thesis advisor german

Final thesis abroad

Bachelor’s thesis, Master’s thesis, Diplom thesis or Magister thesis abroad

If your School or Department consents, you can write your final thesis (Bachelor’s, Diplom, Magister or Master’s thesis) abroad. However, this is a highly individual matter which requires thorough planning.

General conditions

Final theses are always subject to the regulations of the university at which you are enrolled and are graded according to these regulations. This means that FAU regulations also apply for your thesis even if you decide to complete it abroad. You should therefore consult the study and examination regulations in good time and possibly also contact your subject advisor. Aspects to bear in mind are deadlines which must be met, the scope of the work, registering for a thesis and such like. You always need someone at FAU to officially allocate the topic and grade your work.

There are two ways to obtain a final thesis abroad:

• You decide on a topic and find a supervisor at FAU and, in agreement with your supervisor, write the thesis at a university or a company abroad.
• You organise a final thesis at a university or a company abroad and find a supervisor there. Once you have found a suitable topic and a supervisor abroad, you still need to find a supervisor at FAU. To do so, contact the department closest to the subject of your thesis.

Contact & funding

There are several ways of contacting universities or companies abroad.

• Make the most of connections your lecturers have established to other institutions abroad. An official list is not available, please discuss your intention to work abroad directly with your lecturers.
• Find out about the exchange and scholarship programmes at FAU (e.g. Erasmus+ , DAAD PROMOS ) and external programmes (e.g. by the University Centre for Bavaria and Latin-America ).

• | Intranet
• | Portals
• | ULB Catalogue

Doctoral studies at HHU

There are several ways to earn a doctorate depending on the faculties, the individual research fields as well as on the type of doctorate. It can be completed within a structured programme or quite independently under the supervision of a professor. Over a period of about three to four years, doctoral students conduct independent research, write a dissertation and usually defend it through an oral examination. The starting date is not bound to the university semesters, but rather depends on the available funding options for the individual research projects.

At HHU, doctoral candidates are individually supervised and supported in order to advance their careers. The following applies to all faculties of HHU:

• the regulations for doctoral studies stipulate that doctoral theses must be overseen by two supervisors; i.e. a second supervisor may be added to the PhD advisory committee
• the course "Good Scientific Practice" is mandatory for all doctoral candidates
• the doctoral research is conducted within a structured doctoral programme or, alternatively, can be completed within the framework of a structured curriculum at the respective faculties' graduate academies
• international junior researchers receive advice and support from the Junior Scientist and International Research Center (JUNO) regarding their stay in Germany and at HHU
• the faculties' graduate academies offer a broad qualification programme for doctoral students and a comprehensive counseling service
• the  Heine Research Academies and the graduate academies of the  Faculty of Medicine (MedRSD) , the  Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences (iGRAD)  and the  Faculty of Arts and Humanities (PhilGRAD) provide a common framework of support and structured education for all doctoral researchers.

In Germany and at HHU, the most common PhD track is completing an individual doctorate under the supervision of a professor and thereby conducting research largely independently on one's own research topic. This offers a great deal of flexibility but also demands a high degree of personal initiative and responsibility. To start such a doctoral project, you first need to find a supervisor at HHU. The supervision of a doctoral thesis is an individual agreement between the doctoral researcher and the supervisor. In some faculties at HHU (e.g. Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences) an additional supervising professor is mandatory. 

Doctoral students conducting an indivual doctorate may be employed by the supervisor's institute, which often requires them to work on a specific project or to participate in the teaching requirements of the institute. Vacancies for this path to a doctorate are often advertised on the research institute's website or can be found at the HeRA job portal . Doctoral researchers who are not employed by the institute are advised to organise funding for their dissertation project , for example by a scholarship.

How long it takes to complete an individual doctorate depends mainly on one's own time schedule. Three to four years are within in the normal range.

Find further information on how to apply for an individual doctorate here .

In structured doctoral programmes, doctoral students and their research topics are integrated into a larger scientific framework in which the students work on a common research focus or methodology. These programmes are often interdisciplinary and/or have a strong international orientation with English as the team language. In general, they offer a subject-specific curriculum as well as opportunities to acquire transferable skills and additional qualifications. Doctoral students are generally supervised by a thesis advisory committee, i.e. in teams of several professors participating in the programme. 

At HHU you have a broad spectrum of structured doctoral programmes in research training groups and graduate schools funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Excellence Initiative, the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and HHU itself. Sometimes they include collaborations with other universities, non-university research institutes such as the Helmholtz Association or the International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) as well as other international partners.

Programme specific scholarships or job offers for doctoral candidates usually provide funding for at least three years. Find further information on available scholarships or job offers at the graduate programmes' websites or and the HeRA job portal . Click here  for details on how to apply for a graduate programme.

Steps to a doctorate

Application

Re-Registration of doctoral students for a new semester

Events & dates, 07.11.2024, 10:00 informationsveranstaltung des welcome centers für institute, 12.11.2024 - 13.11.2024, 09:00 forschungsfördertage / research funding days 2024, 13.11.2024, 10:00 dfg prospects: walter benjamin-programm, 04.12.2024, 12:30 hera lunch (online): akademische berufsfelder / jobs in academia - scientific manager.

• For Prospective Students
• For Students
• For Researchers
• For Employees
• For Executives and Professionals
• For Founders
• For Cooperations
• For Press and Media

If you use one of the color modes, the TUM website and its elements will be displayed in either dark or light.

The settings are stored on your computer and not transferred to the server.

Making Your Thesis a Success

For most students, their final research paper is the first major work written during their degree program. It is much more comprehensive and demanding than term or seminar papers they have written during the course of their studies and, therefore, requires more planning.

Formalities: What regulations apply to the thesis?

Here, you will find information on the regulations governing the writing and submission of your thesis.  Formalities Please take note: These specifications apply for bachelor’s and master’s theses. You can find the regulations applying to the diploma thesis in the §§ of the ADPO (General Academic and Examination Regulations) and the FPSO (Departmental Study and Examination Regulations) of your degree program.

Tips and Tricks

Here, you will find some tips, literature and links we have compiled to help you succeed in writing your thesis. Tips and Tricks

Please note: The recently issued prohibition on the use of special characters in connection with gender-sensitive language in Bavarian schools, universities and authorities relates exclusively to the official tasks of the institutions themselves ; the prohibition does not extend to personal speech, documents, texts, and communication in study and teaching . 

Students are free to decide whether and in what form they want to use gender-sensitive language. The use or non-use of gender-sensitive language has no influence on the assessment of examinations, seminar papers, or theses .

English Writing Center and Schreibberatung German as a Foreign Language

The English Writing Center and the Schreibberatung German as a Foreign Language offer free one-to-one consulting in English or German writing to all members of the TUM community. The Center is staffed by both professional language instructors and student peer tutors, all of whom are native English or German speakers. They help you develop long-term proficiency in English or German writing, while polishing your actual texts in the process.

Having trouble choosing a topic for your Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis? Our Themenbörse posts current thesis topics from across the spectrum of TUM’s academic departments.

Please observe the  e-mail etiquette .

Personal advising sessions with  General Student Advising  by appointment

Please note: We are not available by phone on November 6, 2024.

Monday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Tuesday, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. (Student Information only) Wednesday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Please note: The Service Desk will be closed on November 6, 2024.