A doctorate is the basis for an academic career. However, the career goal does not always have to be an academic career. No matter which career path you ultimately decide on, we will support you. In the first step, we explain which requirements apply and which formal pathways you need to follow.
Who can be admitted to a doctorate?
- Graduates of Humboldt-Universität with a high-quality Diplom, Master's or Magister degree or 1st state examination.
- Graduates of other universities may be admitted to doctoral studies in accordance with the applicable legal regulations if their degrees are considered equivalent to those at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
How to register for the doctorate
These are the individual steps involved in registering for a doctorate:
- Admission: Firstly, the doctoral project must be admitted to the faculty where the doctorate is to be carried out.
- Enrolment: The second step is enrolment. Doctoral candidates who are also employed as research assistants at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin must either enrol or register. In both cases, the Enrolment Office for Doctoral Candidates is responsible.
Please note: You must submit your application for enrolment or registration to the Enrolment Office for Doctoral Candidates no later than four weeks after receiving your acceptance letter. This assumes that you have paid the semester fees.
What else is important
- Formulate your research project as concretely as possible before you start looking for a supervisor. Write an initial project description (synopsis).
- Gather detailed information about the faculties, institutes and professors at Humboldt-Universität in order to find out who is best suited to you. Ideally, there should be a match in terms of content and proximity between your research project and the research field of your potential supervisor.
Before you can officially register for the doctorate, you must first find a supervisor for your doctorate on your own. Without a confirmation, you cannot apply for admission to the doctorate.
Please refer to the doctoral degree regulations of the faculties to find out who is generally eligible as a supervisor. As a rule, professors of the respective faculty and subject are eligible. Exceptions can be found in the doctoral degree regulations. In general, written confirmation of supervision from a university lecturer is required in order to apply for admission.
Your potential supervisor at Humboldt-Universität will receive an exposé from you, which you will agree on together.
Please note: If you have not received approval from the doctoral committee of the respective faculty, any confirmation you have already given to supervise your dissertation is not valid.
Service & advice
Humboldt Graduate School
Institutsgebäude (Haus 1), Luisenstraße 56 (Haus 1), 10117 Berlin