FAQ
Here you can find answers to frequently asked questions concerning doctoral studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The team of the Central Doctoral Office will gladly answer any further questions you may have.
All form templates and other documents, e.g. the doctoral regulations, can be found in our download area.
Before applying for admission:
Who is eligible to supervise my doctoral studies?
All professors and junior professors at the University of Cologne's Faculty of Arts and Humanities are entitled to be your supervisor. Also entitled are external lecturers who are acting replacements of a professor as well as associate professors (Privatdozent/innen) who have acquired the “Venia Legendi” (licence to teach) at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne or whose "Venia legendi" has formally been recognised by the Faculty of Arts and Humanties. Also entitled to supervise doctoral dissertations are, for instance, junior research group leaders (e.g. Emmy Noether Programme). If tenured professors accept a chair at another university, they lose their eligibility to supervise at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities after two years.
What is a “Zulassungsbescheid” (letter of admission) and how do I obtain one?
The so-called “Zulassungsbescheid” (letter of admission) entitles you to enroll as a doctoral student and authorises you to pursue your doctoral studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Please submit your application documents via a.r.t.e.s. access. There are two application periods per semester. Two weeks after the application deadline, the doctoral board holds a meeting to review the applications. Applications which are approved of are passed on to the Central Doctoral Office which then issues the letter of admission.
Which disciplines are officially accredited by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities?
A list of all disciplines which are accepted and with which one can register at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne is to be found in the Doctoral Regulations (Appendix 1). If you are unsure, please contact a lecturer of the University of Cologne in your discipline to clarify whether or not your project fits within any of these fields (list of the institutes at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities). It may be possible under certain circumstances and, if adequate supervision is available at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, to select a discipline that is not identical with the field in which you obtained your university degree.
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities only offers doctoral degrees in the listed disciplines:
African Studies (Afrikanistik); Ancient History (Alte Geschichte); Anglo-American History (Anglo-Amerikanische Geschichte); Art History (Kunstgeschichte); Byzantine Studies (Byzantinistik); Catholic Theology (Katholische Theologie); Chinese Studies (Sinologie/China-Studien); Classical Archaeology (Klassische Archäologie) or Archaeology of the Roman Provinces (Archäologie der römischen Provinzen); Comparative Literature (Komparatistik); Computational Archaeology (Archäoinformatik); Didactics of History (Didaktik der Geschichte); Digital Humanities; Dutch Studies (Niederlandistik); Eastern European History (Osteuropäische Geschichte); Egyptology (Ägyptologie); English Philology (Englische Philologie); Environmental Humanities; Finnish Studies (Fennistik); General Linguistics (Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft); German Didactics (Deutschdidaktik); German Philology (Deutsche Philologie); Greek Philology (Griechische Philologie); Historical and Comparative Linguistics (Historisch-vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft); Iberian and Latin American History (Iberische und Lateinamerikanische Geschichte); Indology and Tamil Studies (Indologie und Tamilistik); Information Processing (Informationsverarbeitung); Japanese Studies (Japanologie); Jewish Studies (Judaistik); Language and Culture of the Islamic World (Islamic Studies) (Sprachen und Kulturen der islamischen Welt (Islamwissenschaft); Latin Philology (Lateinische Philologie); Linguistics (Linguistik); Medieval History (Mittelalterliche Geschichte); Medieval Latin Philology (Mittellateinische Philologie); Modern and Recent History (Neuere und Neueste Geschichte); Musicology (Musikwissenschaft); North American Studies; Philosophy (Philosophie); Phonetics (Phonetik); Pre and Early History (Ur- und Frühgeschichte); Protestant Theology (Evangelische Theologie); Regional Studies China (Regionalstudien China); Regional Studies Eastern and Central Europe: Focus on Russia or Poland (Regionalstudien Ost- und Mitteleuropa: Schwerpunkt Russland oder Polen); Regional Studies Latin America (Regionalstudien Lateinamerika); Romance Philology (Romanische Philologie); Scandinavian Studies (Skandinavistik); Slavonic Studies (Slavistik); Social and Cultural Anthropology (Ethnologie); Theatre and Media Studies (Theater- und Medienwissenschaft)
How do I obtain the certificate proving the recognition of as yet acquired credits and passed exams?
You need the ‘Certificate proving the recognition of as yet acquired credits and passed exams’ as a part or your application for admission to doctoral studies. To obtain the certificate, please contact the department within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne in which you would like to obtain your doctorate. The managing director will review your degree certificate and its transcript of records and will complete the form for you. Please upload the completed form as a part of your application for admission on the online portal a.r.t.e.s. access.
Please note: If the managing director is also your first supervisor, please have the document countersigned by another professor of the department.
How can I apply to the Integrated Track?
The “Integrated Track” (the structured doctoral model) offers collegiate fellowships without a financial funding by the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School (“Kollegiat*innen-Stellen”) and different funding programmes. For the collegiate fellowship, it is possible to apply as soon as you have submitted the application for admission to doctoral studies. Applications to funding programmes (e.g. the scholarship programme) are only possible in the respective annual calls for applications.
What is a certified copy and how do I get one?
In the course of admission, proof of the authenticity of the university degree must be submitted, for example in the form of a certified paper copy of the corresponding degree certificate or in the form of a certified digital degree certificate, the authenticity of which the Central Doctoral Office can confirm through a corresponding certification procedure of the issuing institution. If you have a certified digital certificate, please send the relevant digital documents and details of the certification procedure by e-mail to the Central Doctoral Office after you have submitted your application of admission via a.r.t.e.s. access. If your degree certificate is issued in paper form, please submit a certified paper copy of your degree certificate. With the certified paper copy, an established institution formally confirms that a) they have seen the original certificate and b) that the copy is identical to it. Please note that scans of certified paper documents are not sufficient. In order to obtain a certified paper copy, please take the original document to an authority that certifies documents, such as municipal administration offices (citizen's registration office, district office) or a notary. The authority will endorse the copy to confirm that it corresponds with the original document presented by you. The endorsement will be confirmed by the signature of the certifying official and the authority's stamp. If you are currently in Germany, you may run into the problem that some institutions are legally prohibited from creating certified copies of documents in languages other than German (and sometimes in certain other languages). Should a German institution not be able to be of assistance, please get in contact with a translation agency which will be able be able to provide you with an official German language version of your document and certified copies of it.
Can I enroll for predoctoral studies?
Please submit your application for admission via a.r.t.e.s access. Once we have received your complete application we can issue a letter which will allow you to enroll for predoctoral studies lasting one semester. If you wish to enroll for predoctoral studies, please let us know via email.
How do I apply to be able to write my dissertation in a language other than German?
According to the Doctoral Regulations, dissertations can be written in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin. If you would like to write your dissertation in a language other than those mentioned above, please submit a request (addressed to the Dean of the Faculty) in which you explain the reason for writing the dissertation in saidlanguage and hand it in together with an endorsement from your supervisor(s). We strongly recommend the submission of this request before your admission to doctoral studies.
Do I need to prove my German language proficiency?
You are not required to provide proof of your proficiency in German at the time of your application for admission. However, when you hand in your dissertation, you will also have to submit proof of German language proficiency: If you wrote your dissertation in German, you will have to provide proof of German at the level C1. If you wrote your dissertation in a language other than German, language proficiency at the level B2 is sufficient. You are welcome to submit a request for remission of German language proficiency to the doctoral board. In this case, please send a letter stating your reasoning (addressed to the doctoral board), a letter of endorsement from your main supervisor, and and proof of English language proficiency at B2 level (digitally by email) to the doctoral office. We recommend submitting the application for remission of the German language proficiency already when applying for admission to the doctoral programme.
After admission:
How do I enroll as a doctoral student?
When you have received your “Zulassungsbescheid” (letter of admission), you can enrol anytime during that same semester. Enrolment takes place exclusively digitally via the online portal KLIPS 2.0. Additional information on the procedure can be found via the International Office or the Student Application and Registration Office. Please note that doctoral students of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities are not required to register via the doctoral data management system Docfile.
Do I have to enroll as a doctoral student?
According to the Enrolment regulations (Einschreibungsordnung) of the University of Cologne, doctoral students have to be enrolled for the entire duration of their studies. You will have to be able to provide proof of this when handing in your dissertation. In case of stays abroad, family leave or the like, you may request a temporary leave of absence. For further information, please contact the International Office or the Student Application and Registration Office.
Do I have to take part in the introductory event?
If you were admitted after 10.06.2015, you must provide proof of attendance of an introductory event when submitting your doctoral dissertation. The introductory event is offered every semester by the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School and must be attended once by all doctoral candidates. The event provides extensive information about doctoral studies at the Faculty of Humanities which is why we recommend attending it in the first semesters of your doctoral studies.
How can I prove that I earned 12 credit points during my doctoral studies?
Every doctoral candidate must complete doctoral studies equivalent to at least 12 credit points. If conditions have been imposed for admission, the corresponding courses must be completed additionally to the 12 credit points. Before you hand in your dissertation, please submit a list of all academic seminars, lectures and doctoral colloquia you attended. The list must indicate the credit points each course earned you and be signed by your primary supervisor or a colleague from the respective discipline. If you have any other proof of attendance and/or achievement for the courses, you may also submit copies of these documents to the Central Doctoral Office when you hand in your dissertation. You should do your doctoral coursework (12 credit points) in the discipline in which you are writing your dissertation. If you are working on an interdisciplinary topic, you may also select courses from other disciplines that are relevant to your topic. If you are planning to do your doctoral coursework while studying abroad, please consult with your department if the planned courses meet the requirements of your discipline. The Central Doctoral Office does not require that you register for the courses via KLIPS.
