Doctorate at The Hochschule Niederrhein

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Graduate Centre HSNR.grad

The Graduate Centre HSNR.grad offers all those interested in doing a doctorate, doctoral candidates and members of the university who are involved in the promotion of scientists at early career stages an interdisciplinary, central point of contact for all aspects of the doctoral process. It supports early career researchers with a wide range of support services. It complements the faculties' specialist apprenticeships with a comprehensive range of advice and information on all formal aspects of the doctorate as well as a comprehensive, interdisciplinary qualification programme and networking opportunities. The Graduate Centre also acts as a link to the NRW Doctoral College.

 

Services of the Graduate Centre

  • Counselling: Information and individual counselling on interdisciplinary issues in all phases of the doctoral process

  • Qualification: Interdisciplinary qualification programme in which doctoral candidates learn valuable skills for the doctoral period, but also for the subsequent career path in science and business

  • Networking: Creation of a communication platform to promote interdisciplinary networking and enable joint, cross-doctoral activities

  • Funding and financing: promoting active participation in national and international scientific conferences for the purpose of scientific exchange and networking in the scientific community as well as providing information on funding opportunities for your doctorate

Registration

The Hochschule Niederrhein doctoral candidates are recommended to become members of the Graduate Centre in order to actively participate in the doctoral activities of the HSNR and to benefit from the wide range of offers.

Please send the completed and signed registration form by e-mail to the Graduate Centre.

Registration form »
Internal Area for Doctoral Candidates

Contact

Sarah Hoffmann
Coordinator doctoral program

Doing a doctorate at the HSNR

Academic staff working on multi-year projects are often given the opportunity to do a doctorate. Look for relevant job advertisements or talk to your project manager.

 

The Hochschule Niederrhein offers two doctoral programmes:

  • A doctorate in cooperation with a university authorised to award doctorates

  • A doctorate in a structured doctoral programme in accordance with the doctoral law of the Promotionskolleg NRW (PK NRW)

Are you interested in a doctorate at The Hochschule Niederrhein or do you have questions about your doctoral project? Please feel free to send us an e-mail.

What is a doctorate?

The doctorate is the conferral of the academic doctoral degree upon completion of the doctoral procedure. The doctoral procedure demonstrates the ability to work independently, in depth and scientifically.

The doctorate consists of two elements:

  • The dissertation as written documentation of the academic achievement
  • The oral examination in the form of a defence of the dissertation (disputation) or a scientific oral examination

The dissertation can be written in the form of a traditional doctorate (presentation of research results in a monograph) or a cumulative doctorate (publication of partial results in publications during the doctoral phase). The work on the doctorate is supported by your supervisors. In addition, active involvement in the scientific context, e.g. contact with other scientists or participation in scientific discourse at conferences, is recommended.

Prerequisites

According to § 67 (4) of the NRW Higher Education Act, admission to the doctoral programme is open to anyone who can provide evidence of a Master's or comparable degree.

Further admission requirements are regulated in the doctoral regulations of the university authorised to award doctorates or in the framework doctoral regulations (RPO) as well as in the respective doctoral regulations of the departments (APO) of the PK NRW. The doctoral regulations may provide for proof of further (studies) achievements.

Procedure of the Doctorate

Diagram of the doctoral programme

In a cooperative doctorate, you will be jointly supervised by a professor at The Hochschule Niederrhein and a university in Germany or abroad with its own doctoral degree programme. You write your dissertation independently of a fixed programme. The doctoral degree will be awarded to you by the cooperating university.

The First Step: Topic and Support

Your first consideration should be your doctoral topic. Choose a topic that you are currently researching at the HSNR. However, you can also look for a topic of your own that is related to your studies, for example. Let yourself be inspired by the numerous research activities at the university.

As soon as a professor at the HSNR agrees to supervise your doctoral project, a university professor should be sought for the research project in the case of a cooperative doctorate. The HSNR supervisor's personal network can be helpful here.

 

Supervision Agreement

As soon as both the university supervisor and the supervisor at the HSNR have agreed to supervise the doctoral project, this must be recorded in a supervision agreement in accordance with good scientific practice. This agreement regulates the rights and obligations of all parties involved during the doctoral process. The universities usually have a template for this.

Registration

Doctoral students who are registered for a cooperative doctorate at a university and are supervised at the HSNR as part of the doctoral programme are recorded at the HSNR as cross-registered students for statistical purposes. There are no contributions or fees for cross-registered students.

Cross-registered Registration »

The Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of NRW has granted the universities of applied sciences based in NRW their own right to award doctorates via the NRW Doctoral College (PK NRW). The Hochschule Niederrhein has been able to award doctorates via the PK NRW since 2023. The doctoral degree is awarded by the PK NRW.

The PK NRW offers the opportunity to complete a doctorate in structured and subject-specific doctoral programmes offered by the departments of the PK NRW. The PK NRW currently offers ten doctoral programmes. Each doctoral programme relates to a scientific, interdisciplinary overarching topic, which is examined from several disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Have you completed a Master's degree programme and are interested in a doctorate with PK NRW? Further prerequisites and requirements as well as the doctoral procedure are regulated in the Framework Doctoral Regulations (RPO) and in the doctoral regulations of the respective departments (APO) of the PK NRW.

Current regulations of the PK NRW

Do you have questions about the admission requirements of the individual departments or the regulations? If so, please make use of the counselling services offered by the PK NRW.

Services and counselling offered by the PK NRW

Find Topic

Your first consideration should be your doctoral topic. Choose a topic that you are currently researching at the HSNR. However, you can also look for a topic of your own that is related to your studies, for example. Let yourself be inspired by the numerous research activities at the university.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find a Support Team

As soon as a professor at the HSNR agrees to supervise your doctoral project, you should think together about further supervision. The doctoral concept of the PK NRW provides for doctoral candidates to be intensively supervised by a team of several university lecturers, which usually consists of three supervisors.

Find out which members of the PK NRW are suitable for your doctoral project. The professorial and associate members and their core research areas are presented on the websites of the PK NRW departments under "Contributors".

 

 

 

Supervision Commitment

Once you have found a complete support team, fill out the support agreement together. Use the binding template of the department in which the person is a member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registration

Anyone who is doing a doctorate at PK NRW and is supervised at The Hochschule Niederrhein for this purpose must register at HSNR.

The prerequisite is acceptance as a doctoral candidate by the responsible doctoral committee. Conditional registration can take place without this acceptance if a professorial member of the doctoral programme has confirmed supervision.

Conditional registration is limited to a maximum of two semesters. Enrolled doctoral students pay the semester fee.

 

 

To Registration »
After Registration

An application for registration at PK NRW must be submitted within four weeks of enrolment at HSNR. No fee is due for registration at PK NRW.

Submit an application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the same time as the application for registration at PK NRW. The examination of the application is the responsibility of the doctoral committee of the responsible department. You will receive written notification of the decision.

As a doctoral candidate according to the doctoral law of the PK NRW, you are obliged to re-enrol for the duration of your doctorate for the next semester both at the HSNR and at the PK NRW. Acceptance and registration are limited to five years.

As an enrolled doctoral candidate at the PK NRW, you are a member of the PK NRW. Membership ends if you de-register, do not re-register, discontinue your doctorate or at the latest when you successfully pass the oral doctoral examination (disputation).

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