No more than fifteen participants with the intrinsic motivation and willingness to contribute to academic and scientific research are accepted at the University of Applied Sciences for the International Cooperative Cross-Border Interdisciplinary Doctoral  Programme in Educational&Communication Sciences.

Registration deadline: June 30
Only registrations by the given deadline will be considered for this  academic year.
Important: We would like to inform you that the deadline for applications for our PhD programmes is June 30th, 2023. However, we understand that research proposals may take time to be developed and finalized. Therefore, we would like to clarify that as long as your research proposal is submitted by August 30th, 2023, it will still be considered for the upcoming academic year.
Candidates may register ONLINE.

Personal Interviews
The personal interview consists of two parts:

  • Part A of the personal interview consists of a short Power-Point presentation about the candidate’s personalia, previous education, professional experience, additional qualifications, reasons for applying for this study and any other issues the candidate considers to be important.
  • Part B consists of a Power-Point presentation on the candidate´s research proposal.

There are some Golden Rules for your personal interview
When drafting your rough idea or exposé for presenting it before the Board of examiners in your personal interview, bear in mind that university professors reviewing your application will often have to read a large number of applications with research proposals. Therefore, clearly-written and well-presented papers are more likely to stick in the reviewer´s mind.

Example of structure of your research proposal for your individual presentation:

  • topic and research field of your dissertation
  • Working title of your dissertation
  • Clear research question(s), perhaps hypothesis/hypotheses
  • Already existing research in your research field, literature-based
  • Methodology, chosen research methods
  • Proposed outline of your dissertation with your time- and workplan
  • List of used/existing relevant reference literature

There are some golden rules which can contribute to a good research proposal:

  • Be clear and realistic in your objectives.
  • Come straight to the point (No waffle!)
  • State and justify your objectives: “because it is interesting” is not enough!!!
  • Ask yourself why your research is important for you, wider society and to the research community.
  • Provide a structure and use headings.
  • Avoid long and convoluted titles.
  • Avoid long solid blocks of text and use smaller paragraphs.
  • Write short sentences.
  • If helpful, insert images/charts/diagrams to help break up the text.
  • Quote all literature sources (books, journals,  online sources…)
  • Be careful:
    • PLAGIARISM: Make sure that you acknowledge the authors of all publications you use to write in your proposal. Failure to do so will be considered as plagiarism. If you quote an author ad verbatim, make sure that you use quotation marks and perhaps also italics to indicate it. Although the author has presented her/his information in the best possible way, do not copy word for word what she/he has written, but try to analyze her/his thoughts and re-write them in your own words.

Recommended reading: Rudestam , K.E. et al. eds (2001). Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process, Newbury Park

Notice: If the candidate does not attend the interview without an argumentative reason, he/she will be excluded from the admission procedure.

Decision about the application
Candidates are evaluated, ranked and informed in writing about their application and their admission result.

Candidates who are not offered a firm place are put on a waiting list and move up the list if other candidates decide to drop out. Late registrations will only be considered if there are places available on the study programme.