FAQs - Dissertations

The following information is of a general nature and does not replace students' obligations to cooperate, such as reading the relevant examination and study regulations.

To register your dissertation, you must complete and sign the corresponding request form, which must also be signed by your supervisor. You then submit this to the Central Examination Office. You will then receive notification of the outcome of your request via post. Usually, your writing-up period will then begin.

The examination and study regulations sometimes stipulate by which time the dissertation must be submitted at the latest, for example after a certain amount of time following the completion of the final module. If you request the topic later or not at all, the writing-up period will be shortened accordingly.

Incidentally, the registration period for dissertations is not tied to the examination registration period.

This depends entirely on your degree course. The examination and study regulations may stipulate, for example, that all exams must be completed beforehand or that a certain number of credits must be achieved. This is the case in particular for master's degree courses.

If the examination and study regulations do not set any specific requirements, you can register your dissertation at any time.

Yes, depending on the respective examination and study regulations, group work is possible - but clear rules apply. It is important that the each individual person's contribution is clearly recognisable and assessable. This is the only way to ensure that the principle of equal opportunities is observed.

It is therefore not enough to simply divide the work into sections or pages. It is crucial that each group member's own contribution to the content is clearly identifiable so that the examiners can reliably assess whether each person has achieved the learning objectives of the module or study section.

"Genuine" group work, in which everything is worked on together and can no longer be separated, is not permitted. In such cases, no individual assessment is possible and the work may result in a grade of "insufficient" (5.0) or "unsatisfactory" (0 points).

If there is an important reason, the writing-up period can be extended by a maximum of three weeks for bachelor's degrees, by a maximum of two months for master's degrees, and by a maximum of one third of the writing-up period for other degree courses. You submit the request together with proof to the Central Examination Office. You will then receive notification of the outcome of your request via post. However, the examination board's approval must be received by the Central Examination Office by the submission deadline at the latest.

The procedure is the same as in question 6, but you must submit a doctor's certificate immediately, i.e. without undue delay.

A (yellow or pink) certificate of incapacity for work is not sufficient. It is not the doctor who decides whether you are fit to take the exam or not, but the examination authority. For this reason, you are obliged to disclose your symptoms and, if necessary, to release the doctor treating you from their duty of confidentiality. This does not mean that the doctor must disclose the diagnosis as such, but only the physical or psychological effects caused by the illness. Please use the proof of illness form (doctor's certificate) for this purpose. An official medical certificate may also be required, especially in the event of repeated illness. If you are unable to complete the dissertation within the extended period, due to illness, you may return the topic. This will not count as a failed attempt. However, a new topic must then be chosen for repeating the dissertation.

You will receive notification of the topic for your dissertation via post, together with a pre-prepared declaration of authorship. This will also contain all the relevant information you need to observe.

However, you do not have to submit your dissertation in person. You can also have someone hand it in for you, put it in the deadline post box, or send it by post to the Central Examination Office. If you choose to send the documents via post, the date of the postmark is the date of submission.

Whichever way you choose to submit your documents, you must submit the bound copies (thermal or adhesive binding only) together with the declaration of authorship, which is not to be bound into the dissertation, no later than the specified submission deadline. Depending on the degree course, an electronic version is sometimes also required. However, you will also be informed of this with the notification of issue of the topic.

If the end of a deadline falls on a Sunday, a public holiday or a Saturday, the deadline ends at the end of the next working day.

The decisive factor is that you are enrolled on the day on which you take/submit your last examination and/or piece of marked coursework (for example, the submission of your dissertation or the date of your defence). You can deregister immediately after that if you are certain that you have passed the exam. You no longer need to be enrolled to be notified of your grades or to receive your certificate.

The Central Examination Office will have the assessments as soon as you are able to see the grade of your dissertation in the self-service portal or you have been notified otherwise. You can view them during consultation hours or digitally.

No, the two copies that are corrected by the examiners remain property of the university.

This is determined by your examination and study regulations. Master's dissertations usually have to be defended, whilst it is a rare requirement for bachelor's dissertations.

Various requirements must be met in order to register for the defence. For example, the dissertation must have been graded at least "sufficient" (4.0). As it has to be checked whether the requirements have been met, it is not possible to register for the defence online. You must always register in writing by sending the form to the Examination Office. However, it is not bound by any other registration deadlines and can be registered at any time (if the requirements have been met). However, you must register before the date on which the defence takes place.

It is insufficient to register only for the dissertation. You must register separately for the defence. If the defence is taken without prior registration, the examination result will be deemed ineffective and the defence will need to be repeated.

The defence usually takes place within 4 weeks of the assessment of the dissertation, but only if this has also been passed. The examination board decides on exceptions to the 4-week deadline.

The defence consists of a 15-minute presentation on the main content of the dissertation and a discussion of the results and conclusions. The defence should last no longer than 45 minutes. With the exception of the announcement of grades, it is open to the public. The public may be excluded for important reasons. The Fachprüfungsordnung (Subject-Specific Examination Regulations) may provide for a shortening of the presentation to 10 minutes or an extension of up to 25 minutes and an overall deviation of 15 minutes for the defence.