Doctorate
You would like to do a doctorate and make an independent contribution to research within the framework of a doctoral thesis? You have our respect! You have not chosen an easy path. But you needn’t fear being left on your own, because you and your doctorate are in the best hands at the University of Bayreuth and our Graduate School.
At the University of Bayreuth, doctoral students of all subjects do their doctorate in one of the structured programmes of our four graduate centres or one of our seven faculties.
- Bayreuth Graduate School of Mathematics & Natural Sciences (BayNAT)
- Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS)
- Bayreuth Graduate Centre for Cultural Studies, Social Sciences & Humanities (BayKULT)
- Bayreuth Graduate Centre for Law, Ethics, Businss Management & Economics (BayREW)
- Overview of the seven faculties of the University of Bayreuth
Our aspiration is to create optimal research and learning conditions for doctoral students. To date we have been successful, with more and more researchers being attracted by the spirit of the University and its excellent research environment.
Among foreign researchers, Bayreuth is even considered one of the most attractive universities in Germany, and regularly occupies the top positions in the Humboldt Rankings. The University is very well networked internationally, and maintains over 150 partnerships with foreign universities and scientific institutions.
University of Bayreuth Graduate School
The University of Bayreuth Graduate School (UBTGS) is part of the WiN Academy, which supports researchers along all stages of their career from doctorate to professorship, and whose advisory and bridging structures accompany the transition between individual career stages. The WiN Academy and UBTGS promote scientific exchange already in the first phase of independent research and support your interdisciplinary education with additional teaching and training offerings.
Membership in UBTGS is possible for all doctoral students at the University of Bayreuth, but is not obligatory. You can become a member as soon as your doctoral institution has accepted you for doctoral studies.
Your steps towards a doctorate at the University of Bayreuth
The first step towards a doctorate is to find your own doctoral topic. Either you already have your own research idea or you develop one together with a researcher at the University of Bayreuth. The preparation of a synopsis will help you to specify your research project in its goals and sub-steps.
The next step is to find a supervisor for your doctoral project. This can be a professor or a junior research group leader. It is advantageous if you have already been able to establish contact with a potential supervisor during the topic identification process. You can then contact this supervisor directly with your documents (CV, letter of motivation, etc.) and a synopsis. You can find an overview of suitable supervisors on the webpages of our faculties or our graduate centres.
Together with your supervisor, you choose the appropriate doctoral institution for your doctoral project. This is usually the faculty of your supervisor, where you can pursue an individual doctorate.
A structured doctorate is possible in our BIGSAS and BayNAT graduate schools, both of which are also independent doctoral institutions. Further opportunities for a structured doctorate are offered by our BayKULT and BayREW graduate centres.
- Bayreuth Graduate School of Mathematics & Natural Sciences (BayNAT)
- Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS)
- Bayreuth Graduate Centre for Cultural Studies, Social Sciences & Humanities (BayKULT)
- Bayreuth Graduate Centre for Law, Ethics, Businss Management & Economics (BayREW)
- Overview of the seven faculties of the University of Bayreuth
The supervision agreement is an agreement between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor on the doctoral relationship. It specifies rights and obligations, but also the expectations on both sides, and puts them down in writing.
The supervision agreement is part of the formal doctoral process and serves as quality assurance for the doctoral candidate, the supervisor, and the doctoral institution.
Now register digitally at the doctoral institution. Registration is mandatory according to all doctoral regulations of the University of Bayreuth. During registration, data is collected that must be reported annually on current doctoral projects at the University in accordance with the Act Amending the Higher Education Statistics Act (HStatG) on 2 March 2016.
With this application, you begin the formal process towards your doctorate.
Please contact the office named in the email sent to you after registration (dean's office of the faculty or graduate institution).
You will also find further information on the faculty website.
Enrolment for doctoral studies offers you student benefits such as the semester ticket for public transport or low prices in the cafeteria. Enrolment is voluntary, so you even also do a doctorate at the University of Bayreuth without enrolment.
Enrolment is possible for up to two semesters after registration on the BayDOC portal. Further enrolment from the 3rd semester onwards requires your acceptance as a doctoral candidate at the doctoral institution.
As a rule, you can be enrolled for doctoral studies for up to 8 semesters. An extension beyond this is only possible upon application and with justification from your supervisor.
The University of Bayreuth Graduate School is a support and service institution for doctoral studies and is open to all doctoral students at the University of Bayreuth. It offers an interdisciplinary qualification programme and individual support services.
The prerequisite for your membership is acceptance for doctoral studies by your doctoral institution.
Also of interest - university rankings
The successes in the research and teaching conducted at the University of Bayreuth are reflected in the national and international university rankings.