Procedure for acceptance as a PhD student
(according to the PhD regulations dated 5 May 2011)

1. Provision of application documents

Applications for acceptance as a PhD student should be submitted online (https://applyphd.cs.uni-kl.de) as early as possible.

The process is as follows: The supervisor sends the completed request for access to the applicant platform by email to phd-application@cs.uni-kl.de. As a result the applicant is granted access. He or she will be informed as soon as access has been granted.

Applicants must upload the following documents onto the applicant platform in order to check their qualifications (cf.section 3 of the PhD regulations):

• A letter of motivation stating why the student would like to do a PhD in the chosen subject.
• A full CV with a photo including details of educational background.
• Unauthenticated copies of the bachelor, master or German "Diplom" certificates.
• Proof of the active command of German or English if the candidate is not of a German or English speaking nationality.

2. Verification of qualifications by the PhD board

(Applicants who have a master's degree from our department are referred directly to the faculty council. (Please see section 4). )).

Complete applications from applicants who haven't got an accredited computer science master's degree or a computer science university "Diplom" degree will be checked by the PhD board to see if their qualifications are sufficient.

The requirements for acceptance as a PhD student are:

• A bachelor/master or “Diplom” degree with at least 270 ECTS credit points.
• One or more (guided) academic papers with a total credit weighting of at least 30 ECTS credit points.
• 60 ECTS credit points from a research-oriented accredited master degree course:
  • 16 of which should be for scientifically-oriented lectures
  • 24 of which should be for lectures from a computer science master degree course.

If necessary the PhD board issues requirements which must be fulfilled within a qualification degree.

The department gives certificates from foreign candidates to the university's central office in order to check the official equivalent.

3. Determination of the study programme for qualification degrees

Upon receipt of the statement from the PhD board, the supervisor is asked to suggest a qualification course compatible with the statement from the PhD board.

4. Submission of the application to the faculty council

Upon receipt of the study plan (accepted by the PhD board), candidates have to apply officially to the dean’s office for acceptance as a PhD student. Candidates will be summoned to the dean’s office. They must bring the following documents:

• The completed application form, including a declaration from the applicant regarding the current PhD process and a declaration from the supervisor confirming mentoring and the availability of resources.
• EA police clearance certificate if the applicant isn't employed in civil service. (This applies to all external candidates including those from institutes connected with the University and scholarship holders; the certificate has to be applied for at the Stadtverwaltung (city council) from which it will be sent directly to the dean's office).
• Original examination certificates/reports in order to check the accuracy of the uploaded copies.
• Since SoSe 2018 you have to submit a Supervision Agreement as an attachment to your application, which has to be filled out together with your supervisor.

The documents should be presented at least two weeks before the next faculty council meeting.

5. Decision of the faculty council

During the next meeting the faculty council decides if the applicant

• is accepted as a PhD student or
• has to successfully complete a qualification course of studies; In this case the faculty council determines:
  • which courses should be attended
  • which courses are closely related to the PhD subject area
  • duration of the qualification studies