The application process at HSBA involves several steps: Start by thoroughly informing yourself about the doctoral procedure to ensure that the part-time cooperative doctorate aligns with your professional and personal goals. Ensure that you meet the formal admission criteria and submit your application documents. Upon successful completion of the personal selection interviews, you will be admitted to the cooperative doctoral program. Here, you can unleash your passion for academic work and begin your research.
Our doctoral program at HSBA offers you the ideal research and development platform for advancing your academic career. At the center of this program are you, the PhD candidate: With direct support from an HSBA professor, you will engage in innovative and practice-oriented research. Our esteemed partner university ensures the highest quality standards through its academic oversight and awards the coveted doctoral degree. Your employer will not only provide a direct link to practical application but also actively promote the transfer of your knowledge into practice. This proven synergy between academia and industry guarantees you focused supervision and dynamic collaboration that will elevate your career to the next level. Join our program and actively shape your academic future!
The first step is to find out more about HSBA, our departments, the supervising professors and the part-time doctoral programme.
You can also get to know HSBA at public events. You can find an overview of all events here.
Formal requirements for admission to the HSBA cooperative doctoral programme are:
Supporting application documents are:
Send all application documents as ONE coherent pdf file to sabine.lebedinski(at)hsba.de.
The doctoral programme always starts on 1 April and 1 October each year. You can submit your application documents to us at any time. It can take three to six months from receipt of the application to formal admission to the doctoral programme.
If your formal application documents are convincing, we will be happy to invite you to a personal interview with a supervising professor. In this interview, you will be able to convince us of your personal and academic strengths, discuss your development potential and goals, and discuss how HSBA can best support you through the accompanying doctoral programme.
During the interview, you will have the opportunity to choose a preferred partner university to award the title. It may be necessary to revise your exposé.
After the admission interviews have been held at HSBA, the doctoral agreement can be concluded. This regulates our joint supervisory relationship and summarises details of the doctoral programme, the seminar programme, the degree-awarding university and the payment modalities.
Manager Research, Third-party funding & fundraising
+49 40 822160-911The process from receiving the application to being formally accepted into the doctoral program can span from three to six months. Further information on the application process and the admission steps can be found here.
The choice of the partner university is based on the thematic alignment of your dissertation topic. Your HSBA supervisor will propose a suitable co-supervisor from the HSBA partner network to ensure excellent primary and secondary supervision of your doctoral project.
Unfortunately, you can't. The doctorate is the highest academic degree that can be earned in Germany. It requires a high degree of commitment and resilience as well as sufficient time resources. For many, the doctorate is in itself a full-time job. Therefore, we strongly recommend a part-time workload of 20 - 30 hours per week. A regular workload of more than 20 hours per week should be well considered. Clarify with your employer whether you can use parts of your working hours for your doctorate. Ideally, your employer will show interest in your research outcomes, maximizing the synergy between your work and doctoral studies.
Yes, there are mandatory in-person events in Hamburg, which you can plan for in advance. Fully remote participation in the doctoral programme is not possible. In addition, the partner universities may require a certain level of on-site presence.
Regrettably, no. As a dual university, we place significant emphasis on the practical applicability of our research. Furthermore, your current job search introduces numerous uncertainties (such as potential full-time employment, lack of support from a future employer, or the need to adjust your preferred doctoral topic), which could complicate both your academic and personal planning. We encourage you to apply once you've secured employment that can be harmonized with doctoral studies.
Yes. At HSBA, you become part of an active community of part-time doctoral candidates. Our events offer regular opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences, and many doctoral candidates also connect through informal groups. This exchange is invaluable: you can learn from others’ experiences, receive practical advice and emotional support during challenging phases, and build a lasting professional and academic network.
A part-time doctorate offers several advantages:
