Cooperative doctorate

The first step toward pursuing a doctorate at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg is to contact a professor who will supervise your dissertation.

In principle, this is possible at all seven faculties of the university.

The university's doctoral supervisor usually acts as an examiner in the cooperative doctoral procedure.

The requirements for a doctorate are based on the doctoral regulations of the respective faculty of the cooperating university, which will award the doctoral degree upon successful completion. It should be noted that the doctoral regulations of different universities can vary greatly – in some cases even from faculty to faculty.

Admission to a doctoral program usually requires a very good university degree. In some cases, additional examinations may have to be taken at the cooperating university in order to be admitted to the doctoral program.

A doctoral program usually takes between three and six years to complete, assuming full-time work. There is no specific schedule for dissertations.

A successful doctoral thesis confirms the ability to work independently in a scientific field. This should be taken to heart as a basic principle: at the heart of a doctoral thesis is scientific research into topics that were previously unknown worldwide.

The first step in a doctoral thesis is to identify a research question to be explored in the thesis. This is done in close consultation with the supervising professor and the professor at the cooperating university. It is important that the research question is suitable for a doctoral thesis. Usually, there is a close connection to the areas of expertise of the supervising professors.

The topic of the dissertation is often determined in the first year of academic work.

The dissertation itself is usually written in parallel with the academic work, during which publications in specialist journals, known as papers, are produced. Some universities even allow a cumulative dissertation consisting of several publications in specialist journals. In some cases, the production of publications is specified as a prerequisite for the doctoral examination in the doctoral regulations.

A doctoral certificate from the cooperating university is usually only issued after the dissertation has been published and a doctoral examination has been passed. In this case, the completed work is usually "defended" before the first and second examiners and assessor(s). The defense is often followed by an oral examination of the doctoral candidate. The exact procedure is regulated in the doctoral regulations. The dissertation is usually only published after approval by the supervising professors and the faculty at the cooperating university.

A supervision agreement between the supervising professor and the doctoral candidate regulates milestones and mutual expectations.

Supervision agreements are highly individual. However, there are recommendations from the German Research Foundations, the Science Council, and acatech.

In addition, it is recommended that meetings be arranged at regular intervals to discuss the current status of the research results and, if necessary, to document them.

Doctoral candidates are usually employed as research assistants at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg and have their workplace at the university. These positions are usually funded by publicly or industrially sponsored research projects. There is usually a connection between the topic of the doctoral thesis and the research projects being worked on. However, the doctoral thesis is not the same as a final report on a research project.