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The Graduate Centre at HTWK Leipzig is celebrating its tenth anniversary. To mark this occasion, the university has reached a milestone: for the first time, more than 100 doctoral students are currently pursuing their doctorates there.
A PhD is the highest academic degree following the completion of a university degree and opens up a wide range of prospects for an academic career – and beyond, as a PhD with a strong practical focus in particular enables numerous career paths even outside academia. For ten years now, the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig) has been supporting PhD candidates on their path to a doctoral degree. In the summer of 2016, it became the first University of Applied Sciences (HAW) in Saxony to establish a Graduate Centre. Since then, the GradZ has served as the central coordination and service point within the university’s Research Department for researchers at early stages of their careers. It advises prospective and current PhD candidates, provides support with funding and grant opportunities, offers interdisciplinary training programmes and promotes networking across disciplinary and faculty boundaries. At the time of its opening, the university was already able to draw on five years’ experience with the CompeTE+ Competence School for PhD Candidates. CompeTE+ had been providing interdisciplinary training for postgraduate students since 2011 and was funded by the European Social Fund and the Free State of Saxony. With the establishment of the Postgraduate Centre, HTWK Leipzig finally made this structural support for doctoral candidates a permanent feature.
On the path to a doctorate: more than 100 ongoing doctoral programmes
It’s paying off: for the first time, more than 100 researchers are currently pursuing their doctorates simultaneously at HTWK Leipzig in cooperation with a university. On average, around ten of them successfully complete their doctorates each year; since the establishment of the Competence School – now known as the GradZ for doctoral candidates – 150 people have already been awarded a doctorate with HTWK’s involvement. Along the way, HTWK Leipzig has supported its doctoral candidates by awarding 92 scholarships, five postdoctoral grants and by helping to establish 13 early-career research groups. Through more than 250 training courses, the doctoral candidates have gained insights into topics such as project management, funding, academic presentation and research communication.
“Ten years ago, with the GradZ, we established structures that enable high-quality doctoral studies at a university of applied sciences. More than 100 ongoing doctoral projects impressively demonstrate the importance that research and the promotion of early-career researchers now hold at HTWK Leipzig,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Faouzi Derbel, Vice-Rector for Research and Sustainability and Scientific Director of the Graduate Centre.
Pursuing a PhD at HTWK Leipzig
At Saxony’s universities of applied sciences (HAWs), graduates can pursue a PhD through a cooperative PhD programme. This involves collaboration between a HAW and a university. The HAWs in Saxony do not yet have independent PhD-awarding powers. Nevertheless, doctoral candidates can carry out their research work entirely at HTWK Leipzig; many are directly involved in the university’s research projects as research assistants. The doctoral degree is ultimately awarded by the partner university. HTWK Leipzig is strongly advocating for research-intensive universities of applied sciences in Saxony to be able to conduct doctoral programmes independently in future and to award the doctoral title to their researchers themselves.
On 5 October 2026, a public hearing on this topic took place in the Committee for Science, Higher Education, Media, Culture and Tourism of the Saxon State Parliament. The Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group had tabled a motion in the State Parliament regarding the right for Saxony’s universities of applied sciences to award doctoral degrees independently. At the hearing, the Rector of HTWK Leipzig, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jean-Alexander Müller, also had the opportunity, together with his counterparts and external experts, to present arguments in favour of universities of applied sciences having the right to award doctoral degrees independently. They highlighted in particular the benefits for Saxony, especially for the Saxon economy, which could benefit from a strengthened practice- and application-oriented doctoral programme and the resulting increase in highly qualified specialists.
“We are proud of our doctoral programme at HTWK Leipzig, which has been running successfully for many years. Reaching 100 doctorates is a milestone. It demonstrates that we have mastered sound academic practice and that we possess both the structures and the expertise to support doctoral candidates on their journey. I would like to thank all the professors at HTWK Leipzig who make this possible. I would also like to thank the leadership and management of the GradZ, my colleague Prof. Faouzi Derbel and Dirk Lippik, and the members of the GradZ’s Scientific Advisory Board, who are committed to the doctoral programme at HTWK,” emphasises HTWK Rector Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jean-Alexander Müller.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Faouzi Derbel
HTWK Leipzig, Vice-Rector for Research and Sustainability, Head of the Graduate Centre
Telefon: +49 341 3076-6316
E-Mail: faouzi.derbel@htwk-leipzig.de
http://gradz.htwk-leipzig.de Visit the GradZ website
https://htwk-leipzig.de/publikationen/einblicke2026/#42 Interview on the lack of independent doctoral programme authorisation in the research magazine *Einblicke 2026*
https://magazin.htwk-leipzig.de/karrierewege-nach-der-promotion Completing a PhD at HTWK Leipzig – and then what? In this feature, 12 PhD graduates outline their career paths
PhD students and PhD graduates from HTWK Leipzig are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Gradua ...
Quelle: Swen Reichhold
Copyright: HTWK Leipzig
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