RAN Newsletter 01/2024 Heidelberg remains the most popular university for doctoral studies

According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were 8,900 doctoral students at both Ruperto Carola and LMU in 2022, making the two universities the leaders in Germany, followed by Technical University of Munich with 8,500 and RWTH Aachen University with 7,300 doctoral students. 16 percent of all those doing a doctorate in Germany are studying at these four universities. In previous years, Heidelberg had already topped the rankings as the most popular university for doctoral studies.

In 2022, a total of 205,300 people were in an ongoing doctoral program at German universities, of which 52% were men and 48% women. With 48,100 doctoral students, 23 percent were foreign nationals. 26 percent of doctoral students, about 54,000, were working towards their doctorate in the subject group Human Medicine/Health Sciences; the second largest group was doctoral candidates in the subject group Mathematics and Natural Sciences, accounting for 23 percent or 47,200. 

At Heidelberg University, the proportion of female doctoral candidates in the same period was just under 52 percent at around 4,600 and the proportion of foreign doctoral candidates was 27 percent at around 2,400. In 2022, international doctoral candidates even accounted for almost 30 percent of completed doctorates. Most doctoral students in Heidelberg were aiming for a medical doctorate, but with two medical faculties, their share was significantly higher than the German average at 57% (39.7% at the Heidelberg Medical Faculty and 17.5% at the Mannheim Medical Faculty). The Faculty of Biosciences (10.7 percent) and the Faculty of Philosophy (7.5 percent) followed in second and third place.

More than 60 percent of doctoral students in Heidelberg pursue their dissertation research in structured programs. In addition to the university's four large graduate schools, these include close links with the graduate schools of non-university research institutions and almost 40 doctoral programs of various types – including 16 DFG Research Training Groups.

As a science-oriented service center for all doctoral candidates at Ruperto Carola and the central point of contact for all interdisciplinary topics relating to doctoral studies, the Graduate Academy works closely with the faculties, graduate schools, doctoral programs, the Doctoral Convention and Human Resources Development. With two funding lines - an open program for all doctoral candidates as members of the Graduate Academy and a specific program for subjects, faculties, graduate schools and doctoral programs - it offers a wide range of events, seminars, workshops, digital learning opportunities and advisory services for interdisciplinary qualification and career orientation. 

In December 2022, the Käthe Leichter Forum opened on campus Im Neuenheimer Feld as a new center for doctoral candidates – a place for advice and encounters, which is home to the Graduate Academy and the Doctoral Covenant. It is named after Käthe Leichter (1895–1942), a doctoral student under the famous Heidelberg sociologist Max Weber. The Austrian-Jewish social scientist, who worked in Vienna after completing her doctorate, is now regarded as a pioneer of the modern women's movement in Austria.At the same time, Käthe Leichter was also involved in political resistance against the Nazi dictatorship and was murdered as a victim of Nazi persecution in the Bernburg camp on 17 March 1943.