Curriculum

The GCSC Study Programme is designed to support all doctoral candidates in their work on their dissertation projects. The core of this programme, which aims at helping the members advance and qualitatively improve their projects, is the Interdisciplinary Research Colloquium. The colloquium usually takes place fortnightly and gives young scholars the opportunity to present their work every semester and discuss it with teachers and fellow postgraduates. The ,Core Course’ is designed for students at the very beginning of their PhD and provides methodological and theoretical knowledge as well as further key skills that are central to their doctoral studies. Furthermore, it offers practical help on all organisational, financial, methodological and structural issues connected with postgraduate studies. The content of the Intermediate Course forms a natural progression from the core course. Unlike the latter, which addresses PhD questions on a general level, the intermediate course concentrates on the students’ individual PhD projects.

The Elements of the PhD Programme

Semester	Compulsory Modules	Aim
1	Core Course: basic module + subject related module	To decide the focus of the dissertation; to identify a methodological and theoretical framework
1-4	at least one Career Service workshop	To gain professional qualifications
1-4	at least one Teaching Centre workshop	To gain teaching skills
3	Intermediate Course	To deal with compositional issues such as writing an introduction or transitions; to discuss specific questions concerning the dissertation
1-6	Colloquium	To ensure steady progress towards completion of a high-quality thesis
	GCSC research workshops and master class	To work on specific aspects and to exchange with excellent scholars
	One international conference or summer school	To present your research project in an excellent, international context
	Preparation and organisation of a workshop or a conference	To discuss your dissertation project and acquire conference and management experience
	steady work in one of the eight Research Areas
6	Preparatory Course for the dissertation defence

We recommend to take part in one research workshop/master class per semester.

In our glossary you can find a description of all the different types of courses.

Study Calendar

Information on all regular courses offered for PhD candidates in the humanities and social sciences can be found in our study calendar.