​​​​​​​In order to graduate, students must achieve a total of 180 ECTS points. 32 ECTS points must be earned through various curricular activities, whilst a total of 148 ECTS points are awarded for written dissertation and oral defense.

The standard duration of study is 6 semesters, including the oral defense. Under certain circumstances, the PhD executive committee may grant an extension of up to 2 semesters. The period of study may not exceed 8 semesters, including the defense.

The compulsory coursework consists of different modules. Within each module students must successfully attend and complete one or more curricular activities. While most of the modules have a purely scientific content, and are focused on the six key disciplines of the program, others – like transferable skills seminars – offer extradisciplinary training, rounding out the students’ education.

Additionally, all PhD students must attend the Kick-off Seminar organised by the TUM Graduate School, and the seminar on Good Scientific Practice organised by the TUM Medical Graduate Center.

A 3-day Kick-off Seminar is offered by the TUM Graduate School and is compulsory for all TUM doctoral students. This seminar provides students with information about academic work and offerings at TUM. It is also an occasion to meet fellow peers from other disciplines. For more details please read here.

Attending a seminar on Good Scientific Practice is compulsory (the initial introduction to the topic as part of the Kick-off event is not sufficient) for every TUM doctoral student registered in the summer semester 2017 or later. This seminar is centered on TUM guidelines to ensure good scientific practice. These implement the 19 guidelines of the German Research Foundation (DFG), which aim at creating a culture of research integrity at higher education institutions.

In order to achieve a total of 32 ECTS points, students must choose and successfully complete one or more activities for each of the here described modules, over a period of six semesters.

An accepted publication is necessary to submit the PhD thesis. There are two ways to do this:

• via an accepted first-author original paper in an internationally recognized peer-reviewed journal, or
• Via an abstract as first author at an international peer-reviewed conference (this is the case at every major conference) in combination with a submitted first author original paper or an accepted coauthor original paper in a peer-reviewed journal.

In order to submit their written dissertation, students must have completed at least 6 semesters of full-time research in the lab, in addition to all coursework. A total of 148 ECTS points are awarded for both written dissertation and oral defense. Students are generally expected to defend their thesis by the end of the sixth semester. However, under certain circumstances, the PhD executive committee may grant an extension of up to 2 semesters. The period of study may not exceed 8 semesters. This requires that PhD students plan their coursework and research accordingly.