Doctoral Agreement

Within the first six months after starting the doctoral program or after receiving the commitment from the KIT supervisor, a doctoral agreement must be signed. The form for the doctoral agreement can be found here as a Word doc or PDF.

The following additional documents may be helpful for completion of the Doctoral Agreement:

Guidelines for Supervisors and Doctoral Candidates
Guide for meetings with your supervisor (in German) [Template: DOCX]

Subsequently, the doctoral candidate must register with KHYS (Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists). Registration is done through the Docata portal. A description of the registration process can be found here.

[Note: There is also a KHYS guide for the formal steps of the doctoral process (see here). This one differs from the guide described here as other departments handle the process differently.]

Both the copy of the doctoral agreement (including attachments) and a printout of the registration confirmation with KHYS must be attached to the application for registration as a doctoral candidate at the Department of Economics and Management (see Step 2).

Further Comments on the Doctoral Agreement

The Landeshochschulgesetz (LHG) has made the signing of a doctoral agreements mandatory. This agreement has been required for acceptance at a KIT department since January 1, 2015. For all doctoral candidates registered prior, the completion of a doctoral agreement is optional and can be arranged in coordination with the supervisor.
The Dean decides on the acceptance as a doctoral candidate. Unlike in some other faculties, our faculty does not have a doctoral committee.
The doctoral project is described in a topic proposal and a work-time plan. The topic proposal with a brief summary (or, if applicable, a detailed exposé) represents the current planning status and can be adjusted during the doctoral process. Therefore, defining a topic and timeline is not a barrier to completing the doctoral agreement early.
Under "§3 Doctoral project" ("cumulative doctoral project"), "no" must be marked for a doctoral program which is under the 2012 doctoral regulations. For a doctoral program which is under the 2018 doctoral regulations, you can decide between yes or no.