If you would like to do a doctorate, apply to the relevant department for admission to do doctoral research. The department to which your doctoral subject is assigned is always responsible. Contact the doctoral office.

Once you have been admitted, you must enrol. Enrollment is mandatory for all doctoral researchers, with the exception of employees of Freie Universität.

Application for admission to the department

A prerequisite is that a supervisor from the department agrees to supervise your thesis (“confirmation of supervision” or “supervision agreement”). In addition to the confirmation of supervision or the supervision agreement, the departments require further information and documents for the application for admission. The best way to find out what these are in detail is to contact the doctoral degree offices of the departments.

Please note that admission to a doctoral program does not mean that you have been admitted to a doctorate by the department. The application and selection procedure of the program and the admission procedure at the department are completely independent of each other.

You can apply at any time and be admitted at any time. However, you should bear in mind that the relevant departmental doctoral boards do not meet regularly during the lecture-free periods between mid-February and mid-April and between mid-July and mid-October, which may result in delays

Acceptance by the department

The doctoral board of the respective department decides whether the necessary requirements for admission to doctoral research have been met.

You can find an overview of the current doctoral degree regulations of the departments on the website of the University Library of Freie Universität.

Please note: Admission to a doctorate at a department of Freie Universität does not include any commitment to finance the doctoral thesis or to provide a doctoral position! (See also Funding: Positions)

Enrollment as a doctoral student

Once you have been admitted by the department, you must enrol as a doctoral researcher at the Enrollment Office. You will be informed of the deadline for enrollment in the official letter of admission from the department. If you are unable to meet this deadline due to long-term processes such as visa applications etc., please inform the relevant doctoral office as soon as possible.

Please note that you can enrol either for an individual doctorate or for a doctorate in a DRS program. To enroll in a DRS program, you will need proof of your membership, which you will receive from your program coordinator.

Further information can be found on the pages of the Student Administration (Enrollment office). If you have any questions, please contact advice@drs.fu-berlin.de

Change of doctoral status (individual doctorate to DRS program)

If you wish to change your doctoral status, please apply for this on the next re-registration date with the application for a change of degree program.

A change of status may be necessary if, for example, you have mistakenly enrolled for an individual doctorate but you are actually a member of a DRS program or, if you were just accepted into a DRS doctoral program after starting an invididual doctorate.

Further information can be found on the Student Administration website. If you have any questions, please contact advice@drs.fu-berlin.de.

As with enrollment, you will need the usual documents as well as proof of your program membership, which you can obtain from the coordination office of your respective program.

Documents and semester fee

• Proof of health insurance is not required.
• Generally, only simple copies need to be submitted.
• The application for enrollment must be submitted by mail.

Doctoral researchers who are not pursuiing their doctorate at Freie Universität, but at their home university, please confirm this in writing and enclose this letter with the documents to be sent by post.

Enrollment is subject to contributions (a social contribution to the Studierendenwerk and a contribution to the student body) and fees (enrollment and re-registration fees). In return you receive a semester ticket for public transportation.