Doctoral candidate survey

In 2023, the Rectorate of the University of Freiburg decided to implement a regular survey on the working and supervision conditions for doctoral candidates. The survey was first conducted in 2024. On this website you can find the current status of the survey and its results.

A summary of the results for the university as a whole are available here on this website; results at the faculty-level are available via ILIAS for all university members (see Results section below). In the course of the winter semester, there will be the opportunity to talk about the results within a discussion event and at several smaller, faculty-specific events (see event details below). The results will also be forwarded to several departments and will be used for enhancing the university’s offers as well as for internal quality control.

The next survey is planned for 2027.

to obtain a more accurate picture of the situation of doctoral students and to identify potential for improvement
to review and further develop programmes and framework conditions for doctoral candidates
to repeat the survey every three years in order to compare the results and test the effectiveness of measures.

The following areas are addressed in the survey:

Doctoral conditions and supervision
Funding and working conditions
Qualification and counselling
Health and well-being
Career plans

When creating the questionnaire, both the nationwide surveys conducted by the National Academics Panel Study (NACAPS) and surveys from other universities were taken into account in order to ensure comparability. The creation of the questionnaire was scientifically monitored by Dr. Christoph Breuninger of the Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy). The analysis follows common practices of statistical analysis.

Here you can find an overview of the results for the university as a whole.

The results for the individual faculties (in English and German) are provided in this ILIAS room (recommendation: log in to ILIAS first, then follow the link).

In case you are interested, you can also access the entire questionnaire that was used.

The results of the doctoral candidate survey are being used to improve the conditiations for doctoral studies at the University of Freiburg in the long term. In order to do so, the results are presented in various committee, are incorporated into ongoing strategic processes, and are used by individual departments to better adapt their offers to the needs of doctoral candidates and make their offers known among them. Here you can find some examples.

Presentation of the results in university committees and at university events:

02.04.2025 Presentation of the results in the Joint Working Committee of the Doctoral Candidate Councils (GAA)
23.04.2025 Presentation of the results in the deans’ round
06.05.2025 Discussion of the results within the retreat for doctoral candidates
16.05.2025 Presentation of the results in the advisory board for the doctorate
28.05.2025 Presentation of the results in the senate
17.06.2025 Presentation of the results at the meeting of the ombudspersons of the central ombuds process
20.10.2025 Public event for discussing the results

Incorporation of the results in ongoing strategic processes:

Incorporation within the preparation of the proposal for the university of excellence
Incorporation within the development of a university-wide policy for research assessment

Utilization for optimizing the offers of individual departments:

Adjusting the course offer within the qualification programme based on the needs for further qualification as voiced in the survey
Continuation of the career coaching offered by GraCe based on the needs for support as voiced in the survey
Continuation of the retreat for doctoral candidates organised by GraCe based on the need for networking as voiced in the survey

Public event on October 20th, 2025 “From Insight to Action: Results of the 2024 Doctoral Candidate and Postdoc-Survey 2024”

All university members are invited to join the event on October 20th, 2025 (9:00 to 12:30) in the Aula in order to discuss the survey results, and to collect and rate potential measures and improvements. Please register in advance. Spontaneous attendance without registration is, however, also possible.

Programme:

9:00 to 9:45 Official welcome and presentation of results (in English)
9:45 to 10:45 Discussion in thematic groups (in English and German)
10:45 to 11:15 Coffee break
11:15 to 12:15 Panel discussion (in German). Contributors: Prof. Stefan Rensing (Vice Rector for Research and Innovation), Prof. Sylvia Paletschek (Vice Rector for University Culture), Dr. Deniz Kumral (Postdoc), Lea von Berg (Doctoral candidate)
12:15 to 12:30 Closing remarks

We look forward to your participation!

Discussion events at the faculties

Within the course of the winter semester 2025/2026 we will host discussion events together with the faculties in order to take a closer look at the survey results for each faculty individually. Depending on the preferences of each faculty, these discussion formats will take place in person or online, and either in English or German.

So far, the following events have been scheduled:

Faculty of Theology: 3rd November 2025, 14:00 to 16:00, via zoom, in German
Faculty of Law: 10th November 2025, 16:00 to 17:00, via Zoom, in German
Faculty of Engineering: 19th November 2025, 11:00 to 12:30, in person (TF, Geb. 101, 2. OG, Fakultätsraum), language to be determined
Faculty of Philology: 5th December 2025, 10:00 to 12:00, via Zoom, in German
Faculty of Humanities: 8th December 2025, 16:00 to 18:00, location to be determined, in English
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics: 15th January 2026, 10:00 to 12:00, in person (location to be determined), in English
Faculty of Biology: 22th January 2026, 14:00 to 16:00, location to be determined, in English

All doctoral candidates and postdocs of the respective faculty, as well as all other interested faculty members, are cordially invited to attend. We are looking forward to interesting discussions!

All events taking place via Zoom will be hosted in the following Zoom meeting:

https://uni-freiburg.zoom-x.de/j/66571538363?pwd=921C0q0FBcZg3bEqyUkZ3VbMpk4LxV.1

Meeting-ID: 665 7153 8363

Code: Survey2024

If you have questions or comments on the survey you are welcome to reach out to the project lead, Mrs. Hanna Mahler.

Contact

Hanna Mahler