The Medical Faculty Mannheim awards the following academic degrees in the context of doctoral procedures:

Dr med. / Dr med. dent.
(responsible Heike Steinberger)

Dr. sc. hum.
(responsible Susanne Volz)

Doctoral Committee

The Doctoral Committee ensures that the doctoral procedure complies with the guidelines and contributes to a smooth process through quality control and the selection of reviewers.

Dr med./ Dr med. dent.
(Committee Chairman: Prof. Dr Christian Schultz)

Dr. sc. hum.
(Committee Chairman: Prof. Dr Jonathan Sleeman)

Recognition of foreign degrees

Please note that foreign degrees (Bachelor's and Master's) must first be checked for equivalence with a German university degree before the application documents for acceptance as a doctoral candidate can be submitted to the faculty. As this can take several months depending on the country, the relevant documents should be submitted to the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) for review as early as possible by the future doctoral supervisor.

A template for the enquiry to the ZAB will be provided by the doctoral office to future supervisors on request.

Non-native speakers must submit proof of language proficiency when applying for acceptance as a doctoral candidate. More ...

The current version of the State Higher Education Act came into force on the 23.11.2024. According to § 38 (5) “Persons who have been accepted as doctoral candidates shall be enrolled in accordance with § 60 (1) sentence 1 letter b; this does not apply to accepted doctoral candidates who are employed full-time at the university if they have declared in writing or electronically to the Rectorate that they do not wish to be enrolled”.

Since the 01.01 2018, the scope of application of the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG) has been extended:
www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/studium/studienorganisation/mutterschutz

The ceremonial presentation of doctoral certificates takes place once a year. This event is organised by the faculty and attendance is not compulsory. (Two notarised copies will be sent to you immediately after completion of your procedure.) You will receive a written invitation approximately four weeks before the ceremony, which will include a maximum of two accompanying persons due to the capacity of the Alte Aula. Please remember to inform us of any changes of your address!

If you do not wish to continue your doctoral project, it must be deregistered. You can apply for cancellation by submitting an informal letter with an original signature to the doctoral office. After submission to the doctoral committee, you will receive a confirmation of deregistration by post (Dr. sc. hum.) or email (Dr. med./Dr. med. dent.).

The use of a doctoral degree (in particular Dr. med., Dr. med. dent, Dr. sc. hum.) without a completed doctoral procedure on hospital gowns, on the hospital's webpages, on private webpages, automatic e-mail signatures, on business cards or even as an entry of the department in the university's personnel directory constitutes an offence relevant under criminal law, which can lead to official warnings, i.e. relevant to personnel files, and to the termination of the doctoral procedure and must therefore be refrained from at all costs. Any use of the doctoral degree must be documented by a corresponding certificate.