DOCTORATE AT HHL
(Dr.rer.oec.)
A uniquely structured doctoral program
Pursue your doctoral degree at one of Germany’s leading business schools with HHL’s uniquely structured Doctoral Program in Economics and Business Administration (Dr. rer. oec.). Designed for ambitious professionals, the program combines academic excellence with flexible part-time study, enabling you to pursue your research alongside your career.
Our structured curriculum equips you with a strong theoretical foundation and practical research skills, supported by Colloquia and Summer Meetings in a collaborative, international environment. Located in the heart of Leipzig, HHL offers the ideal setting to grow academically and professionally.
*Please note that a valid Letter of Acceptance is required in order to apply for our Doctoral Program.
Five Reasons for HHL’s Doctoral Program in Economics and Business Administration
- Combine your career with a prestigious doctoral degree while pursuing academic excellence.
- Flexible part-time structure allows you to balance work and studies effectively.
- Specialized courses and research seminars to develop advanced academic skills.
- Access to HHL’s faculty, career services, and a strong alumni network for career support.
- Hybrid learning model offering both online and in-person sessions for added flexibility.
The HHL Doctorate: Program Overview
HHL’s Doctoral Program focuses on your research project
The Doctoral Program of HHL is designed on a part-time basis and is particularly of interest to research-oriented candidates, seeking to combine their job with a postgraduate degree. It includes coursework in the form of lectures and seminars, independent research and participation in doctoral forums, research colloquia and summer schools.
HHL’s Doctoral Program standard period of study is three years. Doctoral candidates have the flexibility to arrange the coursework according to their individual schedule. All seminars take place in an online or hybrid format.
Core Foundations
Core Foundations – Mandatory Part (30 ECTS)
Provides the foundational academic grounding that fosters critical reflection, philosophical awareness, and scholarly exchange among doctoral candidates.
Philosophical Underpinnings of Management Research
This module allows students to develop a deepened understanding of the methodological as well as ethical presuppositions of economic theories and their application by studying and discussing classical texts from social philosophy and methodology of science.
Summer Meetings
The Summer Meetings are two-day events filled with workshops and lectures where HHL professors and leading external scholars explore cutting-edge topics in economics and business. A fun evening event (like a campus BBQ or visit to a local Biergarten) is also part of the experience — encouraging in-person participation for the best learning, networking, and social exchange. Summer Meetings take place once a year in June or July in a hybrid format.
Colloquia
The Research/Doctoral Colloquia serve as a forum for discussion and feedback on ongoing research. After each participant’s short presentation, a discussion will follow with the leading professor and participants where tips, advice, and feedback are exchanged to help to improve one’s research paper or dissertation.
Elective Part
Individual Focus – Elective Part (30 ECTS)
You can choose five out of the eight elective courses offered to complete the required 30 ECTS credits. Each elective course is worth 6 ECTS.
Research Fundamentals & Knowledge Transfer
- Managing your Doctoral Project
equipping students with the tools, processes, and mindset to successfully navigate theoverall doctoral process from start to finish, including time management, networking, research project planning, and overcoming challenges – also with HHL specifics. Students learn to steer the journey.
- Foundations of Management Research
providing the conceptual and methodological foundation for conducting rigorous research in management and related fields, covering theories, paradigms, and methodological choices. Students build the right research foundation.
- Writing & Publishing in Science
focusing on communicating research and achieving academic impact through strategic writing and publication in peer-reviewed outlets. Students transform their research into publishable contributions.
- Working with Databases
understanding how to work with and analyze secondary data and using the HHL database infrastructure ideally for your doctoral project.
Quantitative Research Methods
- Econometrics and Quantitative Methods
providing an overview of the traditional methods of multivariate data analysis and an intuitive understanding of the individual steps of regression analysis. The latter include topics, such as classical OLS estimation, hypothesis testing, the choice of the functional form, as well as the correct stochastic specification of econometric models.
- Causality, Research Design and Theory Testing
discussing a set of potential challenges in theory testing in quantitative empirical research. These challenges apply not only to observational data but also to experimental research and surveys.
Qualitative Research Methods
- Constructing Systematic Literature Reviews
introducing a variety of established SLR approaches and gaining hands-on experience in formulating research questions, applying systematic search and selection strategies, synthesizing findings, and presenting results.
- Building Theory from Qualitative Data
becoming acquainted with the epistemology of qualitative approaches and with developing skills in all areas of qualitative methodology through first-hand experience of using these methods to collect and analyze data on an appropriate topic.
Dissertation
Doctoral students work independently on their dissertation throughout the program. Writing the dissertation requires strong perseverance, effective time management, and solid academic skills. The course program is designed to provide guidance and support throughout the dissertation writing process. The dissertation must address a research area that is well represented at HHL and must constitute an independent piece of scholarly work. It should contribute to research in business administration and/or economics, including relevant theories and methods.
The dissertation accounts for 120 ECTS and represents the central academic component and workload of the Doctoral Program. The research proposal, which is completed and aligned with the supervisor prior to the official application, forms the foundation of the dissertation and helps doctoral students define a clear research focus from the outset. Depending on the research topic and the supervising Chair, the dissertation may be written either as a monograph or, more commonly, as a publication-based thesis consisting of several independent academic studies. The vast majority of dissertations are written in English, the standard language of academic research; however, writing in German may be possible depending on the Chair.
Program Schedule
Admission
We offer a rolling admission, which allows you to start the Doctoral Program at the beginning of any month of the year. Admission to the Doctoral Program at HHL is highly competitive and requires that the candidate finds an HHL professor to supervise his or her doctoral thesis before applying; along with the other application document, a research proposal also must be included in the application.
