When you begin working on your doctorate you should sign a supervision agreement (Betreuungsvereinbarung) with your supervisor and have it signed by the chair of the doctoral studies committee (Promotionsausschussvorsitzende) as early as possible (the supervision agreement is an attachment to the doctoral regulations). This signed supervision agreement is a precondition for the status of a "registered" doctoral candidate (angenommene Promovendin or angenommener Promovend).

Registered doctoral candidates should enroll (immatrikulieren); especially considering issues related to insurances enrolling early is advised. Furthermore, early admission (Zulassung) is advised as the requirements for admission are only checked upon admission not upon registration in most schools (in some schools registration and admission are linked and located at the beginning of the PhD).

As the prerequisites and regulations including the supervision agreement differ between schools and doctoral degree, you should consult the respective doctoral regulations. Regarding registration and admission you should contact the school (supervisor and secretariat), regarding enrollment you should contact the Immatrikulationsamt.

Depending on personal preference, subject, and the school's regulations an individual doctorate (Individualpromotion) or a doctorate within a structured doctoral degree programme may be an option. Should you do your PhD within a doctoral degree programme you should mention this during enrollment. A list of the doctoral degree programmes of the University of Oldenburg is also available on the website of the Graduate Academy; the Graduate School for the Social Sciences and the Humanities (3GO) and the Graduate School Science, Medicine and Technology (OLTECH) offer the frame for the structured doctoral degree programmes at the University of Oldenburg.

The University is legally obliged to keep record of all registered doctoral candidates and to collect come data on each PhD. Some of these data can be viewed in StudIP under the tab „Doctoral” in case you are a registered doctoral candidate. Building on these data and hiding behind this tab a service system for doctoral candidates was set up to simplify administrative processes, e.g. by bringing together information from different organisational units of the university. A document with guidelines for this service system provides answers to the most frequently asked questions.