Fachhochschule Dortmund, together with the other 20 universities of applied sciences (HAWs) in North Rhine-Westphalia, has agreed on the details of its collaboration within the new Doctoral School NRW.
“The state’s granting of independent doctoral degree-awarding authority to the PK NRW, following a comprehensive evaluation by the German Science Council, is a remarkable achievement,” emphasized Prof. Dr. Tamara Appel, Vice Rector of Fachhochschule Dortmund. “This also offers our doctoral students a new opportunity to earn a doctoral degree. I would like to thank everyone who has worked with great dedication in the past to achieve this milestone, which brings together the academic expertise of the universities of applied sciences and strengthens institutional autonomy,” she said following the meeting of the State Rectors’ Conference on April 27, 2023, at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in Sankt Augustin.
Transparency in the processes
"With today's signing of the cooperation agreement between the 21 universities and the PK NRW, we are regulating cooperation in the doctoral process in detail in line with the recommendations of the German Council of Science and Humanities," explained Prof. Dr. Martin Sternberg, Chairman of the PK NRW. "We are thus creating transparency in the processes and ensuring the high quality of doctoral studies at the PK NRW. In this way, we offer clear guidance to cooperating colleagues at universities and young academics from HAWs and universities interested in pursuing a doctorate." The processes for acceptance and enrollment as a doctoral candidate will start in the course of summer 2023.
Background to the right to award doctorates
Back in November 2022, NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes ceremoniously awarded PK NRW the right to award doctorates at a ceremony in Essen, laying the foundation for a real innovation in the state's scientific landscape. For the first time, doctorates under the supervision of professors from HAWs are possible at PK NRW without cooperation with a university. With this model, NRW is taking an independent path at a time when other federal states are also opening up the right to award doctorates to HAWs.