Doctoral Agreement

A Doctoral Agreement is a written agreement between doctoral students and their supervisors at the University of Bern. It is a compulsory document which serves to ensure optimal conditions for a dcotorate at the University of Bern. A Doctoral Agreement defines the timeline, aims, and contexts of the doctoral work as well as - where applicable - compulsory and additional coursework.

Forms for Doctoral Agreements (with and without employment at the University of Bern) can be found here:

https://www.unibe.ch/studies/programs/doctorate/doctoral_degree/doctoral_agreement/index_eng.html

A form for the outline of the planned content of the doctoral work can be found here in German:

According to the Regulations for Doctorates at the Faculty of Theology (PromR Theol 22, Art. 14), a first Doctoral Agreement has to be signed by a doctoral student and their supervisors within 6 months of matriculation.

This first Doctoral Agreement has to be submitted to the Doctoral Committee (Promotionskommission) for the notice of the committee. A form with an outline detailing the content of the planned doctoral work (including selected secondary literature and a statement by the supervisors) is to be submitted together with this first Doctoral Agreement. Only the first Doctoral Agreement together with the outline has to be submitted to the Doctoral Committee (Promotionskommission).

Afterwards, the Doctoral Agreement has to be reviewed once per year by the doctoral student and their supervisors, and a new written Doctoral Agreement has to be signed by them once per year.