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PhD Indology

A PhD in Indology in Marburg is usually estimated as taking 3 years.  The topic of the PhD thesis has to be discussed in detail with a supervisor before starting, since a supervisor will usually not take a topic, for which he or she is not a true expert.

Once the topic is settled the actual enrollment is simple. For the PhD the Dean's office is responsible, not the central administration of the university. You can optionally enroll as a PhD student in the central university, which usually makes sense because of the various advantages of the student's status.

In the German system the PhD is fundamentally a private endeavour, not a job. There are so-called assistant jobs which require the holder to pursue a PhD, but in Indology in Marburg there is only one such position. All the other PhD candidates have other jobs, in projects, or depend on scholarships. Luckily there are scholarships for the PhD level, and for foreign students the main, often the only, source for a scholarship is the DAAD. Please check with your local branch of this organisation for details. Applications for a PhD scholarsip would have to be submitted there. 

For the PhD there is no language test, but the rule is that one needs an M.A. degree in the subject Indology. For details refer to the “Promotionsordnung" (PDF) (GER).

For further questions, please write to hanneder@staff.uni-marburg.de