Guide to the doctoral degree (Ph. D.)

You would like to earn a doctorate at our faculty and are working towards a Ph. D. degree? Please follow the steps below.

You can find the doctoral regulations here: Ph. D. 2025

  • 1. Orientation and Counselling

    Your first point of contact for advice on general questions about the doctoral programme is the Vice Dean's Office for Internationalisation, Research and Academic Recruitment.

    You can discuss specialised questions with your principal supervisor (§4). If you are coming to Münster to pursue a doctorate but do not yet have a doctoral supervisor who can assist you, the Vice Dean's Office can help you to establish contact with a professor in your particular field of study.

    Important documents:

    Contact:

  • 2. Enrolment

    First, you enrol at the University of Münster for the doctoral programme. To do this, you also need the Confirmation of Doctoral Supervision. You can find all the necessary information and the link to online enrolment on the website of the Student Admissions Office. In case of doubts regarding the admission requirements for the Ph. D. (§ 3), please contact the Dean’s Assistant.

    Required documents:

    • Confirmation of Doctral Supervision

    • Certificate of previous university degrees

    Contact:

    Please note: The Confirmation of Doctoral Supervision and the Supervision Agreement are two different documents that you must submit to different offices
    Confirmation of Doctoral Supervision >> enrolment (Student Admissions Office
    Supervision Agreement >> internal faculty admission (Dean’s Office)

  • 3. Acceptance as a Doctoral Candidate

    As soon as you are enrolled, please apply for registration of your doctorate at the Dean's Office (§6). You will need the documents listed below for this.

    The Dean will decide on your application and inform the Faculty Board.

    Required documents:

    • Form (Link to follow)
    • Certificate of an academic degree
    • Letter of recommendation by the principal supervisor
    • Supervision agreement (§4)
      • Form (Link to follow)
      • Work plan and time-table for the dissertation
      • Project outline between four and eight pages in length
      • in the event of a doctorate by publication, an ongoing list of the publications that are to form the basis of the doctorate by publication, including the thematic focus and the planned place of publication
    • Certificate of enrolment with matriculation number

    Contact:

    Please note: The Confirmation of Doctoral Supervision and the Supervision Agreement are two different documents that you must submit to different offices.
    Confirmation of Doctoral Supervision >> enrolment (Student Admissions Office)
    Supervision Agreement >> internal faculty admission (Dean’s Office)

     

  • 4. Qualification Phase

    When you register, you enter the Qualification Phase. During this phase, you will write your doctoral thesis. Consultation sessions with your first supervisor have to be documented. You will also complete the doctoral programme curriculum. The individual achievements must be certified in your Course Record Book.

    You will need a certificate for courses that you attend outside the faculty or university and would like to have credited to your doctoral programme. These certificates are a prerequisite for the achievements to be recognised in the Course Record Book. The assistant in the Vice Dean's Office is responsible for this. In case of doubt as to whether a course can be recognised, please contact the Vice Dean's Office for clarification before attending the course.

    Required documents:

    • Course Record Book (Link to follow)
    • Documentation for consultation sessions (Link to follow)
    • Checklist for admission (Link to follow)

    Contact:

  • 5. Examination Phase

    a. Admission to the Examination Procedure (§9)

    Upon finishing your dissertation and completing the required courses of the doctoral programme, you must apply for admission to the Examination Phase. To apply, submit all the required documents to the Dean's Office and hand in the dissertation in accordance to with the submission formalities along with the Affirmation in Lieu of an Oath.

    Required documents:

    • Form (Link to follow)
    • Formal information (Link to follow)
    • Affirmation in Lieu of an Oath (Link to follow)

        Contact:

       

    b. Examination

    After a review of the documents, assessment of your dissertation by two examiners (as a rule) and its public display, the Faculty Board decides on the final grade of the dissertation based on the examiners' recommendations.

    If the dissertation is accepted, you will be granted admission to the Defensio.

    After passing the Defensio, the Faculty Board announces the final grade.

    You are then awarded your doctoral title at the Actus Academicus ceremony.

    You must submit the mandatory copies of your dissertation to the Dean's office within two years after completing the last examination.