Doctoral School NRW
The Doctoral School for Applied Research in North Rhine-Westphalia (Doctoral School NRW) is a joint academic institution of 20 universities of applied sciences (UAS) in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established in 2020 with the higher education policy mandate to strengthen cooperative doctorates and to further develop them in collaboration with universities. At the same time, the Doctoral School NRW is designed to create the institutional framework for independent doctoral studies at universities of applied sciences.
Legal Foundations
The Doctoral School NRW is based on the Higher Education Act of 2019, which provides for the establishment of a doctoral school in which outstanding master’s graduates may pursue their doctorates at a university of applied sciences.
With the signing of the Administrative Agreement, the Doctoral School NRW was established in 2020. The right to award doctoral degrees was conferred upon the Doctoral School NRW in 2022 by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, following a positive assessment by the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat). This marked a new stage in the cooperation among universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia in the fields of research and doctoral education.
Mission and Identity
The Doctoral School NRW is a state-wide research network of universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia. It provides doctoral candidates and professors across institutions with an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research environment that is strongly application-oriented.
Doctoral candidates at the Doctoral School NRW pursue their doctorates either within structured doctoral programs or within the framework of cooperative doctorates. The Doctoral School NRW fosters cross-institutional networking among professors and doctoral candidates. Furthermore, it enables doctoral candidates to conduct independent scholarly research and prepares them for careers both within and beyond academia, in Germany and abroad.
