PhDs in Germany
You might want to take a look at www.daad.de (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). I hope this will be some help. By the way, does anybody know if there are sites similar to FindAPhD (which is GREAT - thanks FAD-team!) for other countries. If you could post them on the forum I would be really grateful.
A link out to DAAD and other relevant sites can be found in our funding pages. If you're looking for PhDs in other countries then I'm afraid we don't know of any equivalent sites, it's probably best to search for subject specific sites. There's nothing stopping non-UK universities advertising on FindAPhD and if there are any young German or American marketing genius's out there with an in depth knowledge of postgraduate education in their home country we'd love to here from them.
Not sure how PhD funding works in Germany if you're not paid directly by a university as a 'Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter'. But, in any case, you should be *very* careful about commiting yourself to a PhD position at a German university. Speaking from personal experience, the system is very different and you could easily end up being short-changed (and without a PhD).
Hmm, as far I am informed PhD's in Germany are paid as wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter. This means they want you to work for them part-time and the other half is for your PhD. Be aware that in Germany it's not like the Kindergarten it is here, so you will have to be really independent. That has its positive and negative sides. Your education in Britain will be better, but you essentially don't do really any original work.
The part about this so-called working half the time as a WM and the other doing your own thing I found to be a wsate of time also. ALthough at first it sounds ok in theory, it is *only* theory and what unsuspecting students could in fact end up with is spending the whole time doing the professor's dirty work full-time. In addition, it is common for PhD 'candidates' as they're called not to attend conferences and presentations because their supervisor is doing it in their place.
It seemed also that by the time you’ve spent the best part of 4-5 years doing other people's leg-work, you really are at this stage completing work for the title. The emphasis in the written work is placed upon data rather than also the critical review of others' work: The latter of course is equally important. The theses I saw I can honestly say seemed to lack much of the substance that you would expect, and my impression was that the original ideas often come from the project supervisor rather than the student.
I'm not sure what you mean Franz about not being able to do any original work during a PhD programme in the UK. From what I saw of German students' dissertations (notably they weren't called theses), was that they didn't seem to live up to the same standard as the British ones I have seen (sorry to say)...An example; in my institute it was more of an exception to finish within the nominal 3 and a bit years. Instead, it took nearer to 5 years….
"Be aware that in Germany it's not like the Kindergarten it is here, so you will have to be really independent. That has its positive and negative sides. Your education in Britain will be better, but you essentially don't do really any original work." <- what a load of rubbsih!!!!!
Ok, to make things clearer: a wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter gets paid BAT 1/2. This is just the salary they are paying you to live of during your PhD. It has nothing to do with having to work half-time for someone else- otherwise you couldn't do your PhD in 3 years. You work full time on your project for half of the usual university salary. And in the end you have more or less the same income as in the UK.
The point of a PhD is to do some original work. How much of the original ideas come from you depends on you. If you don't come up with any idea your supervisor in any country will tell you what to do if you are wasting time.
And remember, in the end its the supervisors grant your living off, so she/he has some say. Plus, you should benefit from their input because they generally have more experience and can tell you what is worth persuing and what not. If your idea is good no supervisor will say no.
As I said before, the having to do other people's work is the reason why people can't complete within the usual 3 or so years and why many don't finish at all. And, yes, it was exactly my point that PhD's require original publication-worthy work; another fact that seemed to go astray at the institute I worked at! I was actually speaking from my own personal experience of having to be a data production line for 12 months by the way!
It really does seem that in general in Germany, the expectations of you in a research institute are high but they're not investing so much in you as budding researcher. In the UK though, it is more a 2-way thing.
Of course there is always the risk of being lumbered with a bad supervisor wherever you go. In Germany, the pay is the same for everyone regardless of nationality, with the few exceptions that some are lucky enough to be on the full BAT pay. Having compared notes with various other researchers also from other institutes, many did complain of similar things to what I did - I know I'm not the only one to be saying these things, in fact I have heard some real horror stories!
In my case, the professor had made a big song and dance about my PhD position, having advertised it in the New Scientist etc. and invited numerous people from all over the place to apply. Yet 6 months into my being there, he quite casually tells me that he hadn't written a research proposal for my project, and that he didn't know if there was enough money for me to be able to continue my work there.
The other difference to do with the money is that whereas in the UK, you're not permitted to begin a PhD programme before funding has been secured, which is normally for 3 years. Whereas, in Germany they don't secure funding beforehand. You sometimes end up on yearly, 6 month or even 3 month contracts, and you can never be sure if they will be extended.
Hey Karen ,seems like you have got working with some reckless supervisor.In a phd it is indeed very crucial for any one to have an original idea, whether it is your or your supervisors.otherwise there is no point in doing a phd.But according to all the rosy picture that one gets about doing a phd in Germany and the 1 that you all say is so drartically different.
Please do give the actual picture of what exactly is the scene out there,since it would help students like us who aspire to study in Germany.
