"A new path to a doctorate is opening up for our doctoral students. The right to earn a doctorate at the doctoral college strengthens our application-oriented research and increases the attractiveness of the Hochschule Niederrhein as a research facility," says Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Prange, Vice President for Research and Transfer at the Hochschule Niederrhein.
There is a great demand among companies in the region for highly qualified employees. In the future, they will benefit even more from the application-oriented research profile of doctoral students at the Hochschule Niederrhein. At universities, research is more often basic; at the Hochschule Niederrhein, research projects are often oriented toward the problems and issues of the region and its companies.
"The fact that we can open up this additional path to a doctorate for our best graduates with transfer-oriented research is a milestone. For the universities of applied sciences, it is a distinction of their quality," says Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Prange.
Of course, cooperative doctoral studies with universities also remain part of the Hochschule Niederrhein's offerings. With the support of the university's (in-house) doctoral college, founded in 2012, more than 200 doctoral students have already been accompanied and ideally supported in their cooperative doctoral studies. The Hochschule Niederrhein has also subsidized and will continue to subsidize trips to scientific congresses for young researchers.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is a pioneer with its new doctoral law. Unlike in other federal states, there is now a central quality-assurance body and a qualification program for doctoral students that encompasses all HAW. Twenty-one universities are affiliated with the NRW doctoral college.
