Doctoral Procedure

Since 30.03.2018, enrolment at the university has been compulsory in accordance with the State Higher Education Low (LGH). According to the current version of the LHG (valid from 23.11.2024), § 38 (5): Persons who have been accepted as doctoral candidates are enrolled in accordance with Section 60 (1) sentence 1 letter b; this does not apply to accepted doctoral candidates who are working full-time at the university if they have declared in writing or electronically to the Rectorate that they do not wish to be enrolled. Persons who take up full-time employment at the university after acceptance can be exmatriculated upon request when they begin their employment. Exmatriculation before the date of the oral examination interrupts the doctoral procedure, provided that no exemption pursuant to sentence 1 exists at the time of exmatriculation. The interruption of the doctoral procedure ends with the re-enrolment on the basis of the previous acceptance as a doctoral candidate or through an exemption in accordance with sentence 1 or through the final discontinuation of the doctorate. The duration of the interruption is counted towards the maximum period of validity of admission to the doctorate as regulated by the university. (This is a translation of the original German document and for convenience purposes only).

In this context, we refer you to the matriculation obligation. Please find further information for the legal requirements and documents for the enrolment at the University of Heidelberg here. For more information s. also Formal steps for beginning your doctorate - University of Heidelberg (uni-heidelberg.de).

• Enrolment

Since 01.01.2018, the scope of the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG) has expanded. Further information can be found at the Office of doctoral affairs and on the university's websites.

• More information

There are new writing guidelines for the dissertation. The University Library offers adapted citation styles for EndNote and Citavi.

• Drafting guidelines
• EndNote-Stil
• Citavi-Stil

Future doctoral candidates are asked to be aware that foreign educational qualifications must first be verified for equivalence to a German university degree before they can be accepted at the faculty. Since this may take several months at the Central Office for Foreign Education in Bonn, depending on the country, the relevant documents should be submitted by the supervisor as early as possible.