Faculty Doctoral Regulations

The following text has been copied from the Faculty of Sciences’ Doctoral Regulations PDF and is provided for purposes of accessibility. It can be found in its original version here.

These doctoral regulations have been worded carefully to be up to date; however, errors cannot be completely excluded. The official German text available at the Office of Doctoral Affairs is the version that is legally binding.

Faculty doctoral regulations
for the Faculty of Sciences at
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
(FPromO Nat)

Dated 21 January 2013

amended by the statutes
dated 19 June 2017

Table of Contents:

I. General Conditions, page 2
Section 1: Scope, page 2
Section 2: Doctoral Degrees, page 2
Section 3: Doctoral Titles, page 2
Section 4: Bodies Responsible and Procedural Regulations, page 2
Section 5: Reviewers and Supervisors, page 2

II. Admission to a Doctorate, page 3
Section 6: Admission Requirements, page 3
Section 7: Qualifying Examination, page 3
Section 8: Admission to a Doctorate, page 4

III. The Doctorate Procedure
Section 9: Initiation of the Doctorate Procedure, page 4
Section 10: Requirements for the Thesis, page 4
Section 11: Evaluation, Acceptance and Refusal of the Thesis, page 5
Section 12: Oral examination, page 5
Section 13: Resitting the Oral Examination, page 6
Section 14: Results of the Doctoral Procedure, Notification, page 6
Section 15: Publication of the Thesis and Submission of the Mandatory Copies, page 6
Section 16: Completion of the Doctoral Degree, page 6

IV. Honorary Doctoral Degrees, page 6
Section 17: Honorary Doctoral Degree Certificates, page 6

V. Cooperative Doctoral Degrees / Joint Doctoral Degrees, page 7
Section 18: Cooperative Doctoral Degrees / Joint Doctoral Degrees, page 7

VI. Doctoral Degrees in Cooperation with Foreign Universities, page 7
Section 19: General, page 7
Section 20: Examination Procedure at FAU, page 7
Section 21: Examination Procedure at the Partner Institution, page 7
Section 22: Joint Doctoral Degree Certificate, page 7

VII. Invalidity and Revocation of Doctoral Degrees, page 7
Section 23: Invalidity of Doctoral Examinations, page 7
Section 24: Revocation of Doctoral Degrees, page 7

VIII. Concluding Provisions, page 7
Section 25: Legal Validity and Transitory Provisions, page 7

 

I. General Conditions

Section 1: Scope

¹These doctoral regulations (FPromO Nat) supplement the General Doctoral Regulations of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (RPromO) and are thus structured in a similar manner. ²Therefore some sections do not contain further provisions.

Section 2: Doctoral Degrees

Section 3: Doctoral Titles

Section 4: Bodies Responsible and Procedural Regulations

(1) The bodies responsible are the Doctoral Affairs Committee and the examining committee.

(2) ¹The members of the Doctoral Affairs Committee of the Faculty of Sciences are appointed by the Faculty Council for a duration of four years. ²The Doctoral Affairs Committee consists of five professors from the Faculty of Sciences who each represent one of the existing departments and a professor appointed by the Faculty of Medicine for supervising theses in molecular medicine. ³A representative is appointed for each member of the committee.

(3) The Doctoral Affairs Committee shall appoint a chairperson and a representative from its members of the Faculty of Sciences for a duration of two years.

(4) ¹The examining committee are appointed by the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee. ²The examining committee consists of a professor from the Faculty of Sciences as a chairperson (chair of examinations), one or both reviewers and a further authorised examiner from the Faculty of Sciences or in exceptional cases another FAU faculty who agrees to be appointed by the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee according to the suggestion of the supervisor. ³In individual cases, a professor from another university may be appointed to the examining committee, if they specialise in the subject. In these cases, the committee member shall be appointed as an examiner by the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee. ⁴The thesis and the evaluations
shall be submitted to the additional member of the examining committee for their information. ⁵The chairperson shall not be permitted to act as a reviewer in the same procedure. ⁶If the examining committee is not complete due to the absence of the authorised examiners in sentence 2, the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee can appoint another examiner under exceptional circumstances at the request of the candidate. The chairperson may also appoint an external examiner. ⁷The candidate has the right to propose members for the examining committee.

(5) ¹Further provisions govern how these rules are carried out. ²These further provisions shall be established by the departments of the Faculty of Sciences by mutual agreement.

Section 5: Reviewers and Supervisors

(1) ¹The thesis shall generally be supervised by a member of FAU’s Faculty of Sciences. ²Professors and university lecturers from the Faculty of Sciences are entitled to become supervisors. ³The Doctoral Affairs Committee can also appoint professors who regularly hold courses in a scientific discipline of the English or German molecular medicine degree programmes or other science degree programmes offered by FAU. The appointment may be made for a fixed period of time. ⁴Part-time lecturers and other outstanding young researchers who are able to continually supervise the doctoral research due to their employment at FAU or an institution associated with FAU can be appointed as supervisors according to Section 5 (2)(3) RPromO on an individual basis.
⁵Outstanding young researchers within the meaning of sentence 4 are individuals with doctoral degrees with a strong background in practical research, in particular heads of junior research groups as part of the Emmy Noether Programme run by the German Research Foundation or comparable programmes.

(2) ¹In exceptional cases which must be approved by the Doctoral Affairs Committee, a university lecturer from another FAU faculty can be appointed as a supervisor if they were involved in planning the doctoral thesis. ²This supervisor shall have the same rights throughout the doctorate procedure as the group of individuals specified in (1).

(3) The supervisor of the doctoral research is usually also appointed as a reviewer.

(4) At least one reviewer must be a professor and another reviewer must be a full-time member of the Faculty of Science of FAU.

 

II. Admission to a Doctorate

Section 6: Admission Requirements

To be admitted to a doctorate, the candidate must present proof of one of the following examinations:

1. Diplom examination or Master’s examination in a degree programme related to natural sciences.

2. Second part of the State Examination in Pharmacy (Zweiter Prüfungsabschnitt der Pharmazeutischen Prüfung).

3. First State Examination for state-certified food chemists (Erste Staatsprüfung
für staatlich geprüfte Lebensmittelchemiker).

4. First State Examination for teaching secondary education with natural sciences (Erste Staatsprüfung für das Lehramt an Gymnasien mit einem naturwissenschaftlichen Fach).

5. Master’s examination in natural sciences at a university of applied sciences.

6. Diplom examination or Master’s examination in molecular medicine according
to the examination regulations for molecular medicine at FAU in its most current
version.

Section 7: Qualifying Examination

(1) The following candidates shall be admitted to the doctoral qualification examination on application:
1. Candidates with a pass in the first State Examination for teaching primary and
secondary education (in Grundschule, Hauptschule and Realschule) with a total
of 95 ECTS credits in the relevant core subject including the transfer of existing
subject knowledge modules.

2. Candidates with a university Bachelor’s degree or a Diplom examination at a
university of applied sciences in a relevant degree programme with the overall
assessment of ‘mit Auszeichnung bestanden’ (passed with distinction) or ‘sehr
gut bestanden’ (passed with merit) and at least two semesters of postgraduate
study (Diplom Hauptstudium) or a Master’s degree in a relevant subject at FAU
and

a) if candidates have studied courses from the Master’s degree programme
they must have obtained 60 ECTS credits from the core areas (core modules, compulsory modules, compulsory elective modules, elective modules) in a relevant degree programme.

b) In the case of the Diplom Hauptstudium the candidate must have passed
courses equivalent to the relevant Master’s degree programmes.

(2) ¹The Dean shall take the decisions regarding the qualifying examination if there are no other relevant provisions. ²In consultation with the relevant department, the Dean shall appoint the examiners and the chairperson of the examining committee from the authorised persons according to Section 5. ³The examining committee shall be selected to represent a broad range of subject expertise according to (3). ⁴The candidate shall be notified of the oral examination at least one week in advance.

(3) ¹The qualifying examination consists of an oral examination lasting 60 minutes in front of a committee of three examiners. ²The candidate must demonstrate in the oral examination that they have sufficient knowledge and skills in the subject of the pursued doctoral degree. ³The examination is based on the contents of the core modules, elective modules, compulsory elective modules and compulsory modules of the Master’s degree programme.

(4) ¹The candidate’s performance in the qualifying examination shall be graded as ‘bestanden’ (pass) or ‘nicht bestanden’ (fail). ²The qualifying examination is failed if one of the examiners grades the candidate’s performance with ‘nicht bestanden’

Section 8: Admission to a Doctorate

 

III. The Doctoral Procedure

Section 9: Initiation of the Doctorate Procedure

Section 10: Requirements for the Thesis

(1) The thesis must contain new scientific research.

(2) ¹The Doctoral Affairs Committee can admit research which has been published entirely or partially as a thesis if it has particular scientific significance. ²If a thesis which has already been published is accepted, the candidate can provide the appropriate number of published copies instead of the copies ready for publication. ³Section 10 (3)(3) shall apply accordingly.

(3) ¹If the supervisor agrees, the candidate may submit a collection of articles which have already been published in recognised scientific journals or articles which have been accepted for publication (cumulative dissertation). ²The candidate must be the sole or leading author of at least one of the publications. ³If publications are co-authored, the candidate must clearly indicate which parts of the thesis constitute their own work. ⁴The candidate and co-authors shall provide written confirmation of the authorship of individual contributions. ⁵Cumulative theses shall include a summary of approximately 25 pages which illustrates the contextual links between the published articles and relates their content to broader knowledge of the subject.

Section 11: Evaluation, Acceptance and Refusal of the Thesis

(1) ¹Each of the reviewers makes a recommendation to the Doctoral Affairs Committee of whether the thesis should be accepted or refused. ²If the thesis is accepted, the reviewers shall propose one of the following grades:

1 = ‘sehr gut’ for an outstanding achievement
2 = ‘gut’ for a commendable achievement
3 = ‘genügend’ for an acceptable achievement.

³Grade ‘1’ may be awarded with the assessment ‘ausgezeichnet’ for exceptional
achievements; in this case, a third evaluation is required and at least one of the three reviewers must be an external reviewer. The relevant department has the right to propose external reviewers. ⁴Evaluations shall usually be presented within four weeks. ⁵The overall thesis grade is based on the arithmetic average of the evaluation grades. ⁶The average shall be calculated from the individual grades up to two decimal places. ⁷If the thesis is graded with grade 1 ‘ausgezeichnet’ by all reviewers, the overall grade for the thesis shall be grade 1 ‘ausgezeichnet’.

(2) As soon as the evaluations have been submitted, the thesis and all documents shall be inspected by the authorised examiners of the subject by way of circulation or displayed in the relevant department with the notification of the display period of four weeks.

Section 12: Oral examination

(1) ¹If the thesis is accepted, an approximately 90-minute oral examination shall be held of which the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee shall notify the candidate and name the members of the examining committee at least eight days beforehand. ²The notification deadline for the oral examination may be shortened with the candidate’s agreement. ³The oral examination shall be open to the public.

(2) ¹The oral examination includes a public presentation and a discussion of the subject of the thesis as well as a generally non-public oral examination (Rigorosum) to demonstrate that the candidate is proficient in the subject matter of the thesis, subjects closely related to the thesis and current developments in the subject. ²The presentation shall last for no longer than 30 minutes, followed by approximately 15 minutes of discussion. The Rigorosum lasts for 45 minutes. ³The candidate can apply to the chairperson of the examining committee for the oral examination to be conducted in English. ⁴Members of the Faculty of Sciences who are authorised to examine doctoral degrees may take part in the non-public part of the examination. ⁵If the candidate and the examining
committee are in agreement, the Rigorosum may also be held in public.

(3) ¹The oral examination is led by the chairperson of the examining committee. ²During the presentation, all present may ask questions; only the members of the examining committee may ask questions during the Rigorosum. ³The chairperson can declare questions as inadmissible.

(4) ¹A member of the examining committee shall be appointed by the chair of examinations to submit a report on the proceedings of the oral examination. ²The report shall contain details of the following:

1. The date and duration of the oral examination

2. The name of the chair and the examiners

3. The name of the candidate

4. The subject of the examination

5. The individual grades and the overall grade of the oral examination.

³The report must be signed by the chairperson and the examiners.

(5) ¹The oral examination shall be graded 1 (sehr gut), 2 (gut), 3 (genügend) or 4 (ungenügend) individually by each member of the examining committee. ²The overall grade of the oral examination is calculated from the arithmetic average of the individual grades to one decimal place. ³The examiners may award Grade 1 with the assessment ‘ausgezeichnet’ for exceptional achievements. ⁴The public shall not be permitted to attend the determination of the examination result or the announcement of the examination result to the candidate.

(6) The oral examination is not passed if:

1. The arithmetic average of the grades awarded by the examiners is less than 3.0 according to (5)(2)

2. At least two examiners from the examining committee have graded the candidate’s performance as ‘ungenügend’.

Section 13: Resitting the Oral Examination

Section 14: Results of the Doctorate Procedure, Notification

¹The grade of the thesis shall be specified by the Doctoral Affairs Committee according to Section 11. The grade for the oral examination will be determined after the examination by the examining committee according to Section 12. ²The overall grade of the doctoral degree shall be determined by the Doctoral Affairs Committee. ³The overall grade is calculated from the arithmetic average based on the grades of the thesis (multiplied by six) and the arithmetic average of the individual grades of the oral examination (multiplied by four). ⁴Section 11 (2)(6) shall apply accordingly. ⁵The assessment of the doctoral degree is as follows:

‘magna cum laude’ (sehr gut) from 1.00 to 1.50
‘cum laude’ (gut) from 1.51 to 2.50
‘rite’ (genügend) from 2.51 to 3.00.

⁶If all of the individual grades from the thesis and the oral examination are 1 = ‘ausgezeichnet’, the assessment of the doctoral degree is ‘summa cum laude’ (ausgezeichnet).

Section 15: Publication of the Thesis and Submission of the Mandatory Copies

Section 16: Completion of the Doctoral Degree

¹The doctoral degree certificate shall be issued in German and confirms successful completion of a doctoral degree, stating the thesis title and the grades for both the thesis and the oral examination. ²The assessment shall also be displayed on the certificate according to Section 14. ³The doctoral degree certificate shall be signed by the chairperson of the Doctoral Affairs Committee of the Faculty of Sciences.

IV. Honorary Doctoral Degrees

Section 17: Honorary Doctoral Degree Certificates

(1) Honorary doctoral degrees may only be awarded based on a justified application from at least three professors of the Faculty of Sciences at FAU.

(2) ¹The Doctoral Affairs Committee appoints an individual on the suggestion of the Faculty Council from the persons named in Section 5 (2) RPromO for assessing the academic achievements of the nominee. ²The Doctoral Affairs Committee shall also commission an independent assessment of the nominee’s academic achievements from an external advisor. ³The authorised examiners of the Faculty of Sciences shall be notified of the nomination and the assessment by way of circulation. ⁴The authorised examiners may make a written statement within one month.

(3) ¹The Doctoral Affairs Committee takes the final decision on the nomination in consideration of any objections. ²The nomination will be accepted if a majority is reached.

 

V. Cooperative Doctoral Degrees / Joint Doctoral Degrees

Section 18: Cooperative Doctoral Degrees / Joint Doctoral Degrees

 

VI. Doctoral Degrees in Cooperation with Foreign Universities

Section 19: General

Section 20: Examination Procedure at FAU

Section 21: Examination Procedure at the Partner Institution

Section 22: Joint Doctoral Degree Certificate

 

VII. Invalidity and Revocation of Doctoral Degrees

Section 23: Invalidity of Doctoral Examinations

Section 24: Revocation of Doctoral Degrees

 

VIII. Concluding Provisions

Section 25: Legal Validity and Transitory Provisions

¹These regulations shall come into effect on the day after their publication. ²After the RPromO and FPromO come into effect, all of the doctorate procedures which have already been initiated shall be governed by the existing doctoral regulations from 15 August 2009. All doctorate procedures which have been admitted but not initiated shall be governed by the new doctoral regulations.

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