In Germany the right to award a doctorate is usually reserved for universities or equivalent institutions. The acquisition of the doctoral degree is also possible at "Universities of Applied Sciences" through cooperative doctorates with doctorate-granting partners. At our University of Applied Sciences the amount of cooperative doctorates increased over the last few years.

How do these cooperative doctorates come about? First, the doctoral topic should be introduced to professors of our university. In case of a positive response, a joint request is made to a professor at a university with whom the dissertation is supervised together. Parallel to this, the doctoral candidates elaborate on their topic by writing an exposé. If the university professor is willing to take on the supervision, the doctoral committee of that university will be asked to accept the candidate as a doctoral student.

The doctoral candidates do not necessarily have to have been part of the student body of our university. External candidates are expressly encouraged to apply.