- Degree
- Dr phil and Dr rer nat
(+ in cooperation with the faculty of Law, Business & Economics Dr jur or Dr rer pol)
- Course location
- Bayreuth
- Teaching language
- • English
- Languages
- Courses are predominately held in English.
- Full-time / part-time
- • part-time (study alongside work)
• full-time
- Programme duration
- 8 semesters
- Beginning
- Only for doctoral programmes: any time
- Additional information on beginning, duration and mode of study
- • The PhD research can be started throughout the whole year and is meant to be completed within four years.
• All doctoral candidates are expected to be present in Bayreuth during their studies. The exception would be special occasions such as semester breaks, field research trips or the attendance of conferences and summer/winter schools.
- Application deadline
- There is no application deadline for your application at BIGSAS. Applicants can apply to the graduate school during the course of the whole year.
For more information about our application requirements and process, please visit our application website (https://www.bigsas.uni-bayreuth.de/en/application/index.html).
- Tuition fees per semester in EUR
- None
- Combined Master's degree / PhD programme
- No
- Joint degree / double degree programme
- Yes
- Description/content
- The Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) is rooted on an almost 50-year-old tradition of intensive and excellent research on Africa at the University of Bayreuth. Founded in 2006/2007 as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments, today BIGSAS (https://www.bigsas.uni-bayreuth.de/en/index.html) is part of the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2052 (https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/index.html) – "Africa Multiple: reconfiguring African Studies".
The graduate school itself is an innovative centre for doctoral training and interdisciplinary research at the University of Bayreuth. The aim of the graduate school is to bring together outstanding African and non-African academics for joint research in the field of African Studies while providing them with subject-specific academic training. As such, BIGSAS explicitly thrives on interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange. In cooperation with five faculties and 38 professors from over 30 departments and disciplines, 190 doctoral students (Junior Fellows) from all over the world have successfully completed their doctorates in the field of African Studies at BIGSAS to date (April 2024).
BIGSAS brings together excellent junior scholars in a structured and innovative doctoral programme. The doctoral training is based on research in a vital interdisciplinary environment with group mentorships, individual research training plans, specialist training (focusing on academic as well as transferable skills), early integration into the international academic community, and individual career planning.