Acceptance as a doctoral candidate

 Supplementary examination provisions

• The supplementary examination must be taken in the doctoral subject.
• The topics of the supplementary examination and the topic of the thesis should be clearly separate insofar as the examination may not deal with the main contents of the thesis.
• The supplementary examination must be taken in the presence of two university lecturers.

Procedure

• The application for admission to the supplementary examination can be submitted to the Doctoral Studies Office by 15 January, 15 March, 15 June or 15 September of each year.
• The doctoral candidate should propose at least two university lecturers authorised to hold examinations in the doctoral subject to the Doctoral Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences. At its meeting, the Doctoral Committee decides which university lecturers are accepted, normally the first two professors named are chosen. However, it should be noted that none of the professors proposed for the supplementary examination can be the supervisor or the reviewer of the thesis.
• Please note: The supplementary examination can only be conducted after receiving the Doctoral Committee's decision!
• The examinee and the examiners agree on the topics of the supplementary examination as well as the date and time.
• The supplementary examination lasts one hour. Usually the examiners take the minutes alternately. The requirements of the supplementary examination are equivalent to those of the oral part of a major subject examination.
• The doctoral candidate must pass the supplementary examination with a grade of at least “3" (Satisfactory).
• The examinee is informed of the result of the supplementary examination immediately afterwards.
• The supplementary examination can be repeated once.

Recommendations on how to prepare

• Please contact potential examiners in in advance regarding topics and dates and to specify the further procedure.
• Regardless of individual agreements, it is recommended that you prepare a literature list for each of the examination topics. Agree with your examiners whether perhaps a position paper should be prepared.
• The supplementary examination should be taken at the latest one year before the opening of the doctoral examination procedure. We recommend thinking about the supplementary examination one year before submitting the thesis so that the doctoral candidate has sufficient time in reserve to meet a fixed deadline for submitting the thesis even in the event of a delay in taking or passing the examination. Such a delay can occur, for example, if the supplementary examination is not passed at the first attempt or if one of the chosen examiners is undertaking a research sabbatical or is ill.