Procedure
Admission as a doctoral student at the Faculty of Engineering is prior to admission to a structured doctoral program or graduate school. Please contact your advisor for this purpose.
I. Admission
1. Selection of the advisor
As a first step, please find an advisor for your doctoral dissertation. Doctoral theses are usually to be supervised by a member of the Faculty of Engineering with examination authority. If your advisor is not a member of the Faculty of Engineering, this must be approved by the doctoral committee. For this purpose, we ask that your advisor contact our doctoral committee directly through the Dean's Office (e-mail: promotion-ing@uni-heidelberg.de).
2. Composition of the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC)
In general, the following applies (individual doctorate and doctorate with TAC from a doctoral program):
The TAC consists of 3 members:
- 2 members are members of the Combined Faculty
- 1 of which is a member of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences
The member of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences is a professor of the faculty and represents the doctoral candidate's corresponding doctoral subject.
He/she agrees to prepare the written report for the defense. The professorial member of the faculty also chairs the examination for the defense.
Please note that the TAC members should also be members of your examination board later on.
Special features of the doctoral program with TAC
The TAC of the doctoral program can still be used if the following rule is observed:
There must be 1 member from the TAC from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. (see above)
3. Registration on the online portal heiDOCS
Please register on the following website:
If you wish to join our faculty and already have a heiDOCS file, a new heiDOCS file must be created for our faculty. You will need a different e-mail address from the one you used to register on heiDOCS.
4. Document submission
Once you have registered in heidocs, please submit the following documents to the Dean's Office:
We would need the following documents from you for the doctoral committee that decides on acceptance:
- Form Application for Admission as a Doctoral Candidate in original with original signatures.
- Form Agreement on Doctoral Studies in original with original signatures
- Copy of your identity card
- Certified copy of your Master's degree certificate
- Certified copy of your Master's transcript of records
- Certified copy of your Bachelor's degree certificate
- Certified copy of your Bachelor's transcript of records
- Form Period of Study
- Resume
Please send all the above documents to me as a single PDF. I will review your documents and get back to you to schedule a personal appointment to submit your documents.
The agreement on doctoral studies is signed in three copies. One copy for the advisor, one for the doctoral candidate, and one remains with the doctoral file in the faculty.
The signatures on the agreement must all be original on the printed form. Electronic signatures cannot be accepted. Please submit the original Application for Admission as a Doctoral Candidate and the Agreement on Doctoral Studies forms to the Dean's Office.
In justified exceptional cases, the Agreement on Doctoral Studies may be sent in advance with an electronic signature. However, the original signature of your advisor must be submitted at the latest upon arrival in Heidelberg. In this case, we request that your advisor sends us the Agreement on Doctoral Studies by e-mail to: promotion-ing@uni-heidelberg.de.
Only complete applications can be processed.
After successful admission by the faculty, the status of your heiDOCS file will change to “accepted” (step 4). After step 4 is done, we ask you to complete steps 5a “Research Phase” and 5b “General Conditions” in a timely manner.
II. Working on the Dissertation
§ 5 Abs. 5 Gesamtpromotionsordnung: As a rule, the doctorate should be completed after three years. Enrollment can be for a maximum of 5 years.
III. Examination procedure
1. Application for admission to the examination
The doctoral candidate must apply for admission to the examination at the dean's office of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences.
The following attachments/information are also required in addition to the form:
1. The electronic versions of the dissertation: (as PDF by e-mail to: promotion-ing@uni-heidelberg.de) A complete version and a text-identical version of the dissertation in electronic form without cover page, without outline and without bibliography in a separate pdf file. (Please name this file by the pattern: surname_firstname_plagiatspruefung.pdf / the complete version please name by the pattern: surname_firstname_complete.pdf)
Information on plagiarism check: In accordance with the recommendations of the Rectorate, the Faculty of Engineering has decided to provide reviewers with an automated check for potential plagiarism as part of the dissertation review process. The result of the automated examination is included in the review of the thesis; in case of doubt, the doctoral committee is called in. The automated examination for potential plagiarism is carried out by the provider Turnitin. To enable the examination, the identical text of the dissertation without cover page, outline and bibliography must be sent to the Dean's Office in a separate pdf file together with the electronic version of the dissertation.
The terms of use of Turnitin are compliant with the European Data Protection Directive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of May 25, 2018.
2. printed copies of your dissertation:
à 2 printed copies remain in the dean's office
à One printed copy for each of your reviewers: please hand over one copy of your dissertation each to your reviewers personally.
3. declarations according to § 8 (3) Promotionsordnung:
a) Affidavit: I hereby declare that I have written the submitted dissertation myself and have not used any sources or assistance other than those expressly designated by me.
b) I hereby declare that I have not applied for an examination procedure at any other institution or that I have already used the dissertation in this or any other form elsewhere as an examination paper or submitted it to another faculty as a dissertation.
b) I hereby declare that the dissertation may be checked for compliance with generally applicable scientific standards using electronic data processing programs.
4. Curriculum vitae in tabular form with indication of nationality and highlighting of the course of studies and doctoral degree
5. examination certificates (certificate type: diploma, bachelor's degree, master's degree) if not already submitted at the time of admission.
A proposal for the examination board (4 members) is also required, which must then be approved by the doctoral committee.
The original reviews prepared by your reviewers are to be submitted to the following address:
Doctoral Committee of the Faculty of Engineering
Berliner Straße 45
69120 Heidelberg
In order to meet the deadlines, an electronic version of the review can be sent to promotion-ing@uni-heidelberg.de in advance. However, this does not replace sending the original by mail.
2. Examination
Please discuss a suitable examination date with your examination committee and arrange for an appropriate room in which your disputation can take place. There must be at least 8 weeks between the submission of your dissertation to the Dean's Office and the disputation.
Following a successful disputation, you will be issued a certificate stating that you have passed the doctoral examination, which will be signed by the chairman of the examination committee. You will receive the certificate through the Combined Faculty of Mathematics, Engineering and Natural Sciences.
Generally, there must be 8 weeks between the submission of your dissertation and the date of your disputation. Please contact the Dean's Office before making an appointment for your defense. Please also note that the Dean's Office is generally closed during the Christmas period.
Dissertation
The dissertation must be written in German or English. A German and an English abstract of the most important results are to precede the actual text. (§ 7 paragraph 3 Gesamtpromotionsordnung)
Cumulative Dissertation
Cumulative dissertations are possible in exceptional cases and require the approval of the doctoral committee. They are not possible in the Matter to Life doctoral degree program. (Regarding § 7 paragraph 2 Gesamtpromotionsordnung)
University Library
For publication, one copy of your doctoral thesis stamped by the faculty must be submitted to the University Library. For this purpose you can pick up one of the two copies which you handed in at the Dean's Office for the registration for the doctoral procedure. (See further in the form “Proof of publication” under Forms/Downloads)
Doctoral Certificate
After successful completion of the disputation, the Dean's Office prepares the documents for the Combined Faculty, which will issue the doctoral certificate for you. Issuing the doctoral certificate usually takes one month.
The doctoral certificate can only be issued if the form Proof of Publication (see under Forms/Downloads) has been submitted to the Dean's Office.
(cf. § 13 Promotionsordnung)
Contact
Marina Gilke
Dean's Office of the Faculty for Engineering Sciences
E-mail: promotion-ing@uni-heidelberg.de
For the submission of your documents as well as for the submission of your dissertation, please make an individual appointment with us (by phone or via e-mail).