Doctorate

Before starting to work for the doctoral dissertation the candidate must make an informal application to the Graduation Office for admission to the doctorate. (Comment: This application can be made in English).

The application shall be appended with the following documents:

1. a written confirmation of the supervising professor
2. graduation certificates
3. a CV in tabular form
4. a declaration on where and how often the candidate has previously applied for an exam as a doctoral candidate at another academic institution, and under which dissertation topic

If the application is brought to the Graduation Office in person, the original graduation certificates shall be shown at the office and a photocopy of the documents shall be left there. In case the documents are not presented in person, notary certified copies of the documents are required to be left at the Graduation Office. The Graduation Office checks if the admission conditions are fulfilled according to the regulations of  the faculty, then the professors being members of the faculty board decide at a meeting chaired by the Dean, if additional exams are to be passed before admission.

Since the modification of the University Law of the State of Lower Saxony (NHG) on January 1st, 2007 it is required, that Doctoral Candidates register as Doctoral Students at the University. The registration takes place at the Matriculation Office of Leibniz University Hannover. Among other things, the University Graduation Certificates are to be presented, and a written confirmation of the supervising professor is to be submitted to the graduation office at the faculty. In return you will receive a letter by the Dean which has to be submitted by the candidate to the Matriculation Office. Subsequently the registration has to be made for the study course

• Bauingenieurwesen (Civil Engineering / Water Ressources etc.) or
• Geodäsie (Geodetic Science)

For the process of enrolment, please refer to the following website under the item "Admission and Enrolment": https://www.uni-hannover.de/en/forschung/wissenschaftlicher-nachwuchs/promotion . Please note that the doctorate is obtained according to the Ministry approved regulations of the Faculty, and that the registration with the Matriculation office does not imply that admission into the degree has to be granted.

Within one year, an agreement between Doctoral candidate, a Member of the thesis review board, the Dean and the doctoral thesis supervisor (Betreuungsvereinbarung) has to be submitted to the Graduation office:

• Template "Betreuungsvereinbarung" (retrievable within the LUH network)

In due time an application for the start of the doctoral exam must be made at the Graduation Office. In this application the title of the dissertation, and the suggested examiners of the thesis must be listed. If these are not professors of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic  Science in Hannover, their addresses must be added.

The application shall be appended with the following documents:

1. one copy of the dissertation
2. a summary of the thesis in German and in English
3. a CV in tabular form
4. a declaration,
   a. that the candidate knows the Regulations for doctoral candidates at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic Science (Promotionsordnung (DE))/English translation)
   b. that the candidate has completed the thesis independently; used materials by others shall be listed in the references
   c. that the candidate didn’t pay any monetary benefits for regards to content
   d. that the dissertation has not been used as a M.Sc. or similar thesis before, and that the thesis or parts of it have not been published before
   e. on where and how often he has previously applied for an exam as a doctoral candidate at another academic institution, and under which dissertation topic
5. a copy of the agreement between Doctoral candidate, a Member of the thesis review board, the Dean and the doctoral thesis supervisor (Betreuungsvereinbarung).

This documentation must be available at the specified deadlines to be decided upon at the regular meetings of the faculty board during the academic year.

Another copy of the CV and the declaration that the thesis has been made independently must be bound together with the text of the dissertation.

It is recommended to the candidate, that he/she supplies additional copies of the dissertation to each member of the thesis review board.

The Dean permits other academic members of the faculty to view the dissertation at the Graduation Office for a two week period and issues a public invitation to the exam.

No later than one week before the exam, the candidate communicates the examination room to the Graduation Office.

The exam consists of a 30 minute oral presentation on the thesis by the candidate to the public. Then a one hour oral exam follows (mostly on the dissertation topic, but general questions are also permitted). The oral exam is attended by the members of the doctoral exam commission and by any interested professorial faculty members only. At the end of the oral exam, the chairman of the doctoral exam commission tells the candidate which, if any, additional amendments shall be made in the dissertation before the obligatory printing of the thesis.

The doctoral diploma is printed after the candidate and the Graduation Office receive the Permission of the thesis supervisor to print the thesis.

Before the doctoral diploma is handed out to the candidate by the Graduation Office, the candidate must procure an attestation by the University Library, that he/she has delivered the required number of printed dissertation copies. The Graduation Office also receives one additional printed copy by the candidate.