Program Structure
In order to graduate, students must achieve a total of 180 ECTS points. 32 ECTS points must be earned through various curricular activities, whilst a total of 148 ECTS points are earned through a written dissertation and an oral defense. The standard duration of study is 6 semesters, including the oral defense. Under certain circumstances, the Ph.D. executive committee may grant an extension of up to 2 semesters. The period of study may not exceed 8 semesters, including the defense.
The compulsory coursework consists of different modules. Within each module students must choose one or more options from a range of courses that are offered every semester. While most of the modules have a purely scientific content, and are focused on the six key disciplines of the program, others – like good scientific practice and transferable skill seminars – offer extradisciplinary training, rounding out the students’ education.
A 3-day kick-off seminar is offered by TUM Graduate School and is compulsory for all doctorate students. This seminar provides students with information about academic work and offerings at TUM. It is also an occasion to meet fellow peers from other disciplines. For more details please read here(link is external).
Attending a seminar on Good Scientific Practice is compulsory for every TUM doctoral student registered in the summer semester 2017 or later. This seminar is centered on TUM guidelines to ensure good scientific practice. These implement the 19 guidelines of the German Research Foundation (DFG), which aim at creating a culture of research integrity at higher education institutions.
In order to achieve a total of 32 ECTS points, students must choose and successfully complete one or more activities for each of the described modules, over a period of six semesters.
In order to submit their dissertation students must have completed at least 6 semesters of full-time research in the lab, in addition to all coursework. A total of 148 ECTS points is awarded for both written dissertation and oral defense. Students are generally expected to defend their thesis by the end of the sixth semester. However, under certain circumstances, the PhD executive committee may grant an extension of up to 2 semesters. The period of study may not exceed 8 semesters. This requires that PhD students plan their coursework and research accordingly.
In order to qualify for their PhD degree, all students are required to have at least one first-authored full paper submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. In exceptional cases, the PhD executive committee may also accept a co-authored full paper.