What is a supervision contract?
After admission to doctoral studies has been granted, doctoral students enter into a supervision contract with their primary supervisor. This is comprised of a time and work plan and determines the rights and obligations of the two parties (see Appendix 5 of the Doctoral Regulations) and has to be provided in addition to the supervision agreement by the primary supervisor that has been submitted for admission. You can find a template for the supervision contract in our download area. Please submit the supervision contract signed by yourself and your first supervisor (signatures by additional supervisors are optional) with a time and work schedule to the Central Doctoral Office within the first six months of admission. The document can be submitted as a digital file by e-mail or in paper form.
What is the supervision agreement signed by a second supervisor (Zweitbetreuungszusage)?
Within 12 months after admission, each doctoral candidate must submit a supervision agreement signed by a member of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities who is eligible to supervise doctoral dissertations and who will co-supervise the project. This person may also belong to another department within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. A form template can be found in our download area. Please upload the signed supervision agreement of the second supervisor in a.r.t.e.s. access. You only need to submit a supervision agreement signed by a third supervisor if you are participating in the structured doctoral programme (Integrated Track).
How do I apply for an external second supervisor?
If you wish to have a second supervisor from another faculty or from another university, whether in Germany or abroad, please submit a written request with the reasons for your choice to the Central Doctoral Office. Your request should be addressed to the dean and accompanied by a letter of endorsement from your first supervisor as well as the supervision agreement signed by your external supervisor. Please note that the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne is unable to provide any financial compensation for supervisory activities or to cover associated travel expenses.
What is meant by proof of a consultation meeting with one's supervisor?
The Doctoral Regulations require proof on an annual basis of having held consultation meetings about one's work with one's supervisor. These regulations apply to all doctoral students who have been admitted to doctoral studies since the winter semester of 2012/13. The proofs of a consultation meeting are required upon handing in one's dissertation. The completeness of the proofs is checked when registering for the doctoral examination procedure. The respective forms can be found in our download area. Doctoral students are requested to regularly upload proofs to a.r.t.e.s. access in the tab “process”.
How do I apply for a change of discipline?
In order to be able to change the discipline you would like to write your dissertation in, please send a request (addressed to the Dean of the Faculty) to the Central Doctoral Office. Please attach an exposé of your dissertation proposal, together with a short, tabular CV, a certified copy of your previous degree, a certificate with your previous exam results (completed by the Managing Director of your intended discipline), and lastly, a supervision agreement from your new supervisor. The examination committee will then review your request and come to a decision during its next meeting.
Can I change my supervisor(s)?
Yes. It is no problem to change your supervisor(s) within the same discipline. Please submit a supervision agreement signed by your new supervisor via a.r.t.e.s. access (tab "process") and inform the Central Doctoral Office about any changes in order to avoid unnecessary delays when registering for the handing in of the dissertation. In the event of a conflict, you can consult the head of the Graduate School and/or the doctoral student ombudsperson for advice and mediation.
How do I apply to publish a portion of my dissertation prior to full publication?
If you wish to publish only a part or aspect of your dissertation, e.g. as an article, before publishing the complete work, send us a written request (addressed to the Dean of the Faculty). Please attach an endorsement from your supervisor and send all documents to the Central Doctoral Office. The request must be submitted before the publication.
Can I complete my dissertation in cooperation with another university abroad?
Yes, through the co-tutelage programme.
Before submitting the dissertation:
How and when can I hand in my completed work?
Each semester there are fixed deadlines one needs to bear in mind and adhere to in order to be able to complete their exams. Please inform yourself about these examination dates (defensio/disputatio) and the necessary documents to be handed in early on in the process. The time between handing in your work and doing the exams will be used to examine the documents, to allow the dean’s office to review and approve your request for admission to the doctoral examination and your committee suggestions, and to secure deadlines of review and for perusal. For all necessary information please visit “Examination and Registration”. You submit your registration for the doctoral exam (including a complete proposal for the composition of the examination committee) via a.r.t.e.s. access. Please inform the proposed members of the examination committee in advance about their participation in the doctoral examination procedure.
Are there format requirements for the printed copies of the dissertation?
Depending on the chosen form of examination (defensio/disputatio), a certain number of printed copies of the dissertation must be submitted when registering for the examination. In addition to the text of the dissertation, the printed copies must contain the specified title page (see Appendix 3 of the Doctoral Regulations) as the first page and a signed curriculum vitae as the last page. The printed copies must have a sturdy glue binding (no spiral binding). The Central Doctoral Office has no further specifications for the formatting of the text and the page layout. With regard to citation, references and bibliography, the usual standards for the doctoral discipline apply.
How do I apply for an external reviewer?
You are welcome to apply for an external second examiner (or a third examiner in the case of a defensio) who will review your thesis and participate in the oral exam or an external member of your examination committee who will participate in your oral exam when registering for the examination of your thesis. Please submit a written request setting out the reasons for your choice to the Central Doctoral Office. Your request should be addressed to the dean and accompanied by a letter of endorsement from your first supervisor as well as written consent of the desired external reviewer to write a review and/or to participate in the oral doctoral examination. Even if the desired external reviewer has already been approved as an external supervisor, you are still required to submit a request for him/her to participate in the examination of your thesis. Please note that the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne is unable to provide any financial compensation for participation in the examination process or to cover associated travel expenses. Please note that you are only able to apply for one external reviewer.
How do I apply to be able to do the final examination in a language other than German?
If you would like to do your oral exam in a language other than German, please send a request (addressed to the Dean of the Faculty) to the Central Doctoral Office, together with an endorsement from the members of the examination committee you have nominated.
Do I need to prove my German language proficiency?
You are not required to provide proof of your proficiency in German at the time of your application for admission. However, when you hand in your dissertation, you will also have to submit proof of German language proficiency: If you wrote the thesis in German, you will have to provide proof of German at the level C1. If you wrote your dissertation in a language other than German, language proficiency at the level B2 is sufficient.You can enclose a request for remission of the German language proficiency with your application for admission. In this case, please send a letter stating your reasons (addressed to the doctoral board) together with a letter of endorsement from your primary supervisor by post before the deadline. Please note that after admission a remission of the German language proficiency will not be granted.
After the oral examination:
Can I view my dissertation reviews?
You can view your dissertation reviews after the end of the two-week display period and within one year of taking the oral examination. Please hand in a request to the Central Doctoral Office. Depending on the applicable doctoral regulations, notes or copies may be taken. Prior to the two-week display period, only members of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities who are eligible to supervise doctoral dissertations are authorised to view the dissertation reviews.
When do I receive my doctoral certificate?
After the successful completion of the oral examination, you will receive an interim certificate (Doctoral Regulations of 2015) or an examination certificate (Doctoral Regulations of 2020 or later) which does not yet allow you to bear the doctoral title. You receive the official doctoral certificate after you have published your work. (The doctoral certificate is published in German; if you prefer to receive the certificate in Latin, please inform us before you submit the obligatory copies of your dissertation.)
May I call myself “Dr. des.” after successfully completing my doctoral studies?
Unfortunately, no, you cannot. The North Rhine-Westphalian State university law does not allow academics who have completed their doctoral studies exams in North Rhine-Westphalia to bear the title of “Dr. des.”. Only when you have received your doctoral certificate after having published your work you are allowed to bear the doctoral title.
Will there be a doctoral awards ceremony?
At the end of each semester's lecture period, a ceremony is held to honour those doctoral candidates who have successfully completed the doctoral examination in the respective semester. A separate invitation is sent out with a request for binding registration. Families and friends of the doctoral candidates are cordially invited.
Do I have to mention the University of Cologne in my published dissertation?
The published version of your dissertation thesis needs to contain a note stating that it was accepted as a dissertation thesis by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne. You are free to choose the exact wording and the placement within the publication (preferably in the imprint). Please note that in case of publication by private printing or via KUPS, the published version should not contain a CV or scanned signatures.
When do I submit the certificate of revision (“Revisionsschein”)?
By signing the certificate of revision, your reviewers provide their authorisation of the version of your dissertation that has been edited for publication. If your reviewers have not imposed any conditions on your dissertation, the certificate of revision needs only be signed by the primary reviewer. The signature of the second reviewer (and, in the case of a defensio, of the third reviewer) is required if conditions have been imposed. A form template for the certificate of revision is available in our download area. The signature(s) must be submitted in the original or with a certified digital signature. If the reviewer sends the signed certificate of revision directly from an official e-mail address to the Central Doctoral Office, a scanned or non-certified digital signature is also sufficient.
When do I hand in my published, obligatory copies of my work?
According to the chosen type of publication defined in the doctoral regulations, you must provide the number of obligatory copies together with a certificate of revision (“Revisionsschein”) at the latest within two years of the oral examination. Please submit the required copies directly to the University and City Library Cologne. A confirmation of receipt will be issued by the library to the Central Doctoral Office. The certificate of revision (“Revisionsschein”) must be sent directly to the Central Doctoral Office.