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The right to award doctorates at universities of applied sciences as an added value for the higher education landscape

29 May 2026 | Jessica Langolf, Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences

The growing authority of universities of applied sciences to award doctorates is transforming the German higher education system. Will this lead to greater convergence with traditional universities or to greater diversification?

At present, a gradual shift in the higher education landscape can be observed in Germany: the institutional change of universities of applied sciences through the establishment of extended doctoral rights. But this shift raises a much more fundamental question: are universities of applied sciences research or teaching institutions? To answer this question, it is worth taking a brief look at their history.

In Germany, universities of applied sciences were founded in the late 1960s in response to the expansion of education at that time, in order to meet the high demand for study places. Their overarching educational mandate was to offer practice-oriented yet academically rigorous degree programmes.

This was reflected in the requirements for teaching staff: for instance, professors must not only hold a doctorate but also have several years’ professional experience, some of which must have been gained outside academia. This proved to be difficult for a long time. On the one hand, academics who had obtained their doctorates at traditional universities lacked practical professional experience. On the other hand, universities of applied sciences did not, for a long time, have the right to award doctorates to their own academic staff. Consequently, this led to many professorships remaining vacant for an extended period.

Representatives of the German applied sciences sector recognised the problem several decades ago, and therefore engaged in efforts to secure extended doctoral degree granting rights. After extensive negotiations, the goal has now been achieved. By March 2025, 12 out of 16 federal states had introduced extended doctoral degree-awarding rights for universities of applied sciences to award doctorates specifically in the areas of their strong research expertise. Around a year later, another state joined them, and two states revised their cooperative doctoral degree-awarding rights. With the exception of Saxony, all federal states have now reformed their doctoral degree-awarding rights. This development enables universities of applied sciences to evolve from purely teaching institutions into recognised research institutions.

These developments raise an important question: Does this lead to convergence with traditional universities or to greater differentiation within the system? And is a binary distinction still viable in (research-oriented) knowledge societies?

Rethinking the binary higher education system

To answer these questions, two aspects must be considered:

1. How the right of universities of applied sciences to award doctorates for within a national education system (e.g. Germany) breaks down the previously prevailing binary distinction with traditional universities, and

2. How this institutional change contributes to both national and international system differentiation. 

The previously existing differentiation between these two broad categories of universities is broken down by the fact that the right to award doctorates contributes to the expansion of functions. For example, universities of applied sciences would no longer be regarded as purely practice-oriented teaching institutions (as intended at their founding), but would also acquire an applied research-based doctoral function through their gained academic legitimacy. This is particularly the case because they are able to facilitate applied doctoral training, through their practice-oriented focus and their engagement with socially relevant issues.

How awarding doctorates enables universities of applied sciences to develop their profile