Study Regulations of the Graduate School
Empirical and Applied Linguistics
at the Fachbereich Philologie of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
INOFFICIAL VERSION!
[Please note: This rough translation of the official German version of the regulations for the Graduate School has been prepared as a guide and help for foreign students. All claims and complaints relating to these regulations have to make reference to the official German version (Amtliche Fassung)]
Table of Contents:
§ 1 Objectives
§ 2 Conferral of a PhD
§ 3 Possible Doctoral Subjects
§ 4 Organization of the Graduate School
§ 5 Admission to the Graduate School
§ 6 Supervision
§ 7 Topics of Study
§ 8 Curriculum and Study Requirements
§ 9 Applying for Admission to the Doctoral Final Examination
§ 10 Admission to the Doctoral Final Examination
§ 11 Dissertation
§ 12 Examiners
§ 13 Acceptance and Evaluation of the Dissertation
§ 14 Final Oral Examination
§ 15 Final Grade
§ 16 Invalidness of the Work Performed
§ 17 Completing the PhD Program
§ 18 Revoking the Conferral of the Doctoral Title
§ 19 Coming into Effect of these Regulations
Appendix A
§ 1 Objectives
(1) In line with the recommendations of the Bologna reform, the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics offers highly-qualified graduates a well-structured PhD program with intensive supervision for obtaining a PhD in linguistics or a related philology within three years (or in up to six years for part-times students).
(2) The Graduate School offers doctoral students and professors in linguistics a multidisciplinary institutional setting for the intensive exchange of ideas and the development of joint scientific projects.
(3) It is the expressed goal of the Graduate School to make the WWU Münster a nationally and internationally visible center of exceptional and innovative linguistic research.
(4) The Graduate School aims to facilitate its graduates’ careers in academic as well as in non-academic fields of work.
(5) The Graduate School has been strongly influenced by the policies of gender mainstreaming agreed on in the 1977 contract of Amsterdam. This influence has shaped the organizational-institutional side of the program as well as its contents.
§ 2 Conferral of a PhD
(1) The Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics leads to the conferral of a PhD by the Philosophical Faculty of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität. The PhD is earned by completing the PhD program and passing the Doctoral Final Examination.
(2) The PhD program is regulated by these guidelines.
(3) In the Doctoral Final Examination, the doctoral student must demonstrate that he/she has the required scientific qualifications. The examination comprises a written dissertation and an oral examination.
(4) The PhD is earned in one major subject (cp. §3).
(5) Insofar as these guideline do not contain special regulations, they are supplemented by the general PhD regulations of the Philosophical Faculty of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität.
§ 3 Promotionsfächer
The PhD can be earned in one the following subjects:
1. General Linguistics
2. Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics
3. German linguistics
4. English linguistics
5. Romance Philology (focus on French)
6. Romance Philology (focus on Italian)
7. Romance Philology (focus on Spanish)
8. Dutch Philology
9. Scandinavian Philology
10. Slavic Philology
11. Egyptology
12. Coptology
13. Arabic Philology and Islamic Studies
14. Indo-European Studies
15. Greek Philology
16. Byzantine Studies
17. Latin Philology
18. Medieval and Modern Latin Philology
19. Psychology
20. Anthropology
§ 4 Organization of the Graduate School
(1) The organization and administration of the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics involves the following governing bodies:
1. Assembly of the doctoral students of the Graduate School; the members are as follows:
1.1 doctoral students admitted on the basis of the formal admission procedure,
1.2 doctoral students admitted with guest status on a temporary basis.
Each year the assembly of the doctoral students elects a representative for the board of directors. Reelection is possible.
2. Faculty Board; the members are as follows:
2.1 all members of the Fachbereich Philologie who have the right to award doctoral degrees, as long as they apply for membership;
2.2 individually co-opted professors from other departments of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, as well as from other domestic or foreign universities;
2.3 individually co-opted members of staff holding a PhD in linguistics or related philology, provided they participate in the supervision of doctoral students.
The membership lasts for 3 years, is extendable per application and requires active participation. The committee is instituted by the Divisional Council (Fachbereichsrat Fachbereich Philologie).
The Faculty Board elects a chair and a vice-chair by simple majority for a term of 2 years. Reelection is allowed.
The Faculty Board decides on the following issues with a simple majority:
- admission to the Graduate School (including the specification of the 2 supervisors),
- allocation of finances and further development of the Graduate School. There are special regulations for the allocation of funds brought in by individual faculty members,
- the recommendation regarding the acceptance of the dissertation addressed to the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) of the Philosophical Faculty.
