Section 11, paragraph 1 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations stipulates which individuals may act as supervisors. Generally speaking, the supervisor submits the first expert opinion on the thesis and is thus also a member of the Examination Committee, which conducts the thesis defence.

A Doctorate Committee may also be appointed, for which the doctoral candidate may nominate people to be members. The appointment of a Doctorate Committee is mandatory if the doctorate is completed as part of a doctoral programme or doctoral degree programme at the OLTECH Graduate School. This committee comprises the first supervisor and up to four other individuals.

The relationship between the doctoral candidate and their supervisor and, if applicable, the Doctorate Committee is laid down in a Supervision Agreement (Betreungsvereinbarung/ Supervision Agreement) More information on supervision can be found in Section 6 paragraph 4 and Section 11 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

If you have any questions, problems or difficulties regarding the doctorate, you can always contact the Doctorate Committee or the School’s ombudsperson. It goes without saying that all enquiries will be treated confidentially.

The admission requirements for doctorates are laid down in Section 8 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

Applications for admission to a doctorate and thus for acceptance as a doctoral candidate must be submitted to the Chair of the Doctorate Committee in writing. The relevant documents must be submitted to the Doctoral Office at least 12 days before the Doctorate Committee meeting. In accordance with Section 9 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations, the application must include the following documents:

• Gesuch auf Zulassung/Application form for admission as a doctoral candidate
• Your academic CV
• The doctoral topic (working title) with a short description of the project, agreed with the prospective supervisor
• Your nomination for a member of the Doctorate Committee, if appointed (Section 11, paragraph 2)
• Proof of the degree entitling you to pursue doctoral studies
• A declaration of any previous unsuccessful doctorate attempts, including details of the date of the initial application, the university and the school or department to which the thesis was submitted, and the subject of the thesis
• If applicable, an application for a joint doctoral procedure
• In the case of a joint degree, a copy of the Agreement on the Joint Supervision of a Doctorate (if necessary, this can also be submitted later on)
• A declaration that you are aware of the regulations on good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg and that you will adhere to those regulations
• A declaration that no commercial mediation or advisory services (doctoral consulting) were used in connection with the doctoral project
• A list of the papers that you have already published
• Supervision Agreement

If you have been admitted subject to conditions, please use the following form to prove that you have fulfilled those conditions:

• Bescheinigung Module/Requirement doctoral committee

Once you have been admitted, you should register as a doctoral candidate as soon as possible. More information can be found on the Admissions Office homepage.

For the latest information on the Graduate School of Science, Medicine and Technology, the doctoral degree programmes and the structured doctoral programmes offered by School IV, please visit our website:  www.oltech.org.

The doctoral thesis can be written in either German or English. The University of Oldenburg’s Guidelines for good academic practice apply when writing the doctoral thesis.

The doctoral thesis can be written as a monograph or as a series of publications. Further details are specified in Section 10 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

Guidelines on the structure and content of the doctoral thesis are available here:

- Guidelines for the written Dissertation

When submitting the thesis, it must have a corresponding title page (Mustertitelblatt Dissertation bei Einleitung/Template for thesis title page for initiating the doctoral procedure) as well as a declaration of originality (see Guidelines for good academic practice above).

In general, you can submit your doctoral thesis and your application to initiate the doctoral procedure at the earliest one year after admission and at the latest five years after admission. Upon request, the Doctorate Committee may shorten or extend these deadlines by an appropriate period of time. If the application to initiate the doctoral procedure is not submitted on time, the admission is deemed to have been withdrawn (for further details, please see Section 12, paragraph 1 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations).

Applications to initiate the doctoral procedure must be submitted to the Chair of the Doctorate Committee in writing. The relevant documents must be submitted to the Doctoral Office at least 12 days before the Doctorate Committee meeting.

In accordance with Section 12 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations, the application must include the following documents:

• Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens / Initiating the doctoral procedure
• At least one printed copy of the doctoral thesis (additional printed copies can be requested at the request of the members of the examination board, please coordinate this in advance)
• A declaration
  • that you wrote the thesis independently and that the tools you used are specified in full
  • regarding whether the thesis has already been published in part or in full. In this case, a list of publications must be included.
  • that the thesis has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, either now or in the past, to another university for assessment as part of a doctoral procedure
  • stating the doctoral title being sought
  • regarding whether the desired title should be listed on the doctoral certificate in the female form (Doktorin) or in the masculine form (Doktor), if applicable
  • that you have adhered to the regulations on good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg
  • on the proof of enrolment as a doctoral candidate in accordance with Section 9, paragraph 5
  • that no commercial mediation or advisory services (doctoral consulting) were used in connection with the doctoral project
• Your nominations for other assessors

The Doctorate Committee initiates the doctoral procedure by appointing individuals to assess the thesis. The supervisor is usually the first assessor. The Doctorate Committee also appoints between one and three additional assessors who are specialists in different subject areas and together cover the scope of the thesis. As part of the application to initiate the doctoral procedure, you may nominate people to be assessors. If the doctoral thesis is based on a series of publications, at least one of the assessment reports must be submitted by someone who, in accordance with the rules of the German Research Foundation, is impartial towards the doctoral candidate. More information on assessors is provided in Section 7 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. In the case of a joint degree, the appointment of the assessors is subject to additional regulations.

The thesis defence takes place following the display period, once the thesis has been accepted. The Doctorate Committee appoints an Examination Committee to conduct the defence. More information on the composition of the Examination Committee can be found in Section 6 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. In the case of a joint degree, the composition of the Examination Committee is subject to additional regulations.

The Doctoral Office will inform you in good time regarding the composition of the Examination Committee. You are responsible for organising your thesis defence (i.e., scheduling a date and time in consultation with the examiners and reserving a room). Once the date/time and location have been decided, the Doctoral Office must be informed. If you start planning your defence while your thesis is still being assessed, make sure that you do not schedule your defence to take place too soon after the expected end of the display period. This is because, in some cases, the expert opinions are not submitted on time, which can lead to delays; the defence may then have to be rescheduled.

Within one year of passing the defence you must make your doctoral thesis available to the academic community in an appropriate manner. Theses are published via the University of Oldenburg’s library and information system. For more information on publication, see Section 16 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. A title page in accordance with the following template must be used for the printed version:

• Mustertitelblatt Dissertation bei Veröffentlichung/Title page template for publication

The doctorate concludes with the issuing of the doctoral certificate, which entitles you to use the title of Doctor.

A list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the doctoral procedures for the titles Doctor of Natural Sciences (Dr. rer. nat.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Doctor of Humanities (Dr. phil.) and Doctor of Engineering (Dr.-Ing.) can be found here. If you have any questions regarding registration or the procedure, etc., please contact the Doctoral Office at School VI.