FAQs

Yes, subject to equivalence being established. Requests for transfer of credit must be submitted to GSEFM Academic Records, completing the request form provided by GSEFM Academic Records, as well as submitting all supporting documents requested. Three issues should be noted:

1. The courses for which credit is sought must have been completed as part of a degree program.
2. Courses taken as part of Master program studies can generally only be credited at the Master level, not at the Ph.D. level. This does not apply if the course syllabus states that the course was at the level of a doctoral program course.
3. For the first-year courses, transfer of credit does not exempt from the requirement to pass the end-of-first-year Qualifying Examinations.

Find the necessary form here.

Yes. Please register online with QIS.

Funding opportunities are available to doctoral researchers through GSEFM, Goethe University and external funding organisations. These may include scholarships, funding for research stays, conference travel, international collaboration, and other research-related activities. Goethe University’s Research Support can help identify suitable funding programs and advise on applications.

Please note: Eligibility depends on the individual funding program.

You can find information about current scholarships and research funding opportunities through ELFI (Service Point for Electronic Research Funding Information), which provides information on funding programmes, calls for proposals, grants, and competitions. You can also use FIT (Information Service Research, International Affairs, Transfer) to receive funding information tailored to your research interests by email. 

Goethe University’s Research Support can also help you identify suitable funding programs and advise you during the application process.

Goethe University recommends two main information services:

• ELFI provides information on research funding programmes, calls for proposals, grants, competitions, and related opportunities. 
• FIT (Information Service Research, International Affairs, Transfer) provides individually tailored information about research funding opportunities by email.

Funding opportunities for conference travel and international research stays are available through various options, although eligibility and funding conditions vary by program.

For example, the Goethe University association Freunde und Förderer supports certain international conference travel and research projects. Applications must generally be submitted at least six weeks before the project or trip begins. Travel and conference costs within Germany are excluded from this particular program.

The FlexiKids fund explicitly includes enrolled doctoral candidates at Goethe University and supports flexible childcare associated with essential work commitments.

Goethe University Research Support helps researchers find appropriate programs and advises them during proposal preparation.

There are several funding options for refugee doctoral researchers and researchers at risk. These include DFG support for refugee researchers, which can facilitate participation in existing DFG-funded projects and applications to the Walter Benjamin Programme. 

In addition, the HessenFonds for Refugees and Researchers at Risk provides scholarships for highly qualified students and researchers with refugee status at state universities in Hessen. Doctoral candidates must be accepted and supervised as PhD students at a Hessian state university and demonstrate strong academic achievement. Candidates are nominated by their universities; direct applications to the Hessian Ministry are not possible.