Enrollment as a Doctoral Researcher

Legal Situation Has Changed for Doctoral Candidates: Mandatory Enrollment (Registration) and New Status Group

On February 16, 2021, new legal regulations became effective for doctoral candidates of KIT.

Enrollment

Enrollment is mandatory for all doctoral candidates accepted by a KIT department, unless they are employed full-time by KIT and have declared that they do not want to enroll. If no such declaration is submitted, doctoral candidates are obliged to enroll.

Note: “Full-time employment means that the working time or the official tasks cover at least half of the regular working time or half of the average volume of official tasks of the corresponding staff that is employed full-time.” (Article 9, par. 1, cl. 3, LHG)

Fees

Enrollment is associated with the obligation to pay an administrative charge, a charge for the Studierendenwerk, and a charge for the General Students Committee. For more information on fees and the possibility of reimbursement upon request, please refer to ▶ Information about Fees provided by the business unit SLE.

In case of binational doctoral procedures, the provisions agreed upon in the Cotutelle shall apply.  

Benefits of enrollment

Information about the benefits of the enrollment at KIT are listed ▶ here.

Status Group (Assignment on the Corporate Level)

Moreover, the legislator has established a separate status group of doctoral candidates who are enrolled and have been accepted for the doctorate. Although the enrolled doctoral candidates are students according to Article 60, par. 1, LHG, they are now given the opportunity on the corporate level to make their special interests heard better via the new status group.

Accepted, enrolled doctoral candidates, who are employed full-time at the university, also have the right to choose whether they would prefer to exercise their participation rights as members of the group of academic staff or the group of doctoral candidates. The conditions of how to choose group assignment are specified in the electoral regulations of KIT.

For you, this means:

  • you are obliged to enroll as a doctoral candidate with the Students Office within a period of two weeks upon receipt of the Doctoral Admissions Committee’s letter of your acceptance as a doctoral candidate.

    If you were accepted as a doctoral candidate more than two weeks before receipt of this information letter, you are obliged to enroll within a period of two weeks upon receipt of this information letter.

    For this purpose, please use the ▶ form that can be downloaded in Docata after log in. Please contact the ▶ business unit SLE via ▶ e-mail for enrollment.

    International doctoral candidates (from both the EU and non-EU member states) are to contact the ▶ International Students Office via ▶ e-mail for enrollment.
     
  • In case you are employed full-time at KIT and do not want to enroll, you are not obliged to enroll, provided that you send a corresponding declaration in writing (original file) to the Welcome Desk of the Students Office (Studierendenservice), Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe within two weeks upon receipt of the Doctoral Admissions Committee’s letter informing you about your acceptance as a doctoral candidate or receipt of this information letter.

    For this declaration, use the corresponding ▶ form that can be downloaded in Docata after log in. Having downloaded this form, contact the ▶ Human Resources Service Unit (PSE). The personnel officer responsible for you will confirm your full-time employment at KIT.

    In case your employment conditions at KIT will change and you will not longer be employed full-time, you will be obliged to enroll within two weeks upon change of your employment volume.
Leistungen Freepik/ flaticon.com
Benefits
Prozess Freepik/ flaticon.com
Process
FAQ Freepik/ flaticon.com
FAQ