Eighteen candidates are accepted at the University of Applied Sciences for the International Joint Cross-Border PhD Programme in International Economic Relations and Management.

Registration deadline: 31 August 2019

There are remaining places available. Registration is still possible until October 15 at the latest.

Registrations for the International Joint Cross-Border PhD Programme in International Economic Relations and Management by the given deadline will be considered for the next academic year.

Candidates may register using the application form (.docx).

Personal Interview

The personal interview consists of two parts:

Part A of the personal interview consists of a short Power-Point presentation about the candidate’s previous education, professional experience, additional qualifications, reasons for applying for this study and any other issues the candidate considers to be important.

Part B consists of a Power-Point presentation on the candidate´s current research proposal.

There are some Golden Rules for your personal interview

When drafting your rough idea or exposé for presenting it before the board of examiners in your personal interview, bear in mind that professors reviewing your application will often have to read a large number of applications with research proposals. Therefore, clearly-written and well presented papers are more likely to stick in the reviewer´s mind.

Example of structure of your research proposal for your individual presentation:

• Title, topic and research field of your dissertation
• Background information: brief summary and explanation (why?) your own preliminary work (if any)
• Current state of research
• Objective(s), hypotheses…
• Methodology
• Proposed outline or workplan
• If available: summary and conclusions
• List of used/existing reference literature

There are some golden rules which can contribute to a good proposal:

• Be clear and realistic in your objectives
• Come straight to the point (No waffle!)
• State and justify your objectives: “because it is interesting” is not enough!!!
• Ask yourself why your research is important for you, wider society and to the research community
• Provide a structure and use headings
• Avoid long and convoluted titles
• Avoid long solid blocks of text and use smaller paragraphs
• Write short sentences
• If helpful, insert images/charts/diagrams to help break up the text
• Quote all literature sources
• Be careful:
  • PLAGIARISM: Make sure that you acknowledge the authors of all publications you use to write in your proposal. Failure to do so will be considered as plagiarism. If you quote an author ad verbatim, make sure that you use quotation marks and perhaps also italics to indicate it. Although the author has presented her/his information in the best possible way, do not copy word for word what she/he has written, but try to analyze her/his thoughts and re-write them in your own words.

Recommended reading:

Rudestam , K.E. et al. eds (2001). Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process, Newbury Park

Nünning, A. et al. eds. (2007). Handbuch Promotion: Forschung – Förderung – Finanzierung, Stuttgart 2007.

Notice: If the candidate does not attend the interview without an argumentative reason, he/she will be excluded from the admission procedure.

Decision about the application

Candidates are evaluated, ranked and informed in writing about their application and their admission result.

Candidates who are not offered a firm place are put on a waiting list and move up the list if other candidates decide to drop out. Late registrations will only be considered if there are places available on the study programme.