Decisions are reached via a simple majority of all members present. At least half of the members eligible to vote must be present. It is possible to reach a decision via written consent in lieu of a meeting, but in this case at least half of all members entitled to vote must cast a positive vote in order for a motion to be accepted.
3. The Board of Managing Directors consists of the chair and vice-chair of the Faculty Board and the representative of the assembly of doctoral students. The board represents the Graduate School both within and outside of the university and makes the necessary preparations for decisions of the Faculty Board. Additionally, the managing directors take responsibility for the teaching and supervision program, management and budgetary concerns of the Graduate School. The board is the primary contact for doctoral students and applicants in all questions regarding the Graduate School.
4. Advisory Committee: the Faculty Board can appoint an advisory committee consisting of three to five members. This committee counsels the Faculty Board regarding the conception and development of the Graduate School, maintaining and extending network contacts, benchmarking, and so on.
§ 5 Admission to the Graduate School
(1) In order to be admitted to the Graduate School, the applicant must hold a university degree as defined by § 5 (2) in the PhD regulations of the Philosophical Faculty (typically a Master of Arts). The final grade must be at least the German 2.0 or equivalent in the cases described in § 5 (2) a) c).
(2) The applicant must show that he/she possesses the necessary foreign language skills as described in appendix A. In special cases, the Faculty Board can either accept a proof of proficiency in a language not listed in appendix A or forego proof of foreign language skills. Missing language skills can be acquired during the PhD program.
(3) The applicant needs to be especially suited for studying in the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics.
(4) The application for the Graduate School must be in written form. Documents that have to be submitted are as follows:
- Proof that the requirements listed in (1) and (2) are met,
- CV,
- an outline of the planned dissertation with a length of about 1500-1750 words,
- a specification of the doctoral subject area according to § 3, as well as a suggestion who the members of the supervision panel could be (cp. § 6).
If possible, one or two letters of reference demonstrating that the applicant is capable of independently carrying out scientific research should be included in the application.
(5) The managing board will check that the application meets the conditions listed in (1) and (2) and that the suggested dissertation topic is within the bounds of the profile of the Graduate School as described in § 7. Should these requirements not be fulfilled, the application will be rejected.
(6) In unclear cases, the applicant can be offered an interview held by 2 potential supervisors. Any member of the Faculty Board may attend. A short report on the course of the interview and its evaluation by attendant professors will become part of the applicant’s file.
(7) Based on the documents listed in (4) and (6), the Faculty Board will decide whether the applicant is especially suited to enter the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics. A ranking of suitable candidates for the program will be compiled. Based on this, students will be admitted to the program, should their ranking award them a place.
(8) Should the Faculty Board agree that a candidate in especially suited for studying in the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics, even though the candidate lacks skills in one or more important linguistic subject areas necessary for the planned dissertation, then the admission can be made provisional on fulfilling certain conditions. These conditions specify the subject areas which must be covered in courses before the actual PhD program can be taken up. This option is available in particular in the case of foreign applicants who were not able to study linguistics according to international standards in their home country.
Applicants holding only a bachelor degree must first complete a one-year qualification program which is recorded in the supervision agreement according to § 6.
§ 6 Supervision
(1) Studying in the Graduate School is carried out within the framework of a structured and cooperative supervision for the doctoral student. Every student is assigned a (main) supervisor and an advisor who together form the student's supervision panel. The only difference between the supervisor and the advisor is that the supervisor holds the main responsibility regarding methodological questions and the basic expository structure of the dissertation.
(2) The members of the supervision panel must be faculty members of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität and hold a doctorate in linguistics. Only a professor or a habilitated assistant professor with tenure can act as supervisors.
(3) A written agreement, covering the following points, is drafted by the doctoral student and his/her supervision panel at the beginning of the PhD course:
- the doctoral student's plans and goals,
- the necessary further qualifications that the doctoral student must obtain, as decided upon by the supervision panel,
- the individual study program, especially the courses as described in § 8 (5),
- in case of a conditional admission to the Graduate School, the study program to be completed before the actual PhD studies are taken up,
- the timeframe and work schedule,
- the duties of the supervisors.
(4) The supervision panel's main job is to advise and support the doctoral student according to his/her individual strengths and needs. This supervision is based on the continuous review and evaluation of the doctoral student's progress in the program and the development of his/her dissertation.
