Doctoral Academy (former CDS)

 

The Doctoral Academy (abbreviation: DA) is a program of the RWTH. However, the application always goes through the faculty as well. For an application or in case of interest, the contact person Monika Andreas must therefore always be contacted. A description of the process can be found under the FAQ on this page.

 

The Process

1. Registration to participate in Doctroral Academy (DA)

Register with the RWTH's Doctoral Academy when you have received your admission letter.

The doctoral candidate can participate in the DA. The participation in the program is voluntary.

2. Gathering the qualifications

Doctoral candidates are required to compile their own personal DA programme with the assistance
of their supervisor and submit it to the Dean's Office within six months of receiving the admission letter.
Please use the faculty's DA progress sheet for this.

Some facilities offer various courses in the framework of the DA. You can find the current offerings of the RWTH here. 

The credit programme can only be changed if the changes are agreed upon with the supervisor and
confirmed in writing on the DA progress sheet. It is not necessary to obtain the consent of the Dean
of Studies in respect of such changes to the programme.

3. Assessment of the additional qualifications by the Dean's Office

When the DA progress sheet has been assessed by the Dean of Studies, it is returned to you and
you can commence the doctoral programme.

4. Record of credits

When you have been awarded one or several credits, please ask your supervisor to confirm this on the DA progress sheet by initialling it in the designated column.

5. Submission of the DA progress sheet

You will hand in the completed DA progress sheet to the Dean of Studies Office. The DA progress sheet is used for the faculty-internal review of your activities for the Doctoral Supplement. In addition to the faculty internal review, you must enter your activities into the file provided by the DA. The DA generates the doctoral supplement from this file.

If you need it for job application purposes, the DA will issue an interim report for you.

6. Receiving the doctoral supplement

The Doctoral Supplement is sent to the Dean of Studies Office for signature. The Dean of Studies will only sign the Doctoral Supplement if the DA process sheet has been successfully submitted to the Dean of Studies Office beforehand.

If all of the above steps have been successfully completed, you will receive a certificate from the DA, called the Doctoral Supplement, which lists your additional qualifications. You will receive this in both German and English.