History

In 2016, Hessen introduced independent doctoral rights for research-intensive disciplines at universities of applied sciences (HAWs). The prerequisite for granting independent doctoral rights is that at least 12 professors in a subject area can demonstrate their research strength through third-party funding, a minimum number of publications, their suitability for the research program, and experience in supervising and assessing doctoral students, thereby offering their doctoral candidates a suitable scientific environment.

On November 1, 2017, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, together with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, and RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, was granted the right to award doctorates in the field of applied computer science by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art, and Culture (HMWK).

The right to award doctorates is exercised within the framework of the Doctoral Center for Applied Computer Science (PZAI), an inter-university scientific institution of the partner universities. The core area of the Doctoral Center includes the organization and implementation of doctoral programs.

At the beginning of 2018, the first doctoral candidates began their work at the PZAI, and new applicants quickly followed. In 2021, the PZAI reached a significant milestone: the first two doctoral projects were successfully completed. Fifty years after the founding of universities of applied sciences, doctoral degrees in applied computer science were awarded by a university of applied sciences for the first time in Germany.

Also in 2021, an external evaluation of the Hessian doctoral centers was carried out by a selected structural commission commissioned by the HMWK. The commission came to a positive conclusion, with the result that the right to award doctorates was made permanent in 2022.