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Doctoral School Curriculum

Doing a doctoral study is not just about doing research and writing a thesis. For good reasons, there is also a certain amount of coursework involved. On this page, you will learn how the curriculum gives you the background for your research.

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Courses

The basic doctoral curriculum foresees an overall of 180 ECTS, of which 162 are dedicated to elaborating the doctoral thesis, while another 18 ECTS must be contributed by taking courses as listed below:

  • Fundamental Courses: These are expected to be in the following areas in total of 6 ECTS: philosophy of science and methodologies, career planning, crafting a good professional life, scientific proposal writing, digital humanism, or research methods in computer science (consisting of formal, qualitative, quantitative, and design methods). The list of eligible courses is explained at the info events organized by the Doctoral School. At least one course is expected to be related to methodologies. Courses related to methodologies will be indicated in TISS.
  • Area Courses: These specific courses are expected to be related to the research area, in total of 12 ECTS. It is strongly recommended that you visit one of the courses offered by guest professors of the Doctoral School. It is sufficient to name such a course in your application “Guest Professor’s Course” if the title of the course is not announced yet. You might also choose suitable summer schools here, but this needs to be a priori negotiated with the Deans of Academic Affairs.
  • Overall, 6 ECTS are allowed to be of type SE (Seminar) or PV (Privatissima) (as stated in the “Richtlinie der Studiendekane – September 2013”).

Fundamental and Area Courses

Elective Courses

Please note that elective courses do not count towards the 18 ECTS of your doctoral program but may still be valuable for your research work or further career.

Curricula

The basic curriculum is the formal underpinning of our doctoral program. We offer the following specific curricula.

Degree

The specific degree you earn depends on the particular curriculum you’re inscribed for.

For the Engineering Sciences curricula, you will be awarded the “Dr.techn.” degree, and for the Social and Economic Sciences the “Dr.rer.soc.oec.” degree.