Acceptance as a PhD candidate

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

The application for acceptance as a PhD student should be submitted online as early as possible (https://applyphd.cs.uni-kl.de/applicant/)
(candidates with a Master's degree from our department can hand in their application directly to the dean's office).

The application should contain the thesis subject together with the following documents (cf. web form and §5, Section 4 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 and details of educational background.
• A police clearance certificate if the applicant isn't employed in civil service. (This applies especially to all external candidates including those from institutes connected with the University and scholarship holders; the certificate has to be applied at the Stadtverwaltung which will send it directly to the dean's office).
• A Bachelor, Master's or German "Diplom" certificate as proof of the required qualifications according to Section 3 of the PhD regulations (including transcripts). Proof of the active command of German or English according to the University's enrollment policy if the candidate is not of a German or English speaking nationality.
• A declaration if the applicant has already applied for or been granted a place as a PhD student and with which outcome.
• A confirmation from a professor of the faculty that he or she will undertake the mentoring relationship for the subject mentioned in the application.
• Information about the necessary technical and financial requirements¹ needed to carry out the PhD together with a statement from the supervisor. (If this declaration isn't included, it is assumed that all the necessary resources can be made available by the supervisor).
• Applicants who haven't got an accredited Computer Science Master's degree or a Computer Science University "Diplom" Degree must also hand in a list from their future supervisor suggesting which courses they should complete. The future supervisor should explain on this which qualifications for the PhD subject the student has already achieved during his or her preparatory studies and which courses the student should complete to gain any missing background knowledge. Courses closely related to the PhD area should be marked specifically.

Applications from candidates who have a Master's degree from our department are passed directly to the faculty council.

For all other candidates the following process applies:

• The department gives certificates from foreign candidates to the university's central administration in order to check the official equivalent.
• Complete applications from all 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 no later than two weeks before the faculty council meeting (after the official equivalent qualification has been checked).
• By the next faculty council meeting, the PhD board submits a report on each application. The report refers to the future supervisor's suggestion list and recommends a deadline for the completion of the courses.
• The chairperson of the PhD board passes the reports to the dean's office. If a report differs from the recommendation of the future supervisor, the supervisor can submit a further statement referring to the report.
• Upon receipt of the report from the PhD board and if applicable the additional statement from the future supervisor, the application for acceptance as a PhD student is presented to the faculty council at the next meeting.
  For that, the candidates have to show their original document to the dean's office.

During the next meeting the faculty council decides if the applicant

• is accepted as a PhD student
• 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

¹ The financing of the PhD candidates themselves is not subject of this process.

² With the support of the PhD board, a list is gradually made of the concrete degrees which fall into the category «Computer Science Master's degrees».