You are currently studying Medicine at HHU (state examination Medicine):
You can start or prepare for a doctoral project when you have sucessfully completed the first section of the Medical Examination.

You have graduated in Medicine from HHU or another German higher education institution and already completed the state examination Medicine:
You can start a doctoral project at any time.

You are currently studying Medicine at another German higher education institution (state examination Medicine):
You can start or prepare for a doctoral project when you have sucessfully completed the first section of the Medical Examination.

You have graduated from a foreign higher education institution:
After you have found a topic and supervisory team we will check if your degree is equivalent to the German state examination Medicine (Staatsexamen Medizin), and if you have the required language proficiency.

You are currently studying Dentistry at HHU (state examination Dentistry):
You can start or prepare for a doctoral project when you have successfully completed the Preliminary Examination in Dentistry (Physikum).

You have graduated in Dentistry from HHU or another German higher education institution and already completed the state examination Dentistry:
You can start a doctoral project at any time.

You are currently studying Dentistry at another German higher education institution (state examination Dentistry):
You can start or prepare for a doctoral project when you have successfully completed the Preliminary Examination in Dentistry (Physikum).

You have graduated from a foreign higher education institution:
After you have found a topic and a supervisory team we will check if your degree is equivalent to the German state examination Dentistry (Staatsexamen Zahnmedizin) and if you have the required language proficiency.

To receive a degree in Public Health you need to

a) present a state examination in one of the following subjects: human medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or pharmacy
or
b) hold a diploma/Master's degree from a university in Natural Sciences (close to Medicine), economics, social-,  behavioural-, health- or Life Sciences, including core elements from content and methods in Public Health.

Further requirements in addtion to those previously stated:

c) holding the degree „Master of Science (MSc) in Public Health“ from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf or another (inter-)national university
or
d) proof of specific academic achievements regarding the topic of the doctoral project. This means at least two years of academic work in the field of Public Healthin an academic institution as well as academic publications and presentations in recognized journals and subject relevant surroundings.

Equivalence Examination
Before you can start a doctoral project in Public Health an Equivalence Examination of the admission requirements will be conducted. This is relevant for all foreign university degrees but also applies for some German university degrees.

Please use our online form to upload your documents for the Equivalence Examination.

To receive a PhD in Medical Sciences you

a) need to hold a Master's degree in Life Sciences and

b) have graduated with the final grade 2,0 or lower (ECTS B / Top 25% of you class).

You should have an interest in basic medical research and ideally be able to concentrate fully on your PhD.
The research lasts about three to four years with an additional workload of 300 hours due to the training program.

Application Process
You need to apply seperately for the PhD program. Please prepare your application with your supervisory team. It will then be assessed by the PhD committee of the Faculty of Medicine. After their positive vote you will be accepted into the program and register at the Medical Research School.

Please use our online form to upload your application.

In general, you will have to file a request for recognition of your university degree, if you hold one of the following degrees:

•     a German degree of a subject not offered at HHU.
•     a degree of a subject which is not equivalent to the subject of the doctoral project.
•     a  degree from outside of Germany.

For degrees from non-EU countries, a positive evaluation by the Central Office for Foreign Education in Bonn (ZAB) must be submitted. For university degrees from the EU, a printout from the anabin database confirming equivalence is usually sufficient for registration.
Information on the recognition procedure and the anabin database:
https://anabin.kmk.org/anabin.html

Doctoral candidates whose native language is not German need to proof their language proficiency in either German or English

• German
  • DSH-2 (German Language Examination for University Admission, min. level2 (Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang)
  • TestDaF - at least TDN 4 in all sections
  • Kleines or Großes Sprachdiplom from Goethe-Institute
  • Goethe-Certificate C2
•     English
  • IELTS (at least band 6,0)
  • TOEFL (paper-based min. 500, computer-based min. 200, iBT min. 80)