(Post-)Graduate Support at its Best!

Professionalization of PhD Supervision

Excellent supervision is the basis for successful doctoral training.

The success of the supervision can often be seen only after doctoral training has been completed: in the career development of the doctorate holders as well as in the bond of the alumna or alumnus to the alma mater.

Good supervision begins with a careful selection of the doctoral candidates.

In Germany, doctoral supervision is based on the experiences that we gained when we were supervised ourselves or the experiences we already have as supervisors. We do not want to continue to act according to the motto “learning by doing” and must model ourselves after the countries that view supervisor training as a matter of course (e.g. Australia, Great Britain and the USA).

With the first GRADE Supervisor Award in July 2015, the Goethe University set a standard. Based on international criteria for excellent doctoral supervision, doctoral candidates nominated doctoral supervisors, and an international committee of experts identified excellent supervisors at the Goethe University. This is unique in Germany!

If you have any questions we would be glad to answer them.

GRADE regularly offers workshops on doctoral supervision that are open to supervisors from all faculties of Goethe University. The trainings focus on questions of evaluation, on the shaping of a mutually gratifying relationship between supervisor and doctoral candidate, and on the resources available for effective supervision.

For more details as well as questions about supervision, please contact Dr. Sybille Küster.