Guide to choosing the subject areas and the examiners of the oral examination for the doctorate in physics

The “Rigorosum” is an oral examination comprising two  subject areas proposed by the candidate. It takes place the same day on which you also defend your thesis. The decision about which subject areas are permitted is taken by the Doctorate Committee of the School of Science in consultation with the Dean of the Faculty of Physics. When choosing the subject areas, you have to observe the following rules:

• The two subject areas must not be too narrow and must be related to the scientific field (i.e., physics) or to the topic of the thesis. They should, for example, be examination subjects of master programmes at the university. At least one subject must be represented at the School of Science.

• The topic of your doctoral thesis should not be a subject in the “Rigorosum” (i.e., the examination subject area should not be too closely related to your doctoral work). Furthermore, at least one of the two subjects should be a physics topic.

• Usually, the examiners should be university lecturers (“Hochschullehrer”, University lecturers of the Faculty of Physics), but, for example, also a “Privatdozent” may act as examiner in exceptional cases. According to the Young-Investigator Regulations of the TUD, YIs are also admitted as examiners in doctoral studies.

There is a catalogue of preapproved subjects areas. However, you may also propose subjects that are not in this list. In any case you should contact the examiners in advance, in order to make sure that they are available and to define the topics. If in doubt you can contact the representative of the Faculty of Physics in the Doctorate Committee of the School of Science, Prof. Jan Budich.

Replacement of the “Rigorosum”: Participants of the doctorate program (“Promotionsstudium”) of the School of Science can replace the “Rigorosum” by two separate exams, if they satisfy the applicable conditions (see frequently asked questions). The exams have to be passed on the first attempt with a minimum grade of “satisfactory” (3,0). They generally cover advanced lectures from university master curricula. For their selection, the rules for selecting topics for the “Rigorosum” apply accordingly. The exams must not have been passed already during studies for a master degree. The examiner must be a university lecturer (“Hochschullehrer”), a “Privatdozent” or a Young Investigator at the School of Science at TU Dresden. During the exams, an observer ("Beisitzer") with a doctoral degree shall be present. If the thesis supervisor acts as examiner, the observer shall be an independent professor.

In any case of doubt it is solely the German text of the law and of the Doctorate Regulations of the School of Science that is legally binding.