Formal procedure for starting Phd studies
From December 1, 2025, the following procedure must be followed for initial enrolment in a doctoral degree programme:
Step 1: Supervisory agreement
Since August 9, 2024, supervisory agreements have been mandatory for new doctorates at the University of Wuppertal (BUW).
Once the supervision of your doctoral project has been clarified, fill out the following supervisory agreement together with the supervising professor.
The supervisory agreement as a fillable PDF version (German and English):
Further information can be found in Amtliche Mitteilungen 50/24 and on the website of the Center for Graduate Studies. The supervisory agreement does not confer any legal entitlement to admission to doctoral studies!
Step 2: Application for admission
Once you have concluded a supervisory agreement, you can now apply for admission. A subject-specific and formal examination will determine whether you can be admitted to the doctoral programme.
The "Application for admission" is submitted online and requires a StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in or Bewerber/-in.
Preparation
- You have an active StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in:
→ No further preparation necessary. - Your previous StudiLöwe account (with the role of Student/-in) is no longer active
or
You have never had a StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in:
→ First register on the page linked here.
If the "duplicate check" is triggered for you, please contact the student admission and registration for international student. They will assign you the correct role.
Submitting an application
1. Log in to StudiLöwe and select the role of Student/-in or Bewerber/-in.
2. Navigate to: Service → Anträge → Promotion (Service → Requests → PhD studies).
3. Click on the tile "Neuen Antrag erfassen" (Create new application).
4. The application will now be displayed. Please fill in all the required fields carefully. Once you have checked and completed all the information, you can submit the application. The application will then be forwarded to the examination board of your faculty for review. As soon as the review has been completed, you will receive a notification from the examination board informing you of the result.
Step 3: Enrolment for PhD studies
If your application for admission has been approved, you must now enrol at BUW. According to § 67 paragraph 5 sentence 1 HG NRW, those entitled to admission according to § 67 paragraph 4 HG NRW are enrolled as doctoral candidates at the university at which they wish to do their doctorate. The student admission and registration for international students is responsible for enrolment at BUW.
For the initial enrolment for PhD studies for the summer semester 2026, the following regulation applies:
- If you already have an active StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in before applying for admission, this is a transfer of registration and you must complete the transfer of registration form linked here for enrolment. You can find more information here.
- If you either no longer have an active StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in or never had a StudiLöwe account with the role of Student/-in before applying for admission, the procedure differs depending on whether you want to apply with a German or foreign degree:
If you have any questions, please contact the student admission and registration for international students (intsek(at)uni-wuppertal.de).
From the winter semester 2026/27, the procedure will be simplified. Once an "application for admission" has been approved, the doctoral committees will technically release the enrolment request for you. You can then complete the enrolment application online.
Instructions will follow.
