Doctorate & Habilitation

The german PhD is the conferral of an academic degree of doctor for a certain field of study. The degree is the verification for an independently constituted, scientific thesis and is based on the dissertation as well as an oral exam. The right to award doctorates have solely universities and a requirement is normally an outstandig master degree.

The habilitation shall examine, wether the researcher has knowledge of his or her scientific field in both research and lectures. Therefore, the habilitatoin is the highest degree awarded by universities in Germany, eventhough it is no academic degree. The requirement for a habilitation is normally an outstandig PhD.