(5) The doctoral students can make suggestions regarding who the members of their supervision panel should be.
(6) Any difference of opinion within the supervision panel or between the supervisors and the doctoral student should be resolved consensually. A member of the Faculty Board can serve as a mediator. Should a mutually satisfying agreement not be possible, then the doctoral student can request a change in supervisors, which is decided upon by the Faculty Board.
§ 7 Topics of Study
The doctoral students in the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics can write their dissertation in any linguistic subject area, including linguistic topics within the framework of particular philologies and applied linguistics. The student can choose whether to focus on a more theoretical or a more applied topic, provided that the dissertation is based on a solid empirical foundation. The primary goal of the Graduate School, thus, is to ensure that the doctoral student is highly proficient in various methods of linguistic data collection and analysis and can accordingly use these methods in a critical and reflected way.
§ 8 Curriculum and Study Requirements
(1) The Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics represents the third phase of the tripartite study organization at European universities as suggested by the Bologna Reforms.
(2) The duration of study is 6 semesters, but it is possible to finish earlier. It is also possible to complete the program in part-time studies (e.g. when working full time or taking care of children) in which case the duration of study can be extended to up to 12 semesters.
(3) The PhD program covers 180 ECTS-points altogether. 1 ECTS-point is equivalent to a work load of 30 hours.
(4) The dissertation counts for 130 ECTS-points. The other 50 credits are earned by participating in colloquiums and project groups and other activities combined in an individual study program covering obligatory courses (25 credits), electives (20 credits) and the final oral examination (5 credits).
(5) The individual study program involves the following courses and requirements:
Obligatory Courses (25 ECTS)
1. Colloquium of the Doctoral Students (3 x ECTS-points = 9 ECTS-points)
The colloquium usually takes place in the form of a block seminar and should be done at three different points during the program. In the first colloquium (usually held at the end of the first semester), doctoral students defend their dissertation proposal. The second colloquium (midterm review) usually takes place during the third semester and consists of a report on the progress made so far and a discussion of any problems that may have come up. In the third and last colloquium, usually in the fifth semester, the most important results of the dissertation research are presented and defended.
2. Werkstatt/ Project Group (3 x 2 ECTS-points = 6 ECTS-points)
The Werkstatt gives the students a weekly opportunity to work in peer groups together with the assistance of a supervisor. The main subject matter will be the discussion of theoretical and methodical questions relating to their theses, but this is also the place for planning and coordinating events and activities carried out by the students of the PhD program.
The students can choose to form smaller project groups of three to five students with a shared methodical or systematic aspect of their dissertation. In these smaller groups, an even closer collaboration on theoretical and methodical matters is possible. Of course, these smaller groups will also have a supervisor of their own available to them.
Should a doctoral student hold a full-time job and therefore not be able to regularly attend the project group sessions, then the supervision panel can agree on an equivalent work obligation which will also be worth 6 ECTS-points.
3. Individually planned obligatory study program (10 ECTS-points)
The idea of the individually planned obligatory study plan is to enable each student to focus on closing gaps in her or his linguistic repertoire and to become acquainted with further methods of empirical linguistics. The individual study plan covers 10 ECTS-points and is agreed upon before the student takes up his/her studies. For details please see § 6 (3). The required credit points can be gained, for example, in regular seminars (with term paper), statistics classes (passing the required exams), etc., but they can also be earned via an individually agreed upon reading assignment or a pilot study using a newly acquired method, both of which require a concise report of the results to the supervision panel.
Elective Courses (20 ECTS-points)
The elective courses cover two topic areas: area A Scientific Core Disciplines: Teaching, Lecturing, Publishing and area B Organization of Scientific Activities and Supplementary Studies. 8 ECTS-points must be earned in topic area A.
A Scientific Core Disciplines: Teaching, Lecturing, Publishing
1. Teaching (guided and supervised by an experienced professor)
There are three options that can be chosen in any combination:
a) Teaching a single class as part of a lecture series (up to 90 minutes) 1 ECTS-point
b) Teaching your own course covering 2 hours per week 10 ECTS-points
c) Tutorial 4 ECTS-points
2. Participating in a scientific conference, including presentation of your own paper
8 ECTS-points
3. Publishing a paper in a peer-reviewed journal 10 ECTS-points
The topic of your presentation or publication can be based on the topic area of your dissertation. Regarding the publication, the essential requirement is that a proper peer-reviewing process is used (as in refereed journals and some edited volumes). The acceptance of your paper for the reviewing process is sufficient to earn the credit points.
