Doing your PhD

Since March 18, 2026, admission to the doctoral program has been governed exclusively by the 2026 doctoral regulations.

Have you finished your dissertation and are ready to submit it? If so, please follow these steps: Send an informal written request to initiate the doctoral process via email to Ms. Florence Scholz (florence.scholz.1uuni-potsdampde). The documents you need to submit depend on the specific doctoral regulations:

Once all reviews have been received, the reviews are forwarded to the doctoral candidates via email.

Now the display period starts. During the display period, all members entitled to inspect the dissertation (see Doctoral Regulations July 10, 2013 or Doctoral Regulations August 27, 2002, §8, 5) can inspect the dissertation as well as the expert opinions and submit a statement to the doctoral committee if they do not agree with the expert opinions or if other deficiencies are detected.

After the expiry of the display period, the doctoral committee decides whether the dissertation is accepted or whether it is returned with conditions for amendment.  We will inform you in any case.

The disputation is done. Now you have to publish your dissertation to be allowed to use your doctoral title.

You can find all the important information on the flyer of the library:

Publication - English

As soon as the Office of Doctoral Studies and Habilitation has received confirmation from the University Library that the dissertation has been published, the doctoral certificate will be sent.

In the Cotutelle de thèse procedure, a dissertation is jointly supervised and examined by two universities in two countries. At the end of the Cotutelle procedure, you will receive a doctoral degree according to German examination law.

Advantages of a cotutelle de thèse procedure:

• You spend part of your doctoral period at a foreign university (at least one year each).
• They deal intensively with the different research cultures and scientific systems.
• You enrich your research work through a change of perspective.  Country-specific approaches can be combined, thereby opening up a new, individual approach to your research topic.
• They acquire additional qualifications, such as above-average foreign language skills and profound intercultural competencies.
• You ensure your scientific connection to both countries and can establish professionally relevant contacts.
• You can later work more easily in both countries and lay the foundation for an international career.

Even though there are some hurdles, such as an increased administrative effort and different structures and procedures in the universities, we would like to encourage you and support you in the best possible way. Please contact us. We will be happy to help you.

Further notes:

• You will be supervised by two supervisors, one university teacher in Germany and one in the partner country.
• The prerequisite for starting a Cotutelle procedure is always acceptance as a doctoral candidate by the doctoral committee.
• In order to carry out a Cotutelle procedure, an individual contract must be concluded between the two universities. Here, for example, the language, the design of the oral examination, the composition of the jury, the grading system, etc. are precisely regulated in advance. A sample contract is available from the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz). You can adapt this individually.
• The dissertation is written in one of the two languages.
• The dissertation is submitted to the home university and to the foreign partner university, but is completed with only one examination.
• The examination board in the disputation is composed of equal numbers of scientists from both countries.
•  Doctoral certificate: Either the universities issue a joint certificate (joint degree), or the universities award a total of two certificates, which contain the note that they are only valid in conjunction with the respective other doctoral certificate (double degree). This is regulated in the contract.

Procedure:

1. Search for potential supervisors at both universities (ideally common research interest) and contacting them
2. Preparation of a contract (according to sample)
3. Sending the draft contract to the office for doctoral studies and habilitation
4. Review of the draft contract
5. Reviewed draft contract is sent to partner university for submission.
6. The final version, accepted by all parties, must be signed by both parties (doctoral student, supervisor and dean of the respective faculty, as well as the president of the university).

For additional websites on the Cotutelle process and promotion, see:

• the website of the German-French University (DFH) for the promotion of binational doctorates with France
• DAAD doctoral funding for binational doctorates