Planning 'step by step'

If you have decided to do a doctorate in a field that interests you, the next step is to find a suitable supervisor for your doctoral project.

Normally, doctoral candidates work as research assistants at the institutes of Clausthal University of Technology or in a company that cooperates with Clausthal University of Technology as part of a research partnership. It may therefore be interesting for you to look at the job offers at Clausthal University of Technology or to contact individual professors directly about the possibility of working on a doctoral project. Scholarships from various study foundations are also possible.

Before starting work on the dissertation, i.e. as soon as you have received a confirmation of supervision, each doctoral candidate must submit an application for admission to doctoral studies to the Dean's Office of the respective faculty (Faculty 1 - Faculty of Natural and Material Sciences, Faculty 2 - Faculty of Energy and Economics, Faculty 3 - Faculty of Mathematics/ Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering). The following documents are required (see also the websites of the respective faculties):

- Application for admission
- Supervision agreement
- Proposal for doctoral studies (doctoral study plan)
- Declaration of doctoral attempts

According to § 9 para. 2 sentence 4 NHG (Lower Saxony Higher Education Act), doctoral candidates must enrol as doctoral students. Enrolment takes place at the Study Center(Student Secretariat).

Information on the semester fee (currently € 185 for doctoral students) can be found here.

As soon as you have completed all the formal/legal steps, you can start planning and working on your doctoral project. If you have any questions about doctoral studies or need advice, please contact us. The Graduate Academy will be happy to advise you on the creation of a personal curriculum, all aspects of qualification offers, graduate support or career development.

After completing your dissertation and opening the doctoral procedure, please submit the following additional documents to the faculty together with your dissertation after consultation with your supervisor:

- Opening application (see websites of the respective faculties)
- Affidavit (see also "Rules for safeguarding good scientific practice and procedures in the event of suspected scientific misconduct")
- Statistical sheet

A template for the title page of the dissertation can be found in the joint doctoral regulations of the faculties.

The Faculty Council decides on the opening of the doctoral procedure at the next meeting or by circulation procedure. Please inform yourself about the next meeting dates of the faculty councils on the websites of the respective faculties 1, 2, 3.

At Clausthal University of Technology, the disputation usually takes the form of an oral examination with a part open to the university and a subsequent specialist discussion.

The Graduate Academy regularly offers further training courses to prepare for your disputation.

Once you have passed your oral examination, you must apply for permission to print within one year (the deadline begins on the day of the oral examination). Please complete the application, sign it and have it countersigned by your supervisor. The application must be submitted to the Dean's Office of the Faculty in order to obtain the necessary permission for final publication from the Dean.

- Application for permission to print (the relevant forms can be found on the respective websites of Faculties 1, 2, 3)
- Information on electronic publication (§ 12 para. 2 a Doctoral Degree Regulations dated 15.11.2016)
- Information on publication as a book in a publishing house (§ 12 para. 2 c Doctoral Degree Regulations dated 15.11.2016)

Clausthal University of Technology would like to maintain contact with its alumni. If you are also interested in keeping in touch with your university and your former fellow students and receiving invitations to university events, you can register free of charge and without obligation in the alumni database at the following link: http: //www.alumni.tu-clausthal.de/mitglied-werden/