A high degree of own initiative, enthusiasm and staying power is necessary. This is the traditional way of doing a doctorate and it is not bound to any educational programme. There is no curriculum that needs to be absolved during the PhD phases. The core is the production of a doctoral thesis in agreement with a supervising professor, the “Doktorvater” or “Doktormutter”.

Steps to go this way:

The academic supervisor plays the leading role. No central office decides about the admission of a doctoral candidate. This decision is made by the accepting faculties at the university / the supervisor.

Before you choose the path of individual research you have to check out certain things.

Formalities: Which visa provisions must be fulfilled (in any case a tourist visa is not enough – you need a student visa or work permit)? Are there any formal issues in your home country about doing a PhD abroad? Does your home country give financial support for doing PhD in Germany?

Financing: You need a plan how to finance your approximately three to five years of individual research. Are you able to finance that time on your own (you have to calculate with approximately 21.000 Euro for three years)? Is there a grant you could get? Or could you get funded by a scholarship? Another chance is getting employed at the University as a research assistant. You can apply for a job offered at the institution of your interest. For this check out the university`s job offers.

Doctoral degree regulations: Each faculty has its own regulations, which can vary from each other. They can usually be found on the respective webpages. Check out the relevant regulations and get informed about their respective application- and admission procedures and find out about their support service for PhD students.

Finding your topic: Finding your topic might last two to three months - so you will have to plan enough time for that. The topic of your individual research has to be scientifically relevant and innovative. Resources for identifying topics could be deepening of study contents or development of own ideas regarding the field of a faculty of your interest.

In the first step you have to look for a doctoral supervisor.

Maybe you already know he professors`s name from a publication with reference to your field or you know him / her from a symposium. For the contact details you can visit the homepage of his or her institution on the website of the university. You can find it by using the university`s search engine.

Another possibility might be asking for help at the respective deans of the correlating fields.

The second step is contacting your future doctoral supervisor.

This does not mean just writing an email with some undefined sentences about yourself and your wish to do a PhD. Contact him / her by post or email with the following content: a brief description of the field and topic you are interested in. A short review of the relevant experiences you have in this field, a curriculum vitae (resume or profile) and letters of recommendation.

The third (but parallel) step is the application  itself.

Fill in the ISGS application form for doctoral students. Contact the ISGS and provide the office with your previous academic qualifications, desired field of research and your future doctoral supervisor.

Step four is the further application process.

You will get a notification once the ISGS has received your application. Meanwhile the faculty or doctoral committee will evaluate whether you fulfill the requirements. Within several weeks you will either receive a notification of admission or a rejection.

The fifth step is preparing your journey.

As soon as you have obtained the notification of admission, you should apply for a visa. Submit the letter of acceptance and  verify the tentative acceptance of the admission offer. Notify the ISGS of your arrival date and keep in touch with the ISGS in order to obtain further assistance on matters such as accommodation, conveyance to the university, organizational issues as well as help and support during your initial days in Germany and at the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau.