In addition to the Sächsischen Hochschulfreiheitsgesetz (Saxon Act of Academic Freedom in Higher Education; § 40) there are two applicable regulations that you can both find on our home page:
- Regulations for obtaining a doctoral degree (Promotionsordnung / PromO MN) at the School of Science, and
- Regulations for Doctoral Studies (Ordnung für das Promotionsstudium) at the School of Science.

• Preparation of a dissertation
• Disputation (defence)
• Rigorosum (final oral exam)

(Alternative: proof of successful participation in Doctoral Studies at the School of Science, including the passing of a second qualifying exam.)

According to § 3 Abs. 6 of PromO MN a dissertation must be prepared with the support of a scientific supervisor, who should be a lecturer or a professor at the School of Science; in exceptional cases this clause can be overseen.
In the former case, a doctoral committee reviews the correspondence to the doctoral study admission requirements at the beginning of the studies (admission to Doctoral Studies). Please also refer to § 3 of PromO MN “Voraussetzungen zur Zulassung für eine Promotion” (Doctoral study admission requirements). 

The acceptance as a doctoral candidate is done online via Promovendus. Via Promovendus, a corresponding application document is created, which you print out and submit to the staff member of your respective faculty at the doctoral office or, if applicable, at IHI Zittau or DIGS-BB.

Please note that a supervision agreement is to be signed between the scientific supervisor and the doctoral student following a recommendation by the DFG and the Graduate Academy of TU Dresden. An Employment at the university or at an institute is not equivalent to acceptance as a doctoral student.

If the dissertation is written without the supervision of a lecturer at the Faculty, the applicant must submit their doctoral thesis plan in written form at least one year before the prescribed submission date to the doctoral committee, together with a declaration of readiness by an appointed lecturer at the Faculty for the preparation of a report (admission as doctoral student) and the fulfilment of the admission requirements pursuant to § 3 PromO MN.

Foreign applicants are asked to refer to the website of the Akademischen Auslandsamtes der TU Dresden (International Office at TU Dresden).
In case you would like to be enrolled as a doctoral student, please also fill in the form of the School of Science (Statement of the Department) and not the one of the International Office.

At the employee responsible for doctoral issues within your faculty: 

Mathematics:
Mr. Mario Respondek
Zellescher Weg 12-14, Willers-Bau, C-wing, room C 111
Tel.: 463 35103

Physics:
Ms. Steffi Gerber
Haeckelstraße 3, Physiks House, room C 008A
Tel.: 463 3 33 78

Chemistry/LC:  
Ms. Heike Winkler
Mommsenstraße 4, Walther-Hempel-Bau, room 207
Tel.: 463 3 33 34

Psychology:
Ms. Kathrin Binye
Zellescher Weg 17, Office Building at Zellescher Weg (BZW), room A335
Tel.: 463 3 25 17

Biology:
Ms. Katrin Richter
Zellescher Weg 20b, Biologische Institute, room E32
Tel.: 463 4 31 57

The doctoral committee is responsible for all content-related and legal issues that you may come across during your doctoral studies.

In all technical issues, please refer to the Doctoral Office (Promotionsamt) of your Faculty. Here you can find contacts for all organizational issues that may arise in connection with your doctoral thesis or doctoral studies.

In doctoral studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences the skills and knowledge of the students are intensified with the aim of providing versatile personal development as well as purposeful skill training for young researchers; at that the doctoral plan is supported and the doctoral candidates will be given opportunities for further development.   
Doctoral study can therefore be described as follows:

• Scientific work and research is concentrated on;
• The doctoral phase is not regimented and is therefore not to be understood as the third stage of higher education, but to already serve as a profession;
• There is a possibility in the second part of the studies that the Rigorosum is replaced by in-depth specialist studies (courses and/or self-study) with relevant testing;
• It should include doctoral and research seminar in the narrow field of study for the acquisition of the so-called key qualifications;
• The doctoral regulations apply without exceptions.

And individual study programme, added to the doctoral candidate’s consultations with their academic supervisor, is divided into in-depth professional studies (with two exams that are taken at certain intervals of time), doctoral seminars and other scientific events. The acquisition of key skills, including learning languages, should also be part of the programme. The doctoral studies should take up approximately 20 academic hours per week. Approximately two times four academic hours per week should be planned for the in-depth specialist studies. You are relatively free in customizing the content of the studies as well as the number of hours dedicated to the studies.

The Rigorosum can be replaced on request under the following conditions:
You must be able to prove that you have undertaken doctoral studies at the School of Science and fulfil the requirements set in the Regulations for Doctoral Studies. The in-depth specialist studies that form a part of the whole doctoral programme, must be completed with two final examinations; whereas the minimum grade that must be achieved with the first attempt must be „satisfactory“ (3.0) in both examinations.

The in-depth specialist study will enable the doctoral candidates to deepen and broaden special skills and knowledge in scientific disciplines (e.g. by attending courses or through self-study) that have already been covered in previous studies, whereas the knowledge is necessary for carrying out the dissertation project successfully. Each must choose two such in-depth specialist study areas.

The subjects must comply with the requirements for Rigorosum subjects according to § 5 subsection 2 of the Doctorate Regulations. The selected subjects should not be too similar and they should have a reference to the scientific field and the topic of the dissertation; they should, for example, coincide with the candidate’s previous examination subjects that have been taken in previous study programmes (e.g., Master’s). At least one of the subjects must be provided at the faculty. They are confirmed by the doctoral committee of the School of Science.

Please check if your desired subjects can already be found on the list of fully approved Oral Examination Subjects (Fachgebiete für das Rigorosum).

If your desired subjects or one of them is not on the list, it is recommended to file an application for the recognition of these subjects in good time. To do this, please fill in the form Application for authorization of subjects for the replacement of the Rigorosum  (Antrag auf Genehmigung von Fachgebieten für den Ersatz des Rigorosums).
 

Keep your admission document at hand and submit it along with the application for the opening of doctoral proceedings, unless you want to have the final oral exam (Rigorosum) replaced.

All subjects end in an at least 30-minute oral examination or in a written examination.
The examiners for the in-depth specialist study area will be determined by the Doctoral Committee. Both examiners must be professors or private university lecturers (PD). Exceptions to this rule may be granted on request by the responsible member of the Doctorate Committee.

The key skills refer to, for example, the following areas: communications, public speaking, presentation skills, time management, interpersonal and intercultural competence, patents, intellectual property, higher education and third-party funding, etc. The acquisition of foreign languages also falls to this category.

Both of your specialist subject exams will be proven by testing protocols or lists that the lecturer hands directly over to the responsible assistant in the Doctoral Office or the respective examination office (if possible, ask for a copy of your records).
All other results can be demonstrated through relevant participation or performance records. Doctoral seminars and other scientific events can be proved, for example, through the signature of the responsible professor or lecturer (if possible, giving details about academic hour count: 45 minutes x 15 (= ca 12 hours) corresponds to one SWS (weekly hours in a semester)).
You can use a prepared Summary table (Evidence of achievements during the doctoral studies) for that.

Option 1: Take up a third subject that finishes in an examination. Then use the two best results to apply for the replacement of the Rigorosum.
Option 2: Do not submit an application for the replacement of the Rigorosum (oral exam), but undergo the Rigorosum in the actual doctoral proceedings.

The application should be submitted together with the application for doctoral proceedings, so at the very end of the doctoral phase.

No, it would be too late. The doctoral studies at the School of Science must be completed with both specialist subject exams before submitting the application for opening the doctoral proceedings which must be completed prior to the submission of the dissertation.

No, but you must be admitted to doctorate studies under §3 PromO MN.
 

No. For the actual doctoral proceedings, Doctorate Regulations at the School of Science apply

A doctoral student has a right to propose a selection of an opponent. The final decision is made by the doctoral committee in the course of opening doctoral proceedings.
There are two opponents; on good reason a third opponent can also be included. Mostly the opponents should be university lecturers or professors.

In cooperative doctoral proceedings of technical college graduates, a lecturer at the technical college is to be appointed as an opponent.

One of the opponents must be a lecturer or a professor at the School of Science (usually this would also be the scientific supervisor). This includes also external professors and honorary professors, whose rights as university professors are transferred to the faculty, similar rules apply to secondary members of other faculties of the university.

Which combinations are allowed, can be complicated in some cases. Your scientific supervisor, the staff at the Doctoral Office and the School Administration will be happy to help explain to you the details.

Yes, simple copies are not enough.

The documents issued by TU Dresden can be certified at the university: see link

Documents issued by other organizations and institutions cannot be certified at the university. For that purpose, please contact the competent authorities of the city you live in. The nearest public certification authority can be found in the town hall on Nöthnitzer Straße 2, or you could turn to Bürgerbüros (citizen offices at the Dresden City Administration).

After having successfully completed the doctoral proceedings, a doctoral candidate is obliged to make their accepted dissertation available for the general scientific public within the period of one year counting from the date of the final oral exam. For this purpose, please hand over to the Saxon State Library (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden; SLUB) and the scientifically competent institution or department, free of charge, copies of the dissertation in a bound (or any other prescribed) form. Publication in electronic form is also additionally possible. The number of required copies has been set by the SLUB and the scientifically competent institution or department. The maximum number of required copies is 25. Special conditions applied to the doctorate candidates in justified cases are decided upon by the Doctoral Committee. For the requirements set by the SLUB, please see Festlegungen der SLUB (Rules of the SLUB) on this matter.
 

After completing your doctoral procedure and after you have submitted the required number of copies of your dissertation to the SLUB, you are liable to receive your doctoral certificate.
Generally the certificate is handed over at meeting of the School Committee. If you no longer reside in Dresden or are unable to attend the meeting due to professional commitment, there is also the possibility for getting the certificate in another way:

• It will be handed over to you at the School of Science Administration Office at an agreed time;
• It will be mailed to you;
• It will be handed over to a person you have authorized to receive the certificate with a power of attorney.

In this issue, please turn to
Ms. Simone Lehnigk,
Zellescher Weg 12-14, Willers-Bau, C-wing, room C130, E-Mail
Tel.: 463 3 75 12