Information for PhD Students

1. The first and most important step to pursue your PhD at the University of Regensburg is to find a supervisor who is willing to support and guide you. Please contact a professor of your field of research directly, sending him/her significant documents (university diplomas, transcripts of records, a short description of your research plan). It is the faculty’s responsibility to decide about the recognition of your diplomas and the admission to a PhD.
   
   Here you can find links to all faculties of the UR (once you have chosen the appropriate faculty, please click on "Lehrstuhl ” or “Chair/Institute”)
2. As soon as you have the commitment of a UR supervisor, you can find more information about further steps with regard to your enrollment as a PhD student further down.

1-   There are different options to finance your stay at the UR while pursuing a PhD. Scholarships are one of the most common. Please check with our section “Scholarships”, where you will find an overview of the most common scholarship foundations or helpful search engines for researchers.

As an alternative to receiving a scholarship through a foundation, it is often possible to be employed as a project staff (Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft) at the chair where you have applied to do your doctorate. Please ask your supervisor to give you information on this matter.

After you have found a doctoral advisor for your project, you have to start with the application process to be accepted as a PhD candidate by the appropriate faculty.

Before you apply, though, it is necessary to check whether your university degree/s  are recognized in Germany. The faculty in which you want to carry out your doctoral project is responsible for your admission. Please get in touch with the administration office of the faculty.

The faculty will review your degrees and determine whether they are comparable to the German ones for you to be admitted as a PhD candidate, or whether you need to attend extra courses or pass an aptitude test.

Before you start with your doctorate, you should read in detail the regulations for the doctoral degree of your choice. Important information about possible requirements for the doctorate, formalities, doctoral thesis and length of editing period.

Here you can find the current regulations for doctoral degrees (in German):

• Faculty for Philosophy, Fine Arts, History and Humanities
• Faculty for Natural Sciences
• Faculty for Medicine, Biology and Pre-Clinical Medicine
• Faculty for Business, Economy and Management Information Systems
• Faculty for Law
• Faculty for Catholic Theology
  

In case you would like to receive a student ID, you must enroll at the Office of the Registrar (Studentenkanzlei). Here are the necessary steps to complete this process:

        2.a) Application
        2.b) Acceptance
        2.c) Enrollment in person

You will find the Office of the Registrar in the Administration Building, rooms 09-11. It is opened from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and Thursday from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.

Following documents are to be submitted with your application:

1. Application form (Antrag auf Zulassung)
2. Faculty confirmation that you have been admitted as a PhD candidate.  (Promotionsbescheinigung für ausländische Studierende) This is to be filled out by your supervisor. NOTE: for doctoral studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, Art History, History and Humanities you will also need "Bescheinigung des Promotionsausschusses".
3. Copies of your school and university degree diplomas (please also submit certified translations of your documents in the case that your diplomas are not in either German, English or French). Be sure to bring your original documents with you!
4. Proof of your German language skills as long as your doctoral thesis will be published in German. In case your thesis and all examinations are to be conducted in a language other than German, this needs to be expressly stated in the regulations of your doctoral studies.
5. A CV
6. A copy of your passport and at least one photograph (3.5 x 4.5 cm).

Once your application is processed by the Office of the Registrar (Studentenkanzlei), you will receive an acceptance letter by mail with all important information referring you to the next steps for enrollment.

NOTE: enrollment is not compulsory, but highly recommended!

Important:
Please take into account that to be able to enroll in person it is compulsory for you to present the original AND original certified translations of the following documents:

• school diploma
• bachelor degree and transcript or records
• master degree and transcript or records

Please bring all of these documents with you to Germany. If the original documents were issued in German, English or French, then no translation is required. For all other languages, an official certified translation is mandatory.

Here is the complete list of documents necessary for the enrollment:

• Proof of health insurance in Germany to be issued by a German statutory health insurance company
• Proof that you have paid the student service fee
• Enrollment form (if you have already received it)
• Acceptance letter
• If necessary, proof that you have passed the German exam (DSH-Prüfung)
• Originals of your school and university degrees and, if applicable, certified translations
• Passport and photograph (3.5 x 4.5 cm)

If you have questions about these documents (especially health insurance), please contact info.welcome-center@ur.de.

The enrollment at German universities is only valid for one semester. For each following semester you need to re-enroll ("rückmelden").

To re-enroll you will need to transfer the student service fee (around € 150). Once it is time to re-enroll the university will send out an e-mail stating how much and where to transfer the money to your student account. Please make sure to check your student e-mail account regularly!