International Ph.D. Students in Faculty II
General Information
The Faculty of Education, Architecture and the Arts wholeheartedly welcomes international students who are looking for an opportunity to obtain a Ph.D. By writing your Ph.D. thesis, you are expected to show your ability to engage systematically in extensive independent research. The typical time period for writing a Ph.D. thesis will be between 3-5 years, mostly depending on the way you are financing your project. Naturally, financing your Ph.D. as a research assistant will take a little longer due to extra work assisting your professor and related teaching obligations. On the other hand, financing your Ph.D. via scholarships or private means could usually help you to obtain your Ph.D. within 3 years or less. Note that unlike other foreign Ph.D. programs, having your Ph.D. application accepted does not imply you will be financed by our faculty.
The most important step at having your Ph.D. application accepted at our faculty is to find a supervising professor. There are two ways to achieve this: You can either contact us via e-mail including your CV and research proposal so we can forward your request to the relevant department. Or you can contact a professor of our faculty yourself and ask them if they would be interested in supervising your thesis. In our experience, the latter method is more effective.
You can write your thesis in either German or English. Furthermore, if you enroll as a Ph.D. student there are no German language requirements.
Doctorate subjects at our faculty include the following:
- Education
- Architecture
- Art education
- Fine arts
- Music education
- Musicology
- Psychology
Note that unlike some foreign universities, doing your Ph.D. at a German university means that you need a prerequisite in the same field of study. This means that you can only do your Ph.D. at one of the above mentioned doctorate subjects if you hold a master’s degree in this field. However, if you hold a degree that is closely related to the intended Ph.D. subject, our Ph.D. board can decide in individual cases whether you can still become accepted as a Ph.D. student. In such cases, our Ph.D. board will also determine which additional requirements are necessary.
Documents
The first step is to find a supervising professor by sending your CV and a research proposal to either Dr. Josephine Krüger or your particular professor. If you contact Dr. Krüger, she can help you find a supervisor by contacting the specific department. Yet, doing some preliminary research on which professor might be most suitable for your intended Ph.D. project and then contacting them personally is a more promising strategy and the one which we highly recommend.
Once you have managed to find a supervising professor for your PhD project, you are asked to submit the following documents to Dr. Josephine Krüger:
- Supervisor agreement
- Application form for Ph.D. students (to be obtained from our office)
- CV
- Proposal of intended Ph.D. project (2-5 pages)
- For German-language dissertation: German language certificate (e. g. DaF, DSH),
For English-language dissertation: English language certificate (e. g. TOEFL) - Certified copy of university degree that provides qualification for beginning doctoral thesis
- Certified copies of all other university degrees (e. g. undergraduate degree)
- For transferring from some other university during doctoral studies: statement of former university that there is no record of failed PhD attempts
- 1 certified copy of high school graduation certificate
Important: All documents must be sent as one pdf-file via email. In addition, the same documents must be sent via mail to
University of Siegen
Faculty II: School of Education, Architecture, and the Arts
Dr. Josephine Krüger
Adolf-Reichwein-Straße 2a
D-57068 Siegen
GERMANY
Your request can only be dealt with once we have received both your scanned and mailed documents.
Please note: Your Ph.D. application and your registration as a Ph.D. student at the student service center are two different processes. For enrollment, please find the information pertaining to all necessary documents, opening hours, and contact person here.
