Doctorates

Please read the appropriate doctoral degree regulations below. The explanations on this website only represent the simplified procedure of a doctorate at the KIT Faculty of Computer Science. Many details can only be found in the doctoral degree regulations.

You can make the process easier for yourself and for us if you use the sample documents shown below on the homepage for communication with us.

In addition to the information listed here, there is a FAQ from the Doctoral Candidates' Convention with frequently asked questions about doctoral studies.

Doctorate at the KIT Faculty of Informatics

The Department of Informatics grants the academic degree of a Doctor of Natural Sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) or the academic degree of a Doctor of Engineering (Dr.-Ing.) for independent scientific achievements.

For admission to a doctorate at the KIT Faculty of Informatics, the requirements described in the relevant doctoral degree regulations must be fulfilled. In particular, candidates have to hold a master or diploma degree in a course of study over at least five years at a recognized university. It is highly advisable to deal with these admission requirements at an early stage and to check whether you meet them or whether you will have to expect conditions in the further process.

The Baden-Württemberg State Higher Education Act of 2014 stipulates that a supervision agreement must be concluded with an academic supervisor before acceptance as a doctoral candidate and the subsequent doctoral application. Each professor of the KIT Faculty of Computer Science has corresponding, partly individualized templates for these supervision agreements.

In the further course, you should apply for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the KIT Faculty of Computer Science within six months of concluding the supervision agreement. Before applying for acceptance, however, you must register centrally as a doctoral candidate via an online portal at KHYS.

In the course of this application procedure, the doctoral committee of the KIT faculty will then check your eligibility for admission and, if necessary, conditions will be set which you can then fulfill during the actual research phase. It is highly recommended that you take this route, as otherwise you run the risk of only finding out when you submit your doctoral application with the completed dissertation (or 12 months beforehand, as stipulated by the doctoral regulations) that you are not eligible for admission without further ado and may have to fulfill time-consuming conditions.

By being accepted as a doctoral candidate, you will also receive certain supervision entitlements, e.g. even if the actually intended supervisor is absent. In addition, you are automatically a member of the Doctoral Covenant of the KIT Faculty of Computer Science, the representative body for computer science doctoral candidates at KIT. And you will be subject to the version of the doctoral regulations that was in force when you signed the supervision agreement or were accepted as a doctoral candidate. Acceptance as a doctoral candidate is initially granted for four years and can be extended on application.

The doctoral regulations of 12.01.2017 stipulate that you must present your topic in a doctoral interview at least one semester before the planned doctoral examination date.

After completing the research phase and the dissertation, you submit the application to start the actual doctoral procedure, i.e. the examination procedure. If you are eligible for admission (or have fulfilled the conditions imposed), the examination procedure will be opened and your dissertation will be assessed by at least two reviewers and, if your scientific work is accepted, an oral doctoral examination will take place, in which other examiners will take part in addition to the reviewers. You may express your wishes regarding the reviewers and examiners.

Finding dates for doctoral examinations

The dean's office will be closed from August 15. Appointment surveys will not be carried out until the beginning of September.

The allocation procedure is carried out by completing the following steps:

1. The doctoral candidate reviews the publicly available appointment list (Sharepoint calendar access with KIT account) and coordinates 3-5 suitable time slots with their reviewers (and possibly examiners). (When coordinating 3-5 suitable dates with your reviewers, please note that room 101 is not yet occupied).
   Here is the link to the SharePoint calendar: https://team.kit.edu/sites/informatik/Lists/Raum101_Kalender/
2. The doctoral candidate submits the agreed time slots to the Dean's Office by writing a corresponding e-mail to promotion∂informatik.kit.edu and asks for an appointment to be made with the doctoral committee.
   The following time slots are possible: 9-11 a.m. / 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. / 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
3. The Dean's Office sets the affected/submitted appointments in the public list (in the Sharepoint calendar) to the status "reserved" and enters the name of the doctoral student. If an appointment is already reserved, a prioritized waiting list (list of names) is created for the affected appointment.
4. The Dean's Office creates an appointment survey and writes to the PA members.
5. The doctoral candidate will then be informed of the final date.

After the successful doctoral examination, you must prepare and publish a final version of the dissertation to be approved by the doctoral committee. You will only receive your certificate after the approved publication and the doctoral procedure has been successfully completed.

Doctoral degree regulations

Which doctoral degree regulations are relevant for me?

The KIT Faculty of Computer Science is currently in a transitional period. There are currently two valid doctoral degree regulations.

For all doctoral candidates who were accepted before 12.01.2017, the doctoral regulations from 2006 with the amendments from 2014 still apply. These doctoral regulations also apply to all persons whose supervision agreement was concluded before 12.01.2017, even if they have not yet been accepted.

For all other persons, the new doctoral regulations have applied since 12.01.2017.

You can view both sets of doctoral regulations in the "Forms and Documents for the Doctorate Programme" section below.

 Further information:

• Obligatory Registration with KHYS
• for international applicants
• Doctoral Studies at KIT