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© Universität Vechta
Graduate Centre

How do I finance my doctoral studies?

As a rule, you are responsible for arranging the funding of your doctoral studies. A professor accepting to be your supervior does not automatically mean that you will also get a position as an academic staff member.

There are many different ways to finance a doctorate.

Examples:

  • Qualification positions that are assigned to professors in the form of academic staff members (non-professorial academic staff). They are paid according to the collective agreement for the public sector of the federal states (TV-L), mainly in the salary scale (E) 13, for post-doctoral researchers possibly also E 14. Of course, most of these are part-time positions (often limited to three years), which, in addition to teaching, also include contributions for the professor. To find current positions, please follow this link.
  • Please visit this page for scholarships provided by the university or a funding organisation for talented students and researchers (Begabtenförderungswerk). On the website you will find further information.
  • An external position where you can do your doctorate "on the side" and earn a living outside of academia.

There is a semester fee for doctoral candidates (as for other students) for:

  • administrative costs
  • Student Services
  • Students' Union Executive Committee (AStA)
  • semester ticket (includes, among others, regional rail transport throughout Lower Saxony).

 

The reason for this is that, in addition to the university's infrastructure, students also make use of staff support and examination services. The student status does not only provide for regional mobility via the semester ticket, but also allows students to eat in the dining hall at a reduced rate.

The respective semester fees for the duration of enrolment must be paid in advance in due time with the re-registration for each following semester. Further information on the composition and amount of the semester fees:  On this page, you can also find information on when and how you can take a leave of absence or how you can get your money refunded if you have already been removed from the register.

Internal further training and continuing education

Generally, further training and continuing education courses offered by the University of Vechta are free for all doctoral candidates.

External further training and continuing education

Employed and non-employed doctoral candidates can generally participate in external further training and continuing education courses. They are automatically members of the Graduate Centre and can receive grants for participation:

    50% of the total costs

  • travel expenses
  • accommodation costs
  • without meals
  • without daily allowances
  • maximum EUR 200 for courses in Germany,
  • maximum EUR 400 for courses abroad

You can find the relevant form on our download page under Promotion/Financials: Application for travel allowance.

Conference visits do not count as external further training and continuing education and are not paid for by the sending institution. Employed as well as non-employed doctoral candidates can apply for a grant. Proof of active participation in the conference is required, e.g., through:

  • poster
  • lecture
  • presentationmoderation
  • other

Members of the Graduate Centre can also apply for non-active participation. However, the quota of funding is not the same as for active participation and might be exhausted more quickly. The same applies as for active participation:

  • 50% of the total costs
  • travel costs
  • accommodation costs
  • without meals
  • without daily allowances
  • maximum EUR 200 for courses in Germany
  • maximum EUR 400 for courses abroad

You can find the relevant form on our download page under Promotion/Financials: Application for travel allowance.

To successfully complete your doctorate, you must publish your doctoral thesis. The doctoral regulations that apply to you usually specify exactly how this can be done.
There are only a few research funding organisations that support doctoral thesis printing with grants. The following is a selection of institutions that fund the printing of doctoral theses or offer subject-specific funding opportunities for the publication of academic work:

- The German Research Foundation (DFG) only funds doctoral theses in exceptional cases with special justification (prerequisite: highest grade).

- The VG Wort grants printing subsidies for specialised works (monograph, text and complete edition, source publication, specialised dictionary, significant specialised bibliography, translation into German, etc.).

- The FAZIT Foundation offers interdisciplinary funding for doctoral theses and post-doctoral theses in the event of financial hardship.

- The Geschwister Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung exclusively awards printing cost grants for academic works in the field of the humanities (prerequisite: summa/magna cum laude).

- The Herbert and Elsbeth Weichmann Foundation promotes academic works on political exile through printing cost grants, grants for material expenses, archive travel, for academic events.