Application as a Doctoral Student at a University Outside Germany Without Acquiring an RWTH Aachen Degree

 

RWTH Aachen allows doctoral candidates from international universities to conduct temporary stays at the University. This is called sandwich-doctoral studies. In order to be admitted for a temporary stay, you must fulfill three conditions:

• You must have Confirmation of Supervision signed by a RWTH professor. This document confirms that you will be supervised during the stay.
• You must provide an enrollment certificate from the foreign university, proving that you are enrolled for doctoral studies during your stay at RWTH.
• You must spend at least two months and up to four semesters at RWTH.

Please make note of the enrollment deadlines for doctoral candidates at RWTH Aachen

In order to be admitted and enroll as a sandwich-doctoral candidate, you must complete the following steps:

You must first register on the Welcome Portal. Please use only this form for your confirmation of supervision, even if you will be receiving a scholarship from DAAD or CSC.

While registering, you will be prompted to upload a confirmation of supervision. This confirmation must be signed by a RWTH professor and be stamped by the institute. A template for the Confirmation of Supervision for a temporary stay for doctoral studies is available for download. Please make sure to use this form, as an invitation letter cannot be accepted as a confirmation of supervision.

After you successfully apply, you will receive a letter of admission, with which you can apply for a visa.

To enroll, you must register in our student management system. Please note: The Welcome Portal and the RWTHonline student management system are two separate databases. Thus, you must also complete a new registration in RWTHonline and submit another application. Unfortunately, we cannot set up your student account without your registration and application in RWTHonline.

To register on RWTHonline, go to the website RWTHonline:

• On the website click "register in RWTHonline" and complete the registration. You will receive a username and password.
• Log in with the username and password and select "My applications." On the next page, you should see the option "Enter new application."
• You will be taken through the Application Wizard. Select the type of study "short-term programme" and fill out the required fields carefully. You must also upload the requested documents.

Please make note of the enrollment deadlines for doctoral candidates at RWTH Aachen:

Semester	Enrollment Deadline
Winter Semester	August 1 to December 31
Summer Semester	February 1 to June 30

After approximately 15 business days after completing your application, you should be able to view in RWTHonline's Self Service whether any documents are missing. Upload any missing documents. Enrollment is complete once all the documents have been received and you have paid the semester fee.