Application Process
- Step 1: Check whether you fulfill the formal admission criteria: a Master’s degree in Economics or Business Administration with a final grade which is equivalent of the German grade “good”.
- Step 2: Define your research topic and inform yourself about the HHL chairs
- Step 3: Identify and contact potential supervisors from the HHL faculty according to your research topic.*
- Step 4: If talks progress, start writing your research proposal in accordance with your potential HHL supervising professor
- Step 5: If you obtain a confirmation of supervision, apply online, selecting your supervisor.
- Step 6: The Doctoral Committee evaluates your application.
- Step 7: You will be informed by the Admissions Officer about the final decision of the Doctoral Committee via email.
- Step 8: You receive the official admission documents and you get enrolled in the program.
If you have any questions or doubts regarding the doctoral program, contact us: doctorate@hhl.de
Application Documents
Once you have received a supervision confirmation from a HHL professor, you may apply online with the following documents, which will then be assessed by HHL’s Doctoral Committee:
- Confirmation of supervision from an HHL supervisor (letter of acceptance)
- Final transcript AND a degree certificate of each completed degree programs (at least one of them has to be a Master’s degree in Economics or Business Administration with a final grade which is equivalent of the German grade “good”)
- Letter of motivation
- Curriculum vitae
- Research proposal* **
- Portrait photo of yourself
* These documents can be handed in during the admission process.
** You find an overview of the research topics of our faculty below.
The admission requirements can also be found in the Doctoral Regulations (in German).
What our alumni say
HHL Alumni in Academia HHL Alumni in Companies HHL Alumni Leading Their Own Business
Prof. Dr. Philip Meißner
Chair of Strategic Management and Decision Making, ESCP Business School Berlin | Doctoral graduate of 2011 (Chair of Strategic Management)
HHL provided me with the perfect framework for my doctorate. In addition to research at the chair of Professor Torsten Wulf, I was able to develop new methods for strategic planning in a practice-oriented way by working at the Center for Strategy and Scenario Planning together with Roland Berger: For me, the perfect balance of research, practice and teaching.
Dr. Wiebke Stranz
Principal | Roland Berger
The Doctoral Program at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management was not only an outstanding academic experience for me, but also a time in which I built a strong (international) network. I had the opportunity to participate in various academic conferences in Germany and abroad and to present the research work of the Chair. The cross-chair collaborations with my peers and professors not only significantly influenced my professional development, but also my personal growth and have developed into lifelong friendships. The valuable network I built at HHL has been instrumental in preparing me for a successful start as a strategy consultant at Roland Berger.
Dr. Lysander Weiss
Co-Managing Director, venture.idea | Senior Research Fellow, HHL
The doctoral program at HHL’s Chair of Strategic Entrepreneurship delivered exactly what I was looking for: a flexible structure that supported my personal learning journey and opened the door to the academic world. But it also gave me much more than I had expected: a collaborative atmosphere, a strong network, and above all – an incredible energy fueled by outstanding individuals who truly live their passion for their research.
Career Development
The HHL Career Development will help guides you on your way to start a new employment or to develop on the job. The career support does not end once your aim is reached – you may contact the team of HHL’s career service Regardless of where you are in your professional journey.
- CV and Cover letter checks
- Personal career coaching
- Mock interviews
- Experienced hire job newsletter
- Company and HHL alumni contacts
- Salary information (and advice on negotiations)
Also the wide network of HHL alumni can prove to be a door opener to the targeted position. The HHL alumni are an active, international community offering lots of possibilities for networking.
Network
A worldwide network as a source of inspiration and innovation
As a Doctoral Student at HHL, you will be a member of a multi-faceted network. HHL as an institution, as well as the Chairs and Centers, maintain relations to partners from business, research and academia in Germany and abroad. They are a source for support and exchange. The close contact to external partners offers possibilities for joint research and transfer projects.
The HHL network comprises regional partners such as the local Leipzig University and the Leipzig Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, and stretches over renowned German research institutions like the KIT and Hasso Plattner Institute to the world’s top research institutions such as the Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The HHL community itself is a strong network.. You will experience HHL’s close ties to its alumni in various ways.
We are looking forward to your commitment to further develop and shape the HHL network.
Tuition Fees and Financing Options
The Doctoral Program is particularly of interest to professionals seeking to combine their career with a degree of distinction within the broad field of Economics and Business Administration. The program can be finished in less time depending on individual circumstances. The Doctoral Program consists of coursework, lectures and seminars as well as participation in Colloquia and Summer Meetings.
Tuition fees
Tuition fees
Total tuition: € 19,800, including:
Enrollment fee: € 2,500
Examination fee: € 1,000
The tuition fee amounts to EUR 19,800 for the entire program (including an enrollment fee of EUR 2,500 and an examination fee of EUR 1,000), which is to be paid in three installments at the beginning of the first, second and third academic year.
The tuition fees for the Doctoral Program are tax deductible as anticipated professional expenses. Get first tips by reading the brochure “Steuertipps” (in German). For detailed information please contact your legal tax advisor.
Financial Support
Scholarships
Seize funding opportunities
Would you like to concentrate on your research only and attend HHL’s doctoral program without working? Then you may apply for a scholarship to cover the tuition fees (and/or living expenses).
There are plenty of scholarship options from other foundations for German and for international students. The following list gives you starting points for your scholarship search:
- Scholarship tips from the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (in German)
- Funding opportunities recommended by the German Academic Exchange Service
- Stipendienlotse (in German)
HHL itself does not offer any scholarships for the Doctoral Program.
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