TUM's doctorate is governed by the Promotionsordnung, the Regulations for the Award of Doctoral Degrees. TUM publishes it bilingually, with the German text and an English translation side by side, which is unusually helpful. The German text is the binding one.
If you have studied in the UK, Australia or North America, several things here will not match your expectations.
What the dissertation has to be
The dissertation must provide a clear description of the results, and must be an original, innovative contribution to the advance of science.
Two structural rules follow from that:
Your topic must fit an examiner. The dissertation must be on a topic falling within a subject area represented by an authorised examiner at TUM. This is not a formality. If no one at TUM holds that area, the project cannot proceed there.
Outside work needs prior consultation. If your dissertation was written outside the degree-awarding institution, you must consult a responsible professor before submission. Do not write first and seek the relationship afterwards.
Cumulative dissertations
A publication-based dissertation is permitted. The bar is set clearly:
It must be a scholarly work equivalent in all aspects to a conventional dissertation, and the requirements in Appendix 6 must be complied with.
Papers accepted for publication and published in print or electronic journals must be enclosed with the dissertation as an appendix. Prior publication of parts of the dissertation is permitted, subject to the regulation's conditions.
If you are considering this route, Appendix 6 is the document to read before you plan your papers, not after.
The point of no return
This is the rule most worth knowing in advance, because it removes an option you may assume you have.
If at least one report has been submitted to the chair of the examining committee, the doctoral candidacy application can no longer be withdrawn.
At many universities a candidate who receives a hostile report can quietly withdraw, revise, and resubmit later. At TUM that window closes the moment the first report lands, and reports are normally in within three months of submission.
The practical consequence: the decision to submit is the decision to be examined. Have the difficult conversation with your supervisor before submitting, not after the first report arrives.
Grading the dissertation
| Grade | German |
|---|---|
| Passed with high distinction | summa cum laude |
| Passed | — |
| Not passed | — |
If one of the grades awarded is "not passed", the doctoral project is failed.
A single negative report is decisive. This is stricter than systems where examiners negotiate toward a common recommendation.
If it fails
Within a deadline of two years from service of the rejection notice, the candidate may submit a new dissertation, or one revised in compliance with the examining committee's consent.
Miss that two-year deadline and the programme is finally failed. Two years sounds generous, and it is, but it runs from the notice rather than from when you feel ready to start again.
The oral examination
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Format | Individually examined, approximately one hour |
| Scope | The broader discipline the dissertation belongs to, not just the dissertation |
| Language | German as a rule; English at the candidate's request |
The scope is the part to prepare for. An oral that ranges across your whole discipline is a different examination from one confined to your own chapters, and candidates who prepare only to defend their findings are caught out by questions about the field around them.
The language provision is a genuine right, not a favour. If you would examine better in English, ask.
The date of conferral of the doctoral degree is the date of successful completion of the oral examination.
The overall grade is calculated from the dissertation grade and the oral examination grade together. You may inspect the examination records within one year afterwards.
The duty to publish
This is the part with no equivalent in most anglophone systems, and it is a real obligation rather than an encouragement.
After passing the oral examination, the candidate must make the authorised version of the dissertation available to the scholarly public by means of reproduction and dissemination.
What you must hand over, free of charge:
- Six paper copies, DIN A4 or DIN A5, bound
- An electronic version, in a format and on a medium meeting the University Library's requirements
And a content requirement on the published version:
The publication must contain an abstract in German and in English.
For the electronic route through mediaTUM, the library asks for two abstracts, one English and one German, each no more than 500 characters. Five hundred characters is roughly seventy words. That is far shorter than a thesis abstract and needs writing separately rather than trimmed down.
You grant rights to the TUM University Library, Die Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt, and the Bavarian State Library for this purpose.
You may alternatively publish in print with an ISBN.
One exemption worth knowing
Documents accepted for publication and published in print or electronic journals, attached as an appendix, are exempt from the obligation to publish.
So for a cumulative dissertation, the already-published papers do not need republishing. The rest of the document still does.
Practical sequence
- Confirm your topic falls within an authorised examiner's area
- If writing externally, consult a responsible professor before submitting
- Submit the application for submission through DocGS, then deliver the printed application and documents to the Office of Doctoral Affairs
- Reports arrive, normally within three months. Withdrawal closes once the first arrives
- Oral examination, about an hour, in German unless you request English
- Conferral dated to the oral examination
- Publish: six bound copies plus the electronic version, with German and English abstracts
What to confirm with your graduate centre
TUM runs doctorates through graduate centres under the TUM Graduate School, and some requirements sit there rather than in the Promotionsordnung:
- Length expectations, which the regulations do not set
- Formatting: margins, font, line spacing
- Citation style, a disciplinary matter
- The specific requirements of Appendix 6 for a cumulative dissertation, including how many papers and what authorship position
- Minimum requirements of your particular graduate centre
- Any embargo possibility, given the duty to publish
Pre-submission checklist
- Topic within a subject area represented by an authorised TUM examiner
- Responsible professor consulted, if written outside TUM
- Appendix 6 requirements met, if publication-based
- Accepted papers enclosed as an appendix
- Certain I want to be examined, since withdrawal closes when the first report arrives
- Prepared for an hour-long oral covering the broader discipline
- Language of the oral decided, and requested if English
- Six bound copies budgeted for, A4 or A5
- Electronic version meeting library format requirements
- German and English abstracts written, and 500-character versions for mediaTUM
Where to get help
The Office of Doctoral Affairs handles submission and the examination process. TUM Graduate School and your graduate centre own admission requirements and anything the Promotionsordnung leaves open. The University Library owns publication, deposit and the abstract requirements.
If the writing itself is the bottleneck, our thesis writing support works through it chapter by chapter, and our PhD thesis help covers doctoral work specifically.