B Organization of Scientific Activities and Supplementary Studies
The following are merely suggestions for ways of earning the required credits. The doctoral students should feel free to make their own proposals. These must be cleared by the supervision panel and will then be rewarded with credit points according to a realistic estimation of the necessary amount of work to be expected (30 hours = 1 ECTS-point).
Participation in a Seminar (with term paper) 5 ECTS-points
Reading Group (self organized) 2-4 ECTS-points
Hearing a Lecture 1 ECTS-point
Participation Workshop/Symposium 1 ECTS-point
Master Class (2-3 days, 6-8 hours each) 1 ECTS-point
Language course 2-3 ECTS-points
Training workshops on academically relevant skills such as 1 ECTS-point
- Rhetorics and communication
- Academic Writing
- Science Journalism
- University Teaching
- Time management and organization
- Cross-cultural competence
- Job application training
- Research funds application training
Organizing a scientific conference 2-6 ECTS-points
The amount of credits earned depends on the actual amount of work (based on the duration of the conference, number of participants, number of co-organizers, etc.)
Internships/relevant job experience/field studies 4-12 ECTS-points
Organizing a stay abroad 3 ECTS-points
Should you not already have spent a longer time abroad during your previous studies, then you should plan a stay of 3 to 6 months during the PhD program. Any credits earned during your term(s) abroad will be applied to your studies here in Münster. You can earn 3 credit points just for the organization of the stay abroad.
§ 9 Applying for Admission to the Doctoral Final Examination
(1) A written German application for admission to the doctoral final examination, listing the dissertation topic, the supervisor and the major subject area must be sent to the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat of the Philosophical Faculty).
(2) The application must include the following documents:
- a CV, containing information about your course of studies and any work experience,
- proof of the necessary 45 ECTS-points, as explained in §8 (5),
- proof of the necessary language skills, as explained in § 5 (2) and appendix A,
- two copies of your dissertation, which is not permitted to have been the topic of a previous academic or state examination
- if applicable, a list of already published papers,
- a written statement confirming that you wrote the dissertation yourself, listed all used literature und resources and have not previously submitted this dissertation,
- a written statement declaring whether you have already previously been enrolled in a PhD program.
§ 10 Admission to the Doctoral Final Examination
(1) The Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) will decide on your admission to the Doctoral Final Examination based on the application and submitted documents.
(2) The admission to the examination can only be refused if
a) the submitted documents are incomplete
b) the requirements, as stated in § 9, have not been met.
(3) You can re-submit the application after you have remedied any problems listed in (2).
(4) In case of refusal of your application, you will be granted sufficient time to comment on the reasons for the refusal. You will be informed of the rejection in written form, including the reasons for it and instructions on your right to appeal.
(5) You can appeal the rejection of your application. The Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) will consult with the board of directors of the Graduate School and then make the decision. You will receive notification in written form, including information on available legal remedies. You can appeal a rejection of your appeal.
§ 11 Dissertation
(1) Writing a dissertation is the doctoral student’s main job. The dissertation presents the results of independent original research within the confines of not more than 120,000 words (when written in German, not more than 90,000 words).
(2) The dissertation must treat a topic belonging to one of the doctoral subject areas named in § 3 and represent an independent and scientifically valuable contribution to the treated subject area.
(3) The dissertation must be typed and written in German or English. In exceptional circumstances, the Faculty Council may allow another language to be used in writing the dissertation.
§ 12 Examiners
The Faculty Council will appoint two examiners based on suggestions from the Board of Directors of the Graduate School. As a rule, one of the examiners will be the main supervisor. The second examiner should be someone who is not a faculty member of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, preferably a foreign researcher.
In special cases, a third examiner can be involved who usually would be selected from among the professors teaching at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität.
§ 13 Acceptance and Evaluation of the Dissertation
(1) The examiners will examine the dissertation and each send a written report to the Faculty Board of the Graduate School, preferably within three months. Based on these reports, the Faculty Board will make a recommendation to the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) regarding the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation.
(2) The examiners not only justify the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation, they also suggest a grade. The following grades are possible:
- summa cum laude (1 = with highest distinction)
- magna cum laude (2 = with high distinction)
- cum laude (3 = with distinction)
- rite (4 = pass)
(3) The dissertation counts as effectively rejected when at least two examiners recommend this.
