4 Options for PhD in Germany
That I was not aware of!
This August, I defended my PhD at TU Berlin. In this article, I will share the possible options of pursuing a PhD in Germany that I came to know about over time.
The good news is that there are many scholarships for PhD, in Germany as well as worldwide. You can know more about this from this article which includes resources for fundings, positions, and scholarships.
The options for PhD in Germany can be summarised into 4 types as follows:
1. Self-financed PhD
In this type of PhD, you approach the professor and upon her/his acceptance, you start your PhD and self-finance yourself.
2. Self-financed remote PhD
In this type of PhD, you approach the professor and upon her/his acceptance, you start your PhD without funding. In Germany, this is doable since the tuition fees in most universities in Germany are soo little (around 300 euro per semester including transportation). This remote option for PhD is usually possible in countries with small tuition fees or when the supervisor agrees. I came to know recently about a colleague who did it too with a professor and university in Belgium.
The trick in this option is that you can live anywhere in the world while being affiliated with a university in Germany. However, this highly depends on your research topic (I imagine lab-based subjects would be hard to do it this way). It also depends on the supervisor.
Practically, you can meet your supervisor online and in-person every 3 months or so. let's say, that COVID made this be seen even more possible. On a side note, as a matriculated PhD candidate you get the opportunity to apply for various funding options for workshops and conferences. So, you can certainly make use of these opportunities to travel to meet your professor.
Yet still, I personally do not recommend a PhD without funding.
ps: As I received several questions about how to find a university that offers a remote PhD, I guess I need to clarify that, it is not that the university offers a remote PhD (although I recently knew about some options that are called an external PhD). However, what I am referring to here is that it is something between you and the supervisor, and depends highly on your topic and field of research.
This is possible in Germany because the research sector is very independent (you are the one responsible for your work and process, not someone telling you what to do exactly). I would say, DO NOT bring this up early in your communication with the supervisor and in general do not sound as if you want a very specific thing. It gives a bad impression.
3. Phd + Scholarship
In this type of PhD, you approach the professor and get an acceptance letter. Separately, you apply for a scholarship to receive funding for your studies.
One of the known options in Germany is the scholarships offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). I think the DAAD allowance for PhDs is around 1000–1200 euros per month with the possibility of applying for childcare. This is an acceptable budget but I would say, do not plan on saving. For more details about the scholarships offered by the DAAD and their exact funding, please refer to their website.
There are several other scholarship institutions both inside and outside Germany. Some scholarships are for 3/4 years and some are just for few months. I guess the more stable you are financially the better and the faster to finish the PhD.
Receiving a scholarship is different than receiving a salary (as described in Type 4 below). Here, your visa is a student visa. A scholarship does not make you automatically pay social insurance in Germany which means that you would not be entitled to a pension or unemployment money (and you might have to pay extra for your health insurance). That is why many PhD candidates would prefer type 4. I must admit that this difefrence was not clear to me as I was looking for a PhD.
4. PhD as part of a research project (being appointed in a university)
In this type of PhD, you apply for a Research Associate position in a German university. This position is usually affiliated with a research project and for three years.
In this position, you are paid a salary from the university and your visa is a work visa. You apply separately to be enrolled as a PhD candidate at your faculty with your supervisor. So you get both a position and student status.
Salaries in this position follow the ‘TVL-13’ range that is determined by the EU for working in the research field/ academia. TV-L is the German public servant remuneration grade table (Tarifvertrag für den Öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (TV-L)). For more information about it, check this link.
Many of the advertised positions are for part-time of 65% FTE (Full-time Equivalent). There is a specific range for salaries under the TVL-13. An average salary for a part-time position of 65% would be approximately 1500 Euro (more than the type 3 listed above). Although it is a part-time position, somehow good paid to focus on your PhD. (On a side note, there is currently a movement questioning why these positions in academia are usually not full-time, questioning the exploitation of PhD students). In all cases, I would not recommend committing to a side long-term job if you plan to finish before the end of the contract.
Some of these contracts have 6–12 months possibility of extension.
Some of these positions make you only work on research related to your dissertation, but also some of them require you to do research on other projects or to teach. What you are expected to do is probably clear in your contract.
For more information about salaries for Phds (and Post-docs) in Germany, you can check this link.
My next articles would be about How to find a PhD research position in Germany, and how to actually approach potential supervisors.
These are the options for PhD I came to understand through the past years from pursuing and doing a PhD in Urban Planning (Dr.Ing).
If you have another experience or point of view about academia in Germany, please feel to share your thoughts and comment below! My Linkedin.
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Update: Someone commented that there is a 5th option for PhD in Germany
5. Doing a PhD in cooperation with an institute or company where you could be paid by it.
I will look it up and write more about it!
