Doctoral studies in Germany: Opportunities and Challenges for International Doctoral Students

Doctoral studies are a formative time for many early career researchers: a phase of intensive work, personal maturation and often also uncertainty. For international doctoral candidates, this time is often even more complex, as they also find themselves in a new academic and cultural context.

In order to reflect on these experiences from a shared perspective, the workshop "Doctoral studies in Germany: opportunities and pitfalls" took place from 13 to 15 October in Altenberg, Odenthal, under the direction of KAAD Secretary General Dr. Nora Kalbarczyk. It was dedicated to the structures, expectations and forms of relationships in the German academic system.

At the beginning, the participants exchanged their experiences with and expectations of doctoral studies in Germany. The discussions showed that many experiences are comparable across disciplines and national borders and that joint reflection helps to better classify structures and expectations. The exchange also made it clear how important spaces are in which such experiences can be openly shared and contextualized.

The lecture by Prof. em. Dr. Stefan Fisch (German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer) on the "History and Present of the Doctorate in Germany" formed a special focus. In a broad historical arc, he traced the development of universities as a European institution since the 12th century – from the student and teaching communities in Bologna and Paris to the organization of the medieval faculties and the emergence of the modern research university in the early 19th century. Using the ideas of Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm von Humboldt, Stefan Fisch made it clear that the German university still rests on two cornerstones today: the freedom of research and the responsibility of thought. Science, he thought, remains an open process and requires researchers not only to be independent, but also to combine academic freedom with responsibility and intellectual honesty.

Stefan Fisch continued this line into the present day: the modern doctorate in Germany should be understood above all as an expression of academic independence – supported by the "solitude and freedom" of the researcher. At the same time, the international transfer of this model, for example in the US-American Ph.D., shows how far-reaching the German understanding of research as an educational ideal is.

Another item on the agenda was devoted to the institutional and personal support on offer during the doctoral phase. Nora Kalbarczyk gave an overview of the different phases of a doctorate and presented strategies for avoiding, reducing and resolving the various associated crises. In a subsequent discussion, the participants reflected on Germany as an academic location and the framework conditions for international students. 

In addition to these content-related elements, the seminar also offered space for spiritual and experiential impulses: a guided tour of Altenberg Cathedral opened up the cultural history of the place, while contemplative archery combined concentration, attitude and inner peace in a special way.

For the doctoral students from Ghana, India, Armenia, Indonesia, Georgia, Kenya, Morocco and the Philippines, the seminar thus became an experiential space in which academic reflection and personal encounters came together. It made it clear that research is not just about knowledge, but also about relationships - between supervisors and doctoral candidates, between disciplines and cultures.