All faculties and schools at FAU offer the option of pursuing a bi-national doctoral degree supervised in collaboration with a university abroad. This procedure is particularly suitable for doctoral candidates who want to establish academic ties to both countries.

The two universities work closely together when selecting, supervising and assessing the candidates and recognize the work completed at the other university.

The cotutelle model

A bi-national doctoral degree following the “cotutelle” model (cotutelle de thèse):

• Requires an individual contract to be agreed between the involved partner universities
• Leads to a doctoral degree issued jointly by two universities in different countries
• Is based on an individual academic achievement that is completed at both institutions.

Detailed information:

• Brief description of cotutelle model.
• Guide to the cotutelle model summarizing all important information.
• Checklist for the cotutelle model giving an overview of the individual steps involved.

Framework conditions at FAU

1. The pursued bi-national doctoral degree must be in the interests of FAU.
2. The partner university must meet the high academic standards of our university.
3. Supervisors must ensure that their faculty and the relevant Doctoral Affairs Committee would welcome a bi-national doctoral degree with the partner institution and that added value is to be expected for the university and the faculty (e.g. in the shape of future collaborations and partnerships).
4. The Graduate Center negotiates an individual cooperation agreement directly with the partner university in consultation with the supervisors, clarifying important aspects such as the language of the thesis, members of the examining committee, publication of results, periods spent abroad etc. As a rule, the partner to the contract for FAU is the faculty, represented by the Dean.

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