Doctorate (PhD)

You will find the concrete, formal requirements for admission to a doctorate in § 7 of the General Doctoral Regulations (opens in new tab) . The following table provides an overview of the main points:

Post-graduates with a degree in another subject can be accepted as doctoral candidates if this is in the interest of interdisciplinary research and the candidates have the necessary expertise in the area covered by the doctoral thesis.

Acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the department is a prerequisite for registration (or optionally enrolment as a doctoral student) at the University.

Registration is mandatory for all doctoral candidates at the Technische Universität Darmstadt.

If all the requirements are met, the Doctoral Admissions Committee of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (etit) will formally accept doctoral candidates. The admissions procedure is as follows:

Choose a potential supervisor (full-time professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology ) for your doctorate. Discuss the possibility of supervision as well as the chances of applying for a position with this prospective supervisor in advance. The supervision by persons according to §11 (2) of the Doctoral Regulations (opens in new tab) is possible in justified cases.

In order to be admitted as a doctoral candidate you must officially apply to the Departmental Dean’s Office.

Please send all applications and related enquiries to promotionen@etit.tu-….

Please submit the following documents electronically:

• Written application for admission (opens in new tab) as a doctoral candidate (please fill in document electronically), including
  • Working title of your thesis
  • Supervisor’s statement (after previous agreement and signed confirmation)
• Your CV
• Signed Application of admission/registration via TUCaN, further information here.
  • Additionally: Submission of the original by (house-)post
• Your academic certificates:
  • Certificates and diplomas of all academic degrees (Bachelor/Master), listing the completed courses per study programme incl. achieved grades
  • Official translations of all documents, if not issued in English or German language
  • For degrees from abroad: Confirmation of the equivalence of your degrees to corresponding German degrees, incl. conversion of the final grades into the German grading system (to be obtained from Department VIII A – International Admissions)

Please send your application for admission to a doctoral degree, including all the additional documents, to the Dean's Office no later than two weeks prior to the meeting of the Doctoral Admissions Committee . Only complete applications can be considered.

Based on your submission, the Departmental Doctoral Admissions Committee will make a decision on your application, including possible requirements. You will receive a written notification from the Dean's Office about the decision of the doctoral committee.

To initiate the doctoral examination procedure, please submit the documents listed below to the Dean's Office.

The submission is to be made electronically to promotionen@etit.tu-…. In addition, please submit one bound copy of the dissertation.

Your documents must be submitted to the Dean's Office no later than two weeks prior to the meeting of the Doctoral Admissions Committee . The receipt of the electronic documents is decisive for the submission deadline.

Note: Applications for which the bound copy of the dissertation is not received by the day of the meeting at the latest cannot be considered, even if they are received electronically by the deadline.

Based on your submission, the Departmental Doctoral Admissions Committee will decide on the composition of the Examination Board. The Dean’s Office will inform you about the decision.

After you have passed the disputation, the Dean's Office will arrange for your doctoral certificate to be issued.

In addition, please send the following documents to the Dean’s Office:

• Discharge note from the Kittler Student Centre stating that there are no (more) literature borrowings outstanding there.
• Declaration Relating to the Doctoral Thesis and Transfer of Rights (opens in new tab)
  • For the purpose of a clear reference to your publication, we ask that you enter the requested version details based on the date of the release for publication granted by your supervisor as well as your surname and given name.
    Please use the following format: YYYY-MM-DD_Surname_Given Name
    The filename of your electronic publication must be identical to the version details.

To the ULB:

• Electronic publication at the server for university publications of TU Darmstadt (recommended)

or

• Six copies if your thesis has been published by a publishing house

The ULB will report the publication of your dissertation to the Dean's Office. You will then receive your doctoral certificate.

Please note that according to §21 (1) of TU Darmstadt’s General Doctoral Degree Regulations (opens in new tab) , you are only permitted to carry the doctoral degree once you have received your doctoral certificate. According to §20 (1) the publication has to take place within one year after the disputation.

Please note the current information about disputations via video-conference .

You can use our registration form to observe a public video-disputation .

Below you will find all upcoming Dates for disputations at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

If you want to stay informed about upcoming disputation dates, click on the RSS feed to receive notifications via mail.

According to § 12 Para. 3 of the General Doctoral Degree Regulations (opens in new tab) , dissertations and reviews are available for inspection for two weeks in the Dean's Office. To make an appointment for inspection, please contact promotionen@etit.tu-….