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In addition to a traditional individual doctorate, Germany also offers the possibility of studying for a PhD/doctorate within a structured doctoral programme. There are some 700 doctoral programmes in Germany that are very similar to the PhD programmes in English-speaking countries, in which a team of supervisors look after a group of doctoral students. Generally, it is possible to gain a doctorate in three years.

Structured doctoral programmes often have a strong international orientation with English as the team language. Unlike the individual doctorate model that can be freely structured to suit the individual research project, here doctoral students and their research proposals have to fit in with an existing PhD programme. The PhD/doctorate frequently entails a clearly structured doctoral study programme with compulsory attendance at lectures or seminars and interim assessment (credit points). The programme frequently also covers academic and scientific methods or soft skills, such as presentation techniques. PhD Students work steadily at realising their research project within the team and with intensive support from a group of academic staff (often referred to as the “thesis committee”).