(4) The examiners can make suggestions for required revisions of the dissertation before its publication. The Faculty Board will discuss these suggestions and any further revisions suggested from among its members and decide on the final list of obligatorily required revisions.
(5) The dissertation along with the examiners' reports will be made accessible to all faculty members of the Philosophical Faculty who have the right to award doctoral degrees for a period of three weeks. Details for this will be posted on the web-pages of the exam registry office in charge. All faculty members have the right to issue a statement on the acceptance or rejection of the dissertation, but this must be announced during the three-week exhibition period and handed in at the latest four weeks after announcement.
(6) The dissertation is officially accepted if all examiners have recommended its acceptance and no other faculty members with the right to award doctoral degrees have recommended rejection.
(7) In the case that one examiner or a faculty member with the right to award doctoral degrees recommends rejecting the dissertation, the Faculty Council will decide whether or not to accept the dissertation. Before making this decision, the Faculty Council can request one or two additional examinations, also from professors of other universities.
(8) After acceptance of the dissertation, the Faculty Council will decide on the grade, based on the recommendations of the Faculty Board. In order to receive the grade of summa cum laude, it is necessary that this grade has been recommended by all examiners and accepted by the Faculty Board. Should the examiners’ recommendations differ by more than one grade, then the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty will request further examination by an additional examiner who will the recommend an overall grade based on the dissertation and the previous recommendations. The chair of the Faculty Board of the Graduate School has the right to make recommendations with regard to this additional examiner.
(9) In case dissertation is rejected, the doctoral student will be informed of the reasons for this in a letter of rejection. The letter will also contain information on the right to appeal. The Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) decides on the appeal together with the board of directors of the Graduate School. The notification about decision on the appeal will also be via a letter, including information on available legal remedies.
§ 14 Final Oral Examination
(1) The Doctoral Final Examination ends with a scientific colloquium of up to 120 minutes in length. The supervision panel will be present as well as at least one further member of the Faculty Board of the Graduate School. This further member will chair the meeting. All members of the Faculty Board who are present have the right to ask questions. This oral exam is open to the entire faculty.
(2) The topic of the oral examination is a topic broadly related to the dissertation topic, especially pertaining to methodological issues. Questions regarding further scientific projects and career prospects are also possible. The examination topic is suggested by the supervision panel, decided on by the Faculty Board and communicated to the doctoral student four to six weeks before the actual examination. The candidate is required to open the meeting with a 15 minute long presentation addressing this topic.
(3) After the oral examination is over, the members of the Faculty Board who are present will decide by simple majority whether the candidate has passed or failed. The doctoral student will be immediately informed of the results.
(4) The final oral examination counts as failed if the student misses it through his/her own fault or steps down during the examination without a good reason. In these cases, the candidate is obliged to immediately inform the Faculty Board of his/her reasons for this via letter and without delay. The decision to fail the doctoral student is made by the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty. § 13 (9) applies accordingly.
(5) The Dean of the Philosophical Faculty will inform the candidate that he/she has failed.
(6) In case of a pass, the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty will issue a certificate that the dissertation has been accepted and that the final oral examination was passed.
(7) A failed oral examination can only be re-taken once in a time span of 18 months.
(8) The written notification of the failed oral examination will also contain information regarding the possibilities of re-taking the examination and the deadlines to comply with. The notification will further include information on available legal remedies and the right to appeal. The Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) will rule on an appeal. The student will then again be notified in written form of the decision and the available legal remedies. The candidate is considered to have failed the PhD program if he/she misses the re-examination deadline, waives the right to re-examination or fails the re-examination.
§ 15 Final Grade
The doctoral examination is passed as soon as the dissertation has been accepted and graded and the final oral examination has been successfully completed. The grade given to the dissertation is declared the final grade for the whole doctoral examination by the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, as described in § 13 (8).
§ 16 Invalidness of the Work Performed
Should it become known before the doctoral certificate has been handed over that the doctoral student used deceit in order to be admitted to the doctoral examination or to meet degree requirements, or that she/he was only admitted to the examination on the basis of mistaken assumptions regarding the fulfillment of necessary admission requirements, then the doctoral title can be declared null and void by the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat). § 10 (4) and (5) apply accordingly.
§ 17 Completing the PhD Program
(1) The dissertation can only be published when all conditions as explained in § 13 (4) have been met and the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) has confirmed its suitability for publication. The doctoral student can apply to the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) to have the dissertation published in a language other than the one it has been written in.
