Before starting your doctorate – acceptance, registration, enrolment

If you are already working as a research assistant in a professor’s research team, all the stages from step 4 - Application onwards are relevant for you!

  1. 1.Obtaining information

    Graduates who have studied to qualify as a teacher for primary schools or for primary and lower secondary schools must complete additional activities in the acceptance procedure. You will find a summary of the type and scope of these activities here.

  2. 2.Looking for a supervisor

    • I need to narrow down the faculty that is most suitable for my topic.
    • I need to go through the list of faculties. (You will find detailed information on doctoral procedures under the headline "research".)
    • I need to find out about the individual specialist fields on the faculties’ websites and the lecturers based there.
    • I need to discover information about the content of the units of instruction that are available and the contact details from the lecture list.
    • I need to contact potential supervisors.
    • As soon as I have found a supervisor, I need to write my research proposal (at least 5 – 10 pages, including a bibliography and a schedule in tabular form, if possible) in conjunction with my supervisor.

    If you are seeking to gain a doctorate, the first step involves looking for a supervisor for your doctoral project. This will usually mean supervisors at the University of Kassel, who have been appointed to the faculty where you would like to study for your doctorate. They will support you in selecting your topic and methodology, planning your work and the individual further training opportunities.

    Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide any central service to find supervisors.

    When making contact, please attach your CV, your certificates and any publications in addition to the outline of your research project. 

  3. 3.Supervision agenda

    • You need to go through the supervision agenda with your supervisor.
    • Printed form for the supervision agenda Word | PDF

    All doctoral candidates at the University of Kassel must sign an agreement with their supervisor, what is known as the supervision agenda. It helps to synchronise the mutual expectations during your PhD studies and plan various aspects at an early stage – e.g. attending conferences, publication strategies. A copy of the fifth page must be submitted to the Doctoral Office. We urgently recommend that you update the supervision agenda every year and this is the precondition for any extension to agreements during the qualification phase.

  4. 4.Application

    + required documents

    • I am applying for admission as a doctoral candidate via eCampus and am uploading the required documents digitally.

    I upload the following documents to eCampus:

    • The signed fifth page of the supervision agenda
    • Copy of my completed university degree (e.g. Magister, Diplom, Bachelor's and Master's degree)
    • Transcript of records of my university degrees
    • Copy of the university entrance qualification 
    • Exposé: working title and written description of the planned dissertation including timetable in modular form (Dr.-Ing.: please enclose this in the form of a bar chart)
    • Curriculum vitae in tabular form
    • Copy of identity card or passport

    I am uploading further documents that apply to me with the application:

    • Proof of name change (e.g. marriage certificate), as I have acquired qualifications under a different name
    • Officially certified translation, as my documents and certificates were not issued in German or English
    • Copy of the grading system of my former university, as I did not complete my degrees at a German university
    • If applicable, proof of foreign language skills (please read the note below)
    • List of my academic publications
    • Proof of the type and scope of the contract for doctoral counselling used
    • Officially certified copies of my existing doctoral certificate

    Online application via the eCampus

    Please read the information on the required documents carefully:  

    eCampus: If you are not yet enrolled at the University of Kassel, you must first register via eCampus. Once you have successfully registered, you can access the online portal via the menu (top left of the eCampus page) by clicking on "Study Application".

    Supervision agenda: Page 5 of the supervision agenda is sufficient.

    Foreign language skills: In Departments 01, 02 and 05, foreign language skills are required and correspondent evidence must be provided for some doctoral subjects. Please check the special provisions of the faculty in which you are planning your doctorate to find out whether and which foreign language skills you need to provide.

    Please note:
    Depending on the subject area, additional subject-specific documents may be required. Please consult your supervisor and compare the special provisions of the subject area in which you are planning your doctorate.

  5. 5.Acceptance procedure

    Between examination and decision

    If you have successfully completed the online application portal, uploaded your documents and submitted the application digitally, you will then receive an electronic confirmation of receipt to your e-mail address.

    The doctoral office

    • checks your application for completeness and requests any missing documents and
    • determines whether the formal requirements for acceptance as a doctoral candidate have been met and
    • forwards your application to the relevant doctoral committee.

    The doctoral committee

    • checks whether acceptance as a doctoral candidate is possible,
    • whether any conditions need to be fulfilled or
    • whether an aptitude assessment procedure must be initiated and
    • informs the doctoral office of the result.

    The overall process can take up to two months. Please refrain from enquiring during this time. As soon as the doctoral office has received the result, they will contact you by post.

    Please memorise your access data for the eCampus. You will be regularly informed about the status of your application by e-mail. If any documents are missing for processing your application, you will also be informed on this by e-mail. As a precaution, please also check your spam folder to see if you have received an e-mail from the University of Kassel.

  6. 6.Enrolment (optional)

    Once I have received my notification of acceptance, I can

    • apply for my visa or
    • extend my visa at the foreigners’ registration office or
    • initiate the optional enrolment process as a doctoral candidate at the University of Kassel or
    • apply for a scholarship.

    This link takes you to the enrolment section at the eCampus. You will also obtain information on this site about which other documents you need to submit to successfully enrol at the student affairs office. 

    It is possible to enrol for a summer semester until 10th May and for a winter semester until 10th November.

    Enrolment is voluntary. Once you enrol, you will receive a CampusCard; this not only enables you to eat at reduced prices in the cafeterias at the University of Kassel and use the libraries, but it is also your semester ticket to use public transportation free of charge in parts of the state of Hesse or upgrade the ticket to travel in Germany.

     

     

     

  7. 7.Arriving in Germany, making preparations

    As I am travelling to Germany from abroad, I need to find out about what preparations I need to make to travel. The web pages of theWelcome Centre provide detailed infomation on all necessary steps and procedures that I need to keep in mind.

What happens next?