Promotion / Habilitation

Initiating the Examination Process §7

  1. Conditions for initiating the examination process are the following:
    • The applicant satisfies all requirements for the doctoral degree programme according to §3 of the Regulations for Doctoral Study, Dr. phil.
    • For at least two semesters prior to the initiation of the examination process, the applicant must have studied protestant theology at the Goethe-University or have been active in research and teaching in the faculty. Exceptions may be decided upon by the Doctoral Studies Board.
    • Further prerequisites, such as language proficiency, are determined by the regulations for supplemental studies stipulated by the Faculty of Protestant Theology.
  2. The motion for the initiation of the examination process is to be submitted to the head of the Doctoral Studies Board. The following must be contained therein: the topic of the dissertation, the name of the faculty member advising the project, and the names of the readers and examiners whom the applicant proposes.
  3. In accordance with §8.3 of the Regulations for Doctoral Study, Dr. phil., the following documents are to be submitted along with the motion for initiation of the examination process:
    • A curriculum vitae of the applicant which also provides information regarding his or her academic career, with a passport-sized photograph.
    • The documentation demanded by §3 of the Regulations for Doctoral Study (Dr. phil.) insofar as these documents were not provided by the applicant at the time of acceptance into the doctoral degree programme.
    • Three copies of the dissertation.
    • A written declaration that the applicant independently composed the dissertation and has listed in the bibliography all of the aiding materials used in the production of the dissertation.
    • A written explanation concerning whether the dissertation had been submitted previously in the framework of another examination process and whether it is has already been published in part or in whole.
    • A receipt proving payment of the examination fee (§8.4 of the Regulations for Doctoral Study, Dr. phil.).

Evaluation and Exhibition of the Dissertation §9

  1. The dissertation is to be evaluated by at least two professors, employed full-time or otherwise, or by persons with the Habilitation The main occupation of one of the readers shall be that of professor in the faculty. The advisor of the dissertation shall be appointed as a reader. A maximum of three additional readers may be appointed. The names of the readers will be provided to the doctoral candidate. The evaluations shall be composed independently of each other.
  2. After the evaluations have been submitted, the evaluations and the dissertation will be presented for review for two weeks during the lecture period or for four weeks during the lecture-free period in the office of the Philosophical Doctoral Studies Commission. All professors from academic departments which confer the degree of Dr. phil., as well as the applicant, are entitled to view the evaluations and the dissertation.
  3. The evaluations shall be submitted after no more than three months following the reception of the dissertation by the readers. The Doctoral Studies Board will strive to provide the evaluations on time.
  4. The mark summa cum laude may be granted only by unanimous decision. If the readers have marked the dissertation with summa cum laude, then a third evaluation must be obtained.
  5. If one of the readers proposes a rejection of the dissertation, then the Doctoral Studies Board must appoint an additional reader to compose an evaluation.
  6. If all evaluations propose a rejection, then the chair of the Doctoral Studies Board will declare that the course of doctoral study has not been completed successfully. An exhibition in accordance with §9.7 of the Regulations for Doctoral Study (Dr. phil) will not take place.
  7. If at least half of a group of readers totalling three or more persons proposes a rejection of the dissertation, then the dissertation will be displayed in the common office for a period of eight weeks. This will be communicated to professors from all departments which confer the degree of Dr. phil. The Doctoral Studies Board will reject the dissertation if, at the end of this period, no objection from this group of persons has been submitted. If a well-founded objection is submitted, then the Doctoral Studies Board will make a decision concerning a fresh appointment of readers. The decision concerning acceptance or rejection following the second appraisal will be made by the examination committee, as a general rule, after a consultation with all readers and under consideration of the entirety of rendered opinions.