A doctorate can be completed in the Department WiRe after a successful MA degree or a comparable academic degree in all subjects and assigned subject areas. In principle, registration and enrolment are required for this (a detailed and binding description of the requirements can be found in the doctoral degree regulations, see § 5 para. 1 and § 7 of the regulations). Master's degrees from other universities or universities of applied sciences are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

As a rule, the subject area and topic of the dissertation are determined in dialogue with the supervisor. In the case of interdisciplinary issues, it is advisable to consider the expertise of the relevant subject areas. This is optionally possible within the framework of the supervision agreement.

You must have a relevant academic university degree. As a rule, this is an MA or M.Ed. degree in a suitable field. If you do not have a relevant university degree, you may be admitted with conditions. This is decided by the doctorate committee (see also § 7 Admission to doctoral studies, enrolment).

1. written doctoral thesis (dissertation):

The requirements for the design of the dissertation are based on § 8 and 13 of the respective doctoral degree regulations. There are no binding specifications regarding font size, paragraph, margins, binding, etc. in the Department WiRe. It is advisable to choose a form that is easy to read and offers opportunities for marginal notes. The submission pieces must be provided with a title page, the front and back of which must be designed according to the template in Annex 3 of the respective PromO.

2. oral doctoral performance (thesis defence):

A maximum of 2 hours in total:

• Presentation: approx. 30 minutes
• Questioning by the examination committee: approx. 60 minutes
• followed by a public discussion at the university if necessary

Even before formal admission to the doctorate, you can receive the status of "accepted doctoral candidate", which allows you to enrol and use the University's infrastructure (Section 5 (1) PromO).

The application for acceptance must be submitted in writing to the Chair of the Doctorate Committee (WiRe). For faster processing, the documents can also be sent digitally as a scan to .

The following documents are required in addition to the supervision agreement:

• an outline of the applicant's academic and professional CV and educational background, supplemented if necessary by a complete list of academic publications,
• proof of higher education entrance qualification,
• certificates and supporting documents in accordance with § 7 para. 1 of the doctoral degree regulations,
• a declaration of any grounds for refusal in accordance with Section 7 (2) of the Doctoral Degree Regulations,
• if applicable, a proposal to carry out a binational doctorate or another joint doctoral degree procedure (§ 1 para. 2), stating the cooperation partner,
• a declaration that the regulations on good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg are known and will be followed,
• a declaration that no commercial mediation or counselling services (doctoral counselling) will be or have been used in connection with the doctoral project,
• a declaration that the applicant has not already used major parts of a Bachelor's, Master's, Diplom or similar thesis for the dissertation.

See also https://uol.de/wire/studium-und-promotion/promotionhabilitation/infoblaetter "Acceptance as a doctoral candidate".

The dissertation exposé and the proposal for admission do not have to be submitted for acceptance. You will receive written notification of acceptance.

It is necessary to submit a proposal for admission and the exposé at a later date.

The application for admission must be submitted in writing to the Chair of the doctorate committee (WiRe). For faster processing, the documents can also be sent digitally as a scan to .

The following documents are required:

• An outline of the applicant's academic and professional CV and educational background, supplemented by a complete list of academic publications, if applicable.
• Proof of higher education entrance qualification.
• Certificates and evidence in accordance with § 7 para. 1 of the doctoral degree regulations.
• A supervision agreement in accordance with Annex 1 of the doctoral degree regulations.
• A declaration of any grounds for refusal in accordance with Section 7 (2) of the doctoral degree regulations
• A declaration that the regulations on good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg are known and followed.
• A declaration that no commercial mediation or counselling services (doctoral counselling) will be or have been used in connection with the doctoral project.
• A declaration that the applicant has not already used larger parts of a Bachelor's, Master's, Diplom or similar thesis for the dissertation.
• A detailed exposé of the planned dissertation (research question, methods of investigation, status of the scientific discussion, bibliography, timetable) with Supervisor's endorsement (only in the case of admission including exposé).
• If applicable, a proposal to carry out a binational doctorate or another joint doctoral degree procedure (§ 1 para. 2) with the name of the cooperation partner.

