Types of Doctorates

Doctoral researchers of KIT conduct research into topics covered by KIT’s portfolio and are supervised (scientifically) at KIT. The doctorate is conferred either by a KIT Department or by a department of another university. In the latter case, doctoral researchers conduct their research at KIT where they are scientifically supervised, but pass their doctoral examination at another university. This is one of the consequences of KIT being the Research University in the Helmholtz Association.

At KIT, both individual doctorates and doctorates in structured doctoral programs (in selected areas) are possible. Other options are doctorates in cooperation with industry or non-university research institutions, called external doctorates. Doctorates are also offered in collaboration with Universities of Applied Sciences. Moreover, binational doctorates at two universities in two different countries are possible.