(2) The dissertation must be published in printed or photocopied form within two years after completion of the final oral examination. Should the doctoral student, by his/her own fault, not manage this, then all rights of the doctoral title will expire. In exceptional cases and after application by the doctoral student, the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) can grant an extension of the two year deadline.
(3) Publication in form of a printed book: At least 150 copies must be made and be available via bookstores. The reverse of the title page must declare the publication to be a dissertation and name the university that accepted it. The doctoral student must submit 6 copies to the university. In the case of other forms of duplication, 107 copies must be submitted.
(4) The dissertation can be submitted in an electronic form identical to the version that the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) has released for publication. Data and storage formats as well as the statement of usage rights have to comply with the regulations of the university library (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek). Nr (2), sentence 1, and (3), sentence 3, apply accordingly. A written confirmation of the electronic submission issued by the university library must also be included.
(5) The doctoral student has fulfilled the necessary requirements, when (1) and (2) are met and will accordingly receive a doctoral diploma. The diploma states the dissertation topic and additionally the information that the doctoral title was obtained by studying in the Graduate School Empirical and Applied Linguistics. The diploma is given the date of the final oral examination, signed by the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty and handed over to the doctoral student. As of this moment, the student has the right to use the doctoral degree as part of his/her name.
(6) The graduate will also receive a detailed list of the completed courses and other academic activities pursued as a part of the degree program.
(7) The examined originals of the dissertation will be given to the graduate as soon as all the graduation process has been finalized according to (5).
§ 18 Revoking the Conferral of the Doctoral Title
(1) The doctoral title can be revoked by the Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) should it have been gained by deceit or on the basis of mistaken assumptions regarding the fulfillment of the necessary requirements for the doctoral examination.
(2) The Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat) can also revoke the title if the doctoral student
a) was sentenced to a year or more in prison or
b) was sentenced for a crime for which his/her scientific qualifications or doctoral title were wrongfully used.
(3) The doctoral student will be given the opportunity for a statement before a decision is made. § 14 (8) applies accordingly.
§ 19 Coming into Effect of these Regulations
(1) These regulations come into effect as of ...
(2) These regulations will be published in the bulletin of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Appendix A
Subject-specific language proficiency requirements for the admission to the Doctoral Final Examination
In the following you will find a list of the required language skills based on the subject area you are majoring in, as described in § 5 (2). Should you be lacking necessary language skills, you can acquire them during the course of the PhD program. The requirement of functional language proficiency can be covered by proof of 3 years of language instruction at your secondary school or equivalent courses or skills. The Faculty Board of the Graduate School will decide on the acceptance of your language skills and consult a member of the appropriate faculty, if necessary.
General Linguistics
-Functional proficiency in English and two further foreign languages; if possible, one non-Indo-European language
Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics
-Functional proficiency in three foreign languages (English, a typologically contrasting language, a language of choice)
German Linguistics
-Functional proficiency in two foreign languages
English Linguistics
-Functional proficiency in two foreign languages (next to English); if possible, proficiency in a non-Indo-European language
Romance Philology (French)
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in a second Romance language (next to French) and English
Romance Philology (Italian)
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in a second Romance language (next to Italian) and English
Romance Philology (Spanish)
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in a second Romance language (next to Spanish) and English
Dutch Philology
-Functional proficiency in two foreign languages next to Dutch
Scandinavian Philology
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in English and a further foreign language, preferably a Scandinavian one
Slavic Philology
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in two further non-Slavic languages (usually including English)
Egyptology
-Functional proficiency in Ancient Greek
-Latin skills, as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in English and French
Coptology
-Functional proficiency in Coptic, Ancient Greek, Latin, English and French
Arabic Philology and Islamic Studies
-Good skills in Classical and Modern Arabic (including vernacular)
-Functional proficiency in English and French
Indo-European Studies
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Greek skills as required for the Graecum
-Functional proficiency in Sanskrit
-Functional proficiency in English and French
Greek Philology
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in two modern foreign languages
Byzantine Studies
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Greek skills as required for the Graecum
-Skills in Modern Greek, as required by the study regulations
-Functional proficiency in English and French
Latin Philology
-Greek skills, as required for the Graecum
-Functional proficiency in two modern languages
Medieval and Modern Latin Philology
-Latin skills as required for the Latinum
-Functional proficiency in two further European language (e.g. English and French)
Psychology
-Functional proficiency in English
Anthropology
-Functional proficiency in English, a further European language, and a non-European language