PHD in Germany

Why to opt Germany for PhD programs 

• Germany is one of the leading researching nations in the world.
• The German doctorate enjoys an outstanding reputation in all disciplines, with the country producing about 25,000 doctorates every year.
• German universities and research institutions are among the best in the world.
• German companies are among the most actively engaged in research in Europe.
• Germany welcomes international graduates and many funding organization support foreign PhD students like DAAD.
• With over 140 institutions offering a wide range of subjects, Germany is all set to add extra element to student’s life.
• Germany offers many research institutions: Universities, Universities of Applied Sciences (UoAS), Non-university research institutes, company Institutes and institutions funded by the Federal Government or LANDER.

 What kind of Doctoral programmes are available in Germany?

There are different ways of doing a doctorate in Germany depending on subject, research project, type of higher educational Institutions, so accordingly German Universities opt for two approaches: Traditional Individual Doctorate and Structured Doctoral Programmes.

Traditional Individual Doctorate:

• The traditional individual path to a PhD/doctorate remains the most common in Germany.
•  It involves identifying a supervisor (Doktorvater / Doktormutter) at a German University who is willing to guide your research.
• This system offers a lot of freedom with  no compulsory attendance, deadlines or curriculum.
• Depending on the subject area, this research can be conducted alone or together with other researchers.
• It is also possible to study for a doctorate while working in a (research) job in industry.
• German Language examination certificate is required to complete the thesis work.
• This kind of doctorate takes about 3-5 years to complete.

 Structured Doctoral Programmes:

• Very similar to the PhD programmes in English speaking countries.
• A team of supervisors will look after a group of doctoral students.
• This approach is very structured and so offers  a supportive curriculum are interdisciplinary in nature and provide opportunities to acquire soft skills and additional qualifications.
• Here the doctoral students and their research proposals have to fit in with an existing doctoral programme.
• Here supervision is carried out by several university teachers.
• These programmes lead to a PhD in about three years.
• There are over 600 structured programmes in Germany.
•  Structured doctoral programmes often have a strong international orientation with English as the team language.

We will try to update you with more information regarding the scope of doing PhD in Germany. Please do let me know if I can help you further regarding the same.