Forms of doctorate

At the University of Bern, a doctorate can be completed in the following forms, depending on the faculty and discipline:

Individual doctorate

The traditional individual doctorate is the traditional form of doctorate where the person drafts their dissertation on their own, mostly on a topic they have chosen themselves. The traditional individual doctorate grants the person concerned a large degree of freedom to organize the time available as they please and therefore requires an especially high degree of independence and self-motivation. Additional curricular attainments may also be demanded in addition to the dissertation.

Structured doctorate

Graduate schools and doctoral degree programs are attractive alternatives to the traditional individual doctorate. The structured doctorate comprises teaching and research programs with a specific, topic-related and often interdisciplinary outlook. In addition to the dissertation, it also contains mandatory curricular components and is particularly focused on promoting the development of (inter-)disciplinary and non-subject-specific skills, as well as interaction with other academics and building networks for doctoral students.

At the University of Bern, structured doctorates include the following:

• Graduate schools
• Interuniversity doctoral programs
• Other doctoral programs organized at faculty level
• CUSO doctoral programs