Graduate Schools (Excellence Initiative)

Earn a doctorate at one of Freie Universität’s graduate schools in an academic environment devoted to excellence. Source: Bernd Wannenmacher

Since graduate schools play a pivotal role in the development of internationally competitive centers of top research, the German national Excellence Initiative called on universities to submit draft plans for the development of a central research area on the basis of existing structures. The selection criteria included the quality of the academic and scientific work done by the participating researchers, the suitability of the location for scientific and academic work, planned admissions criteria, plans for educating and supervising doctoral candidates, structures to promote autonomy early in researchers’ careers, the ability to recruit students both nationally and internationally, and quality assurance across the academic education process.

Under the umbrella of Dahlem Research School, these graduate schools within the Excellence Initiative represent an important aspect of Freie Universität’s strategic efforts to promote and support the next generation of scholars and scientists. At the graduate schools, structured doctoral study programs that offer holistic education and supervision of doctoral candidates create a unique, inspirational, and productive environment for graduate students.

• Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies

• Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies

• North American Studies

• Berlin Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT)

• Berlin Mathematical School

• Berlin School of Integrative Oncology

• Graduate School of East Asian Studies