Individuals interested in pursuing a doctoral degree must apply for admission to the relevant Department and, unless they have an employment relationship with Freie Universität, must enroll as doctoral researchers in the Registration Office of Freie Universität within the deadline set by the Department once they have been accepted.

Applying to the Department

Prerequisite for the application for admission as a doctoral researcher is the commitment of a supervisor of the department to supervise your project. This also applies if you have applied for a place in a doctoral program and have been accepted.

In addition to the confirmation of supervision or the supervision agreement, the Departments require further information and documents for the application for admission. To find out what these are in detail, please contact the Doctoral Degree Offices of the Departments.

Please note that admission to a doctoral program does not anticipate admission as a doctoral researcher by the Department. Both procedures, the application and selection procedure of the program and the admission procedure at the Department, are completely independent of each other.

Doctoral Degree Offices at Freie Universität Berlin

There is no general application deadline for you and also no central application address. Rather, you can apply at any time and be admitted at any time. However, you should take into account that the responsible Admission Committees of the Departments do not meet regularly during the lecture-free periods between mid-February and mid-April and between mid-July and mid-October and that delays may therefore occur.

Admission by the Department

The Admission Committee of the respective department decides whether the necessary requirements for admission to doctoral studies have been met.

An overview of the respective valid doctoral regulations of the Departments can be found on the webpages of the University Library of Freie Universität: Doctoral Regulations.

Please note: Admission to a doctoral program at a Department of Freie Universität does not imply any promise of financial support or to provide a doctoral position! (For more information on funding opportunities, see Funding: Scholarships and Research Funding).

Enrollment as Doctoral Student

After admission by the Department, enrollment as a doctoral researcher must take place at the Registration Office. The deadline for enrollment will be communicated to you 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 Degree Office as soon as possible.

Please note that you can enroll either as an individual doctoral researcher (Individualpromotion) or as a doctoral researcher within a DRS program (Promotion im DRS-Programm). For the latter a confirmation of membership is required, which you will receive from your program coordinator (not from DRS!).

For further information and the enrollment form please visit https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/immatrikulation/promotion/index.html. In case of questions please contact advice@drs.fu-berlin.de.

Change of Status (Individual > DRS Program)

If you wish to change your doctoral status, please request this by the next re-registration deadline with the Change of Program Request Form.

A change in status may be necessary if, for example, as a member of a DRS program you enrolled as an individual doctoral researcher in error, or if you were accepted into a DRS doctoral program later in the course of your doctorate.

For further information and the enrollment form please visit https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/immatrikulation/promotion/index.html. In case of questions please contact advice@drs.fu-berlin.de.

Additional material and semester fee

- Proof of health insurance is not required.

- Generally, only single copies need to be submitted.

- The application for enrollment must be submitted by mail.

- Doctoral students who are not seeking their degree at Freie Universität, but at their home university, please affirm this in writing and enclose this letter with the documents to be sent by mail.

For enrollment, contributions (a social contribution to the Studierendenwerk as well as a contribution to the student body) and fees (matriculation or re-registration fee) are incurred. The semester ticket for public transport is not obligatory for doctoral researchers; those who do not wish to use it can informally apply for exemption. Please enclose the application for exemption from the semester ticket with the application for enrollment, stating the period of time (see Fees).