on appeals against decisions of the examination committee or the reviewers.

(3) The candidate shall be granted a legal hearing before any negative decisions are made.

§13 Publication of the dissertation

(1) If the examination committee has awarded the candidate a doctorate, he/she is obliged to make his/her dissertation available to the scientific public through reproduction and dissemination. The manuscript intended for publication must be submitted to the Chair of the examination committee. The chairperson will review the manuscript and, if necessary, determine whether the conditions imposed by the examination committee have been fulfilled.

(2) The dissertation is made available to the academic public in an appropriate manner if the candidate submits a copy to the University Library free of charge in addition to the copy required for the doctorate committee's files.

1. 40 copies of the dissertation in book or photo print or
2. six copies if he/she provides evidence of publication in a scientific journal accepted by the examination committee or as a book with a print run of at least 150 copies, or
3. three copies in copyable typescript together with the master copy and 40 additional copies in the form of microfiches.

An abridged version is permitted for publication in a scientific journal, provided that the abridgement is not substantial. The abridged version requires the approval of the Chair of the examination committee.

(3) The copies to be submitted must be provided with a title page, the front and back of which must be designed according to a pattern specified by the doctorate committee. At the end of the dissertation, a short curriculum vitae describing the candidate's academic career must be attached, which must also contain information on the date and place of birth, as well as the type and duration of studies.

(4) In addition, irrespective of the type of publication, the candidate must submit a summary of his/her dissertation, approved by the Chair of the examination committee, in German and English, not exceeding one page each, for the purposes of publication.

(5) The candidate must present the most important results of his/her dissertation in a public lecture at the faculty. The public presentation may take place as part of the thesis defence in accordance with § 9 (5) sentence 3.

§ 14 Completion of the doctorate

(1) After all the doctoral work, including the publication of the dissertation, has been completed, a doctoral certificate shall be issued on the day of the thesis defence in accordance with the sample in the annex and handed to the candidate.

(2) If the dissertation is to be published in a journal or as a book, the Chair of the Doctorate Committee may, at the proposal of the candidate, declare the doctoral work to have been completed if a certificate of acceptance of the manuscript declared ready for printing by the Chair of the Examination Committee is available.

(3) Once the doctoral certificate has been issued, the candidate is entitled to use the title of doctor.

§ 15 Invalidity of the doctorate

(1) If it becomes apparent before the doctoral certificate is issued that the candidate has cheated in the doctoral performance, the doctorate committee may declare the doctoral performance invalid and refuse to issue the doctoral certificate. The doctoral degree procedure is then deemed to have been unsuccessfully completed.

(2) Prior to the decision in accordance with paragraph 1, the candidate shall be given the opportunity to comment on the allegations.

§ Section 16 Honorary doctorate

(1) An honorary doctorate may be awarded for exceptional academic achievements.

(2) The award of an honorary doctorate requires the approval of all members of the Department of Computing Science who are present and entitled to vote.

§ Section 17Transitional provisions

(1) These doctoral degree regulations shall apply to all candidates who submit a proposal to initiate the doctoral degree procedure after these doctoral degree regulations come into force.

(2) For all other candidates, the Provisional Doctoral Degree Regulations of the University of Oldenburg dated 13 October 1976 (Nds. MBI. p. 2019) shall apply.

(3) Candidates who have begun their doctoral degree procedure in accordance with the Provisional Doctoral Degree Regulations of the University of Oldenburg may, upon proposal, complete their procedure in accordance with these doctoral degree regulations.

§ 18 Entry into force

These doctoral degree regulations shall enter into force after approval by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and the Arts on the day after publication in the Lower Saxony Ministerial Gazette.

A n l a n g e

Doctoral Certificate

The University of Oldenburg awards

Mrs/Mr *) ..................................................................................,

born on ............................ in ....................................................,

the degree of a *)

doctorate *) in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat.)

after she/he *) in the proper doctoral degree procedure by her/ his *) dissertation with the title

......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
...................................................................................

and the thesis defence, she/he has demonstrated her/his *) ability to carry out in-depth independent scientific work and has been awarded the title **)........................................................................................
.

Oldenburg, ............................................

Department of Computing Science Doctorate Committee

The Dean *) Computing Science

........................................ ....................................

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