Application for a Doctoral Degree

• Please consult your supervisor for the question of when it makes sense to hand in your dissertation, because you cannot hand in your dissertation without her*his consent.
• On our websites you can find information about CIT boards meetings to hand in your application.
• This timeline gives you an impression how long the complete examination process takes:

• For a publication based dissertation there are additional rules, described here.
• There are no rules concerning formal aspects of your dissertation such as type size or margin width etc. Only your title page is formalized (see below, "Necessary Documents"). All other formal aspects are left to you as the author. This also applies to citation rules which vary from one scientific community to another. Please direct your questions concerning correct citations etc. to your supervisor.
• Please check in your TUM-GS-Account if you have fulfilled the qualification program of your graduate center (e.g. ISAM, TopMath, Helena) and upload the necessary documents. Otherwise, the application for a doctoral degree remains invisible.
• Please note that although you will receive support from the department during your examination phase, the responsibility for the overall coordination remains with you. As a result you need to proactively search for answers to your questions.

1. Registration onto the doctoral list: You have to be registered on the doctoral list of the department where you want to hand in your dissertation.

2. Recognition of a foreign degree: If you have a foreign degree you need to go through a recognition procedure, where in the end TUM confirms that your foreign Master is equivalent to a Master of TUM. This also applies for Austrian and Swiss Masters. The letter of confirmation is needed for the application.

3. Requirements of your graduate center have to be fulfilled: The program you defined in your supervision agreement needs to be fulfilled. If it is not, the application for a doctoral degree remains invisible in your account. If this is the case, you need to contact your graduate center.

Here you find a full list of the documents needed for handing in your thesis in doc-gs. This applies to all doctoral applications independent from the version of the doctoral regulations that apply. 

If you click to the German version of this website you find help for filling in the necessary documents in German. If you don't read German and need help, please write an email to dekanat@ma.tum.de. We will go through the documents and fill them in together.

What is the difference between examiner and reviewer?

Strictly speaking, an examiner is a person who writes a review of your thesis and takes part in your oral examination. A person who writes a review but will not take part in your oral examination is a reviewer. Even if, in everyday language, those terms are usually used synonymously, examiner is the overall term.

Who can be examiner in a doctoral examination?

Examiners need to be "Hochschullehrer" (university teacher) in accordance with the Bayerisches Hochschulgesetz (Bavarian Higher Education Act), i.e. they need an academic title equivalent to PD or Professor. The best way to prove that they have this title is a website with the title on it. In an international context, the titles of "reader" and "lecturer" are the only exceptions that are accepted so far. TUM Junior Fellows are also eligible as primary examiners for their own employees and as examiners in doctoral examinations. For more details, please consult the Regulations for the Award of doctoral Degrees at TUM, section 10.

Please note: an external examiner/reviewer for a dissertation at the department of mathematics at TUM does not have to be a member of a mathematics department. Who is suitable as an examiner/reviewer in your project is decided by your supervisor and a possible examiner/reviewer who agrees to write a report and thus confirms to be an expert on the field of your dissertation.

Who can NOT be an examiner in a doctoral examination?

Leading researchers without an affiliation to a university are not "Hochschullehrer" in the mentioned sense, and therefore cannot be examiners. The affiliation is made visible by the website of a university, which lists him/her as a member. Even high-ranking researchers need to meet this requirement.

How many members of the examining committee are necessary?

• The chair of the committee needs to be an active professor from the department of mathematics; retired professors are excluded.
• 1st examiner is your supervisor (no exceptions).
• 2nd examiner is an eligible member from the department of mathematics, of TUM or from a German or international university. The function of the 2nd examiner can be shared by two persons: one person writes a review and a second person takes part in the oral examination. In this case, both persons have to meet the requirement of being "Hochschulllehrer". If you want to split up the function of 2nd examiner, please include this in your proposal about your committee, which you send to dekanat (at) ma.tum.de. For example: 2nd examiner: Prof. A.B., University of C (review)/Prof. D.E., University of F. (oral examination).
• 3rd examiner is optional according to the TUM regulations; however, according to the department's own quality assurance regulations, a 3rd examiner is necessary, if
  • the 2nd examiner is a member of the department of mathematics. In this case a 3rd examiner who is a member of another TUM-department, or from another German or international university is necessary
  • the 2nd examiner will not take part in your oral examination
  • your supervisor thinks it possible that you will pass with "high distinction" (summa cum laude). In this case, a 3rd examiner is necessary as a means of departmental quality assurance. S*he has to be sufficiently independent of the doctoral student; therefore s*he
    • has to be an external professor who is not a member of TUM
    • has not published together with you.
  • In all cases, the 3rd examiner can restrict herself*himself to writing a review without taking part in your oral examination.

How is the examining committee nominated?

• Please discuss the examining committee you want to propose to the faculty board with your supervisor.
• Your supervisor is asked to send this proposal to dekanat (at) ma.tum.de. It will then be discussed at the next faculty board meeting. The proposed members of the committee need to have agreed to act as examiners/reviewers for this doctoral project before you hand in the proposal.

Step 1: Basics: How to hand in your thesis: 

To get basic information about how to hand in your thesis, please consult the website of the TUM-Graduate school. This website applies for all doctoral students independent from the version of doctoral regulations that applies. 

Step 2: Individual Help

International doctoral students who need help after going through step 1 please contact dekanat@ma.tum.de. We will make an appointment to clarify all questions you may have. We will also fill in together necessary forms which are in German only.

Faculty Board

1. Application for a doctoral degree (submitting your dissertation): After you have handed in your application for a doctoral degree at the doctoral examination office, the faculty board will appoint the examining committee. Your supervisor is asked to send a proposal compatible with the Regulations for the Award of Doctoral Degrees at TUM, § 10 as an email to dekanat (at) ma.tum.
2. Assessment of the dissertation: After the faculty board has appointed the examining committee, the head of the committee is responsible for all further proceedings: She or he will ask the examiners for written reports, and will then circulate the dissertation and the reports so that all persons eligible to vote for or against a dissertation in the department have the opportunity to assess it.

Oral Examination

1. If the dissertation is accepted, the head of the committee will schedule the oral examination in consultation with you as the candidate and the members of the examining committee and invite these persons to the oral examination. All members of the department have to be invited to your presentation by email.
2. You have to take an oral examination that consists of first, a presentation about the subject of the dissertation that is open to the members of the department (30 minutes), and second, of questions after the talk from the authorized examiners of the department present afterwards (30 minutes). This part is closed to the public.

Your documents will be handed back to the dean's office by the chair of your committee. After inserting all data it will become visible for the Center for Study and Teaching that the official process is finished. They will contact you and give you instructions how to proceed.

The final doctoral certificate will be handed over during the department's graduation ceremony, for which you will receive an invitation.