Getting your Dissertation Approved

• Doctoral Degree Regulations of the University of Stuttgart (Promotionsordnung der Universität Stuttgart)
• How to publish your dissertation in electronic form

 Contacts:

It is always advisable to call first and make an appointment.

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Sciences:
Dekanat Fakultät 2
Frau Min Zhang, M.A.
Pfaffenwaldring 7
70569 Stuttgart-Vaihingen
Room No. 2.128
Phone +49 (0) 711 685-66234

Graduate Office at the University Library:
Dissertationenstelle
Frau Ingrid Eipper
Holzgartenstr. 16
70174 Stuttgart
Ground floor
Phone +49 (0) 711 685-83512

For a ToDo-List please see here.

As soon as your supervisor is satisfied with your work, you can start the following procedure:

Send one copy of your dissertation plus this guideline to each of the co-advisor(s). They (plus your supervisor) will have to make their comments directly to the Dean. They should inform you when they have sent their reviews.

While you are waiting for the co-advisor(s) telling you their review is on the way, you should prepare an electronic copy (PDF file) for the circulation and evaluation procedure called ‘Umlauf’:

Some remarks about this version of your thesis:

• max. 150 pages!
• An abstract of the dissertation in German AND in English of 2 up to 4 pages is required.
• Your CV should be attached to the dissertation (for the printed and published version at the end, you won't need the CV anymore).
• As soon as Ms. Zhang informs you about the arrival of all the reviews (or before), you will hand in your electronic copy (PDF file as prepared for printing, including CV) to her (as an e-mail attachment or via memory stick, cd-rom etc.).
• This declaration of authorship has to be signed by you and also has to be submitted to Ms. Zhang.
• The 'Umlauf' can only start when all reviews have been submitted to the Dean. Then all professors of the faculty will get access (via ILIAS) to the electronic copy of your work and of the reviews and may make additional comments. This process will last between 2 and 3 weeks – depending on whether it takes place during the semester or during the break.

After the “Umlauf” is finished, and all professors (your supervisor, your co-advisor(s), and the professors in the faculty) decided to accept your thesis, Mrs. Zhang will inform you. Then your exam has to be scheduled. The first possible date is one week after the end of the ‘Umlauf’.

Administrative steps

ENWAT doctoral students will have already completed all the administrative steps for this process during preparations for the qualifying exam (for further details see phase I).

Organising the Exam 

Since the examination committee for your oral dissertation exam is the same as the one for your qualifying exam, you will see some familiar faces during your exam. You are again responsible for scheduling this exam i.e. you will need to fix the date of the defense in agreement with the supervisors, the chair of the exam, and the ENWAT course director. The thesis defense can only take place during the semester or in a period of two weeks before and after the semester - and the "Umlauf" procedure has to be finished before. You are also responsible for reserving a suitable seminar room. This time the faculty will announce your exam to the public. Thus, as soon as you know the details, you will give all the information (date, time, location) to Mrs. Zhang via email. This time the Dean himself/herself will officially invite the committee and all members of the faculty.

The Exam

Like the qualifying exam, the doctoral exam will also start with a public presentation of your research (30-45 min). Afterwards, the oral exam (min one hour, max two hours) will take place only with the nominated members of the committee and the ENWAT course director.

After successfully passing of the exam:

Congratulations !

You passed the exam !

You are almost a Doctor! (Others may call you so, but you are not officially allowed to use the title until you get your certificate).

The chair of the exam will hand you a document, where a potential change of the title of your thesis will be fixed. Please keep that safe! You will need this document for the final delivery of your dissertation to the university library.

Submitting for publishing

If the members of the committee asked for changes to the dissertation, you will have to do them now. When you are finished, you will hand out new copies to your supervisor and those co-advisor(s), who had suggested the changes.

Only with their agreement, you can print the final version of your dissertation.

All of you are working at different institutes – and all of these institutes have their own publishing series, and publishing rules. So you have to ask the responsible people at your institute:

• How does the cover have to look like?
• Where do you have to order the printed copies (some institutes may cooperate with a certain company)?
• How many copies have to be submitted to the institute? (6 copies will have to be submitted to the university library, so you have to add the required copies for the institute plus your personal demand)
• Who will pay for the printing (some institutes cover part of the cost, some don’t)?

The formal requirements are given by the university:

• Paper Size: Din á 4
• Print only on one side
• Font: Standard (like Times New Roman, Arial) 10-12 pts, foot notes 1-2 pts smaller
• Margins: 2 cm in all directions

For more details (format of the first page etc.) see the Doctoral Degree Regulations of the University of Stuttgart (Promotionsordnung der Universität Stuttgart) (Pages 14 and following) published on the Website of the University of Stuttgart.

Publication of your Dissertation and the Certificate

• 6 printed copies and one electronic copy (identical with the printed ones – you have to sign this on an extra form) plus the document you received from the chair after the exam have to be submitted to the 'Dissertationenstelle' (office to deliver doctoral thesis, graduate office) on the ground floor of the downtown library of the University. (for details click here). This has to be done within one year after the oral exam.
• This office will send 4 of the submitted printed copies to your supervisor. She/he then has to certify that these copies are identical with what the examination committee had agreed on.
• With the approval of your supervisor, the doctoral certificate will be signed by the Rektor of the University and the Dean of the faculty and then sent to you. As soon as you receive the certificate, you are allowed to use the title "Dr.-Ing."