hu wissen (pdf) - Exzellenzinitiative - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Just imagine: to help you work on your PhD you
are given a steady job at a university, will be supervised
by two mentors, receive fi nancial support
as well as a one-year research stay at an American
university. Fiction? No. The Department of German
Literature at Humboldt-Universität has
pulled out all the stops and used its contacts with
the most prestigious American universities to give
German PhD students the best support possible.
The result is the bi-national PhD-Net »The Knowledge
of Literature« – in cooperation with Harvard
University, Princeton University and the University
of California, Berkeley. »In the humanities and
cultural sciences there is still far too little on off er
for PhD students. This is why it was important to
us to make our department’s PhD programmes
more attractive,« explains Prof. Dr Joseph Vogl,
founder of the PhD programme and Director of
the Department of German Literature.
Located at the Humboldt Graduate School
(HGS) and funded by the DAAD and the HU, a total
of 24 postgraduate students have been working
on their PhDs since 2008. Among them is
Veronica Thanner, one of twelve fi rst-year participants.
»I’m taking part because this network offers
me so many opportunities and advantages. I
don’t have to sit alone at home, I can be exchanging
ideas with others and use the seminars
and colloquia at the HGS.«
The opportunities the programme off ers are
broad and diverse. In addition to the seminars,
the PhD students are given a well-equipped workstation
and a teaching and supervision regime
thematically tailored to their needs which also includes
joint projects involving German and international
PhD students. A� er a year in Berlin, they
can conduct research for up to a year at one of the
three partner universities in America. »I had the
chance to go to Harvard. I could exchange ideas
there with academics from diff erent disciplines
who are researching issues important for my own
work – for example at seminars and conferences,«
says Thanner. »In addition, the libraries are really
brilliant: long opening hours, accessible stockrooms
and, not least, a stock of books that is positively
Alexandrian. Harvard has completely different
means at its disposal, so it’s easy to familiarize
yourself with the system.«
And what does it cost the PhD candidates?
Next to nothing: they are exempt from tuition
fees, their fl ight is paid, and they receive a grant
towards the costs of living and fi nance for projects
which can be developed locally on a voluntary basis.
It would appear that they are also given the
necessary boost to help them write (also for free)!
»When you go abroad a� er a year, you also leave
behind your own routine circles and structures.
Many people, like me, then start writing there, because
the atmosphere has such a refreshing and
motivating eff ect on you,« says Veronica Thanner.
The exchange programme also encourages
the PhD students to develop joint projects such as
Harvard University
workshops, conferences or web projects with foreign
students. In addition – and this is also important
– they are simultaneously given an insight
into a second academic culture and see how
students abroad do their PhDs. They fi nd out
about the relative advantages (and disadvantages)
of both university systems. »My fi rst impression
of Harvard was one of incredibly impressive
buildings and the best-imaginable research facilities.«
But a� er a certain time in America she also
learned to appreciate the German system. »Although
America’s universities have more money,
more luxurious equipment and support, in Germany
you’re freer and are given more responsibility.«
Together, the German and American researchers
make up a pretty good team. Thank goodness
the profs at the Department of German Literature
have recognized that.
IN KÜRZE / IN SHORT
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