Doctoral examination procedure

The doctoral examination procedure at the Charité can be broken down into the following stages, as set out below for a better overview. Detailed information on the individual stages is available on the subpages.

1. Registration of the doctoral project at the Office for Doctoral Studies: Before you start with your scientific work you must register your doctoral project at the Office for Doctoral Studies. For this, you require the Doctorate Agreement completed by you and your supervisors, as well as your university entrance qualification certificate or an enrolment certificate from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin for Medicine or Dentistry. For additional information click here.
2. Preparation of the doctoral thesis (dissertation) and completion of the accompanying studies: Writing your doctoral degree paper (dissertation) – whether as a publication or a monograph – is the essential step towards the award of a doctoral degree. For additional information click here.
3. Submission of your application for initiation of the doctoral examination procedure at the Office for Doctoral Studies: Once you have completed your dissertation you may submit your application for initiation of the doctoral examination procedure to the Office for Doctoral Studies. If your application is approved by the Doctoral Commission, the assessment of your dissertation will be initiated. For additional information click here.
4. Dissertation assessment: Your paper will usually be assessed by two assessors. The assessors must not be your supervisors. You will find information on the grading scale and assessment criteria here.
5. After receipt of the assessments by the Office for Doctoral Studies you can complete the oral doctoral degree examination in two individual examinations or in form of a disputation before an Examination Board. For additional information click here.
6. The publication of the dissertation gives the scientific community access to your thesis.
7. The doctoral degree is conferred with the award of the doctoral degree certificate. Thus, you have completed your doctoral degree.