See also https://uol.de/wire/studium-und-promotion/promotionhabilitation/infoblaetter "Admission to doctoral studies including exposé" and "Admission to doctoral studies".

If you are already an accepted doctoral candidate, you only need to submit the documents that were missing at the time of acceptance (proposal for admission, exposé, etc.)

For enrolment as a doctoral candidate, acceptance or admission by the doctorate committee of School II - WiRe is mandatory. Acceptance is a preliminary stage to admission and requires fewer documents. It enables enrolment in order to obtain doctoral candidate status, but a proposal for admission must still be submitted at a later date. With admission, doctoral candidates are asked to enrol. Deadlines begin to run from the time of admission: On the one hand, there should be a minimum period of one year between admission and submission of the thesis; on the other hand, the dissertation must be submitted within 5 years of admission (Section 9 (1) PromO). In special cases, a deviation from these deadlines may be authorised on proposal.

Enrolment takes place at Division 3(https://uol.de/studium/service-beratung).

Information on enrolment can be found at: https: //uol.de/studium/bewerben/promotion.

• Bi-national doctoral degree procedures (§ 1 para. 2 PromO): In this case, the cooperation partner must be named upon admission. In these cases, a relatively complex co-operation agreement must be concluded between the University of Oldenburg and the partner university.
• Cumulative dissertations are possible in economics (§ 8 PromO_Dr. rer. pol.) if they are internally related and fulfil the requirements of paragraph 1 (§ 8 PromO_Dr. rer. pol.) in their entirety.

An extension of the doctorate / initiation period is possible upon proposal to the Department WiRe. The reasons and the period by which the extension is to be granted must be stated in the informal proposal, together with a positive statement from the supervisor and, if applicable, a new timetable.

You can send the documents in advance as a scan to .

Initiation must be applied for at the earliest 1 year and within 5 years of admission. An extension is possible on proposal.

The following documents must be submitted to apply for the introduction:

• As a rule, 6 copies of the dissertation (for each member of the examination committee and one copy for the file)
• Current enrolment certificate
• A declaration that the regulations on the principles for ensuring good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg have been followed and a declaration in lieu of an oath pursuant to Section 9 (3) sentence 3 in conjunction with Section 7 (4) sentence 2 NHG that the applicant has "prepared the dissertation independently and without unauthorised external assistance and without using any aids other than those specified and has identified the ideas taken directly or indirectly from external sources as such".
• A declaration that no
  commercial mediation or counselling services (doctoral counselling) have been used in connection with the doctoral project
  .
• If applicable, proposals for the reviewers and/or other subject representatives for the examination committee
• If applicable, evidence of conditions imposed on admission

A template for the proposal for the initiation of doctoral studies and a template for the affidavit as well as further information sheets can be found at: https: //uol.de/wire/studium-und-promotion/promotionhabilitation/infoblaetter.

Once the reviews/opinions have been received, the submission period according to § 10 follows (two weeks during the lecture period and four weeks during the lecture-free period).
The dissertation is accepted if all reviewers have recommended acceptance of the thesis and the Chair of the Doctorate Committee has not received any special reviews (Section 10 (3)) within three working days of the end of the display period. If the dissertation has not been recommended for acceptance by reviewers, Section 10 (2) shall apply accordingly. The doctorate committee shall then make the final decision on acceptance or rejection of the thesis.

After acceptance of the dissertation, the thesis defence (§ 11 PromO) is scheduled. This should normally take place within 4 weeks of acceptance of the dissertation. The supervisor schedules the thesis defence and informs the doctoral candidate of the composition of the examination committee.

The dissertation must be published within one year of the thesis defence (§ 13 PromO).

The final print copy must be submitted to the Chair of the doctorate committee (WiRe). He/she issues the printing authorisation after the supervisor has given his/her opinion. The submitted items are to be provided with a title page, which is to be designed according to the template in Appendix 3. Depending on the form of publication, different numbers of specimen copies must be submitted (§ 13 paragraph 1).

Contact at BIS:
Electronic version, the format of which must be agreed with by the University Library.

The doctoral certificate will only be issued once the publication obligation has been fulfilled (§ 14 PromO). It is not permitted to use the doctoral title before this.

The certificate is usually sent by registered mail.