For supervisors/reviewers of doctoral theses

See questions 2 to 8

Honorary professors and private lecturers can of course act as supervisors and reviewers for doctorates. However, an additional supervisor (university professor) must be named in the doctoral application and assigned to a subject area. With regard to the assignment to a subject area, it is expected that this is done on a case-by-case basis according to thematic aspects, but the first supervisor should have the option of choosing which subject area he/she would like to work with.

Cooperative doctorates can be carried out with the participation of at least two Faculties or with the participation of another university. If another university is involved, it must be ensured that the acceptance and admission requirements of the participating universities are equivalent (for further details, see § 14 AB-PromO). As a rule, a contract (cotutelle) is concluded between the two universities at presidential level. The supervisor develops a draft contract for the legal department together with the doctoral office. In the case of cooperative doctorates between Faculties of the University of Kassel, the lead doctoral committee is supplemented by the same number of members from the Faculty involved. Separate consultations and resolutions are permitted (§ 2 para. 3 AB-PromO). One reviewer and one member of the doctoral committee are appointed from each Faculty. The doctorate is attributed to the Faculty that provides the first supervisor.

It is not the doctoral candidate's responsibility to put together his/her doctoral committee! The supervisor of the thesis proposes a 2nd reviewer and 2 further examiners for the doctoral committee to the chairperson of the doctoral committee by email. This proposal is agreed between the Doctoral Committee and the Dean's Office. The doctoral committee then appoints the reviewers and examiners. The proposal can be submitted before the dissertation is submitted, but the doctoral committee is usually only appointed after the dissertation has been submitted. If submitted beforehand, the final title of the dissertation must always be stated.

In principle, anyone with a doctorate who teaches or researches full-time at a university or research institution can take on this role. However, at least one of the two reviewers must be a university professor at the University of Kassel. In addition, the doctoral committee takes the following criteria into account when appointing the doctoral committee: The members of the doctoral committee should come from different subject areas. In the case of larger institutes at other universities, care must be taken to ensure that if two people from one institute are involved, there are no close working relationships (joint publications and projects) or even dependencies due to employment relationships. In addition, spouses or partners should not participate jointly in a doctoral committee. In addition, at least one member of the doctoral committee should have scientific publication activity in the broader context of the doctoral topic.

As soon as the reviewers have been appointed, the dissertation may no longer be returned to the doctoral candidate for revision (Section 6 (3) AB_PromO). The reviewers may impose conditions on the revision of the dissertation, but these may not exceed correction, tightening or minor revision instructions (§ 7 para. 6 AB_PromO). In addition, the thesis may be assessed as "failed". At the doctoral candidate's request, the thesis can then be revised and re-evaluated (§ 7 Para. 10 AB_PromO). In principle, the duration of the revision is not limited. In order to avoid such cases, good coordination between the supervisor and doctoral candidate should take place before the thesis is submitted.

Generally about one month after the reviews are available. If the supervisor makes a proposal for the composition of the doctoral committee at the latest at the same time as the dissertation is submitted, it usually takes about a week for this to be determined. The two reviewers then receive a request to prepare their reviews. According to the doctoral regulations, they should submit their reviews within a maximum of 10 weeks, but can also do so more quickly. The doctoral candidate then receives a copy of the reviews. At the same time, they will be made available to the public at the doctoral office in Kassel and the Dean's Office in Witzenhausen together with the thesis. Normally, about one week should be expected between receipt of the reviews and the display. The thesis is displayed for 14 calendar days or 30 calendar days during the lecture-free period. Only then can the disputation take place if there have been no objections. It is therefore recommended that the date of the disputation is not set until the reports are available. As a rule, it should take place within 8 weeks after all assessments have been submitted. In total, a period of around 16 weeks after submission of the dissertation should be expected before the defense can take place.

At FB11, the date is agreed between the doctoral candidate, the doctoral committee and the Dean's Office. Either the supervisor or the doctoral candidate takes the initiative here. The Dean's Office invites to the disputation.

Disputations are open to the public. The participation of relatives or acquaintances is not desired. Only the doctoral candidate and the members of the doctoral committee have the right to speak.

See question 15

An extract from the AB-PromO with information on grading is sent to the assessors. In addition to the grade level, the grading should also include the numerically expressed grade with (at least) one decimal place. The overall grade "with distinction" can only be awarded if at least one dissertation grade is graded "with distinction" (0.75) and the calculated overall grade is better than 1.0 (Section 10 (3) AB-PromO).