Jump to contentJump to search

Enrollment as Doctoral Researcher or Auditing Doctoral Researcher

As a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Medicine you are obliged to enroll at HHU as doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent*in) or auditing doctoral researcher (Promotionshörer*in). You re-enroll each semester and remain enrolled until receiveing the doctoral certificate. This also applies if you are a research assistant working on your doctoral project.

Acceptance into the Medical Research School is mandatory for enrollment. We will issue a confirmation letter for you to hand in.

The enrollment is administrated by the Student Registration and Examination Office. Their team at the Student Services Center (SSC) will be happy to answer your questions about the semester ticket, required documents and re-enrollment.

Dr. med. & Dr. med. dent.

If you have completed your degree in human/dental medicine, you have the following options for enrollment:

  • You can re-enroll as doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent:in) or auditing doctoral researcher (Promotionshörer:in) with an application for a change of subject directly after the state examination , or
  • You can enroll as doctoral reseacher or auditing doctoral researcher after exmatriculation.

As a doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent:in), you are covered by accident insurance while working at HHU and receive the NRW semester ticket. You will receive a university ID for IT services, can use the specialist libraries and pay less in the cafeteria. Fee: from €300
As an auditing doctoral researcher (Promotionshörer:in), you do not receive a NRW semester ticket and no reduction in the cafeteria. Nevertheless, you are covered by accident insurance during working hours and receive an HHU ID for access to IT services and specialist libraries. Fee: € 50

If you have completed your degree in human/dental medicine but carry on studying another subject, you have the following options for enrollment:

  • If you are enrolled in another degree program at HHU, you can register for the subject Doctorate in Medicine / Dentistry by submitting a subject change application for the usual re-enrollment.
  • If you are studying at another university, you register at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf as "Große*r" Zweithörer*in" for the subject Doctorate in Medicine / Dentistry.


In any case you need to re-enroll each semester until you receive the doctoral certificate.

Please use the online form to receive the necessary confirmation from medRSD.

Studying at HHU
Doctoral candidates who are still studying human/dental medicine at HHU have "Doctoral Preparation Medicine or Doctoral Preparation Dentistry (Promotionsvorbereitung)" added when re-enrolling as usual. This will be noted on their student ID card with an abbreviation.

Studying at another higher education institution
Doctoral candidates who are still studying human/dental medicine at another higher education institution, enroll as doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent*in) or auditing doctoral researcher (Promotionshörer*in) at HHU after graduation.

In any case you need to re-enroll each semester until you receive the doctoral certificate.

Dr. PH & PhD in Medical Sciences

Graduation from HHU
If you have completed your degree at HHU, you have the following options for enrollment:

  • You can re-enroll as doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent:in) or auditing doctoral reseacher (Promotionshörer:in) with an application for a change of subject directly after graduation , or
  • You can enroll as doctoral reseacher or auditing doctoral researcher after exmatriculation.

Graduation from another (inter-)national higher education institution
If you have completed your studies at a German or foreign higher education institution, you can enroll either as doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent:in) or as autiting doctoral reseacher (Promotionshörer:in).

As a doctoral researcher (Promotionsstudent:in), you are covered by accident insurance while working at HHU and receive the NRW semester ticket. You will receive a university ID for IT services, can use the specialist libraries and pay less in the cafeteria. Fee: from €300
As an auditing doctoral researcher (Promotionshörer:in), you do not receive a NRW semester ticket and no reduction in the cafeteria. Nevertheless, you are covered by accident insurance during working hours and receive an HHU ID for access to IT services and specialist libraries. Fee: € 50

In any case you need to re-enroll each semester until you receive the doctoral certificate.

Responsible for the content: