After you get a postition at the IMPRS Graduate Program, you need to get admission to doctoral studies at the university your supervisor is affiliated with. Usually, it is the Ludwig-Maximilians University München (LMU).

Once permission to enter the doctoral program has been granted by the University, students with direct access to the doctoral program may enroll at the University for up to 6 semesters at their own request. Application for admission to doctoral studies and enrollment at the university is done on the spot, after starting a position at one of our institutes.

Doctoral students with restricted access to the doctoral program (e.g. Integrated Master, excellent Bachelor) have to enroll in the Master program at LMU. For this, the regular enrollment deadlines must be met. That is July 15th for the program starting in fall of the same year.

The admission and enrollment process at the LMU for a PhD includes three steps (similar at TUM):

1. Admission to the PhD studies

If your university degree and your grades match the requirements of the LMU or TUM to accept you as a PhD student is an academic question, which is decided by the Dean of the Department of Physics at the LMU or TUM. At the LMU, please contact Ms. Merita Shabanaj at the Faculty of Physics who is in charge to collect all information required for this process (certificate and degree certificate, and final Transcript of Records of your master's degree, certificate and degree certificate, and final Transcript of Records of your bachelor's degree, CV, confirmation letter of your supervisor). The address of Ms. Merita Shabanaj is:

Merita Shabanaj

Fakultät für Physik - Dekanat

Schellingstr. 4

80799 Muenchen

Germany

Tel: +49 89 2180-3340

E-Mail: promotion @ physik.uni-muenchen.de

The IMPRS office will guide you in this process if needed. You can see us first, before contacting Ms. Shabanaj.

2. The matriculation (or inscription) as a PhD student

This is an administrative procedure. You should address the International Office of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, located in the Ludwigstr. 27 / ground floor / Tel: 2180-2823. Here you will find further information on what is required for the immatriculation. You will see that there are differences between EU citizens and other students from foreign countries.

It is true that for the matriculation you need, among other documents, a written confirmation of the Faculty of Physics that you have been admitted to the PhD studies in physics. This confirmation is delivered by the secretary of the Dean in the Schellingstr. 4 / 4. floor / Tel. 2180-3340, once you have been admitted by the Dean (see step 1 above) and you have presented a statement of your professor that he/she supervises your PhD thesis.

It is important to note, that the regulations of the Faculty of Physics at LMU for the PhD studies do not require that you are inscribed as a PhD student. Nevertheless, doctoral students can enroll in the university for a maximum of 6 semesters. Inscription at the university implies some social benefits as e.g. cheaper tickets for the public means of transport, admission to the University Sport Clubs' activities, etc.

3. Degree Requirements

Below, a very brief description of the requirements for being accepted at the LMU for the promotion to Dr. rer. nat. is given (similar requirements exist at the TUM). The complete text can be found at the LMU's physics faculty website

In brief, one needs: A M.Sc. in physics or an equivalent university exam, a completed and accepted dissertation (PhD thesis), and a successful defense of PhD thesis in an oral exam.The PhD thesis has to be written in English. Students are expected to publish a minimum of two papers during their PhD period. The PhD (Dr. rer. nat.)

The PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) will exclusively be granted according to the rules of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, the Technical University Munich or another university. Which university is relevant depends on the affiliation of your supervisor, in most cases this will be the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. On application, students may work in Munich/Garching but receive their PhD from a university other than the LMU, though this requires supervisors at both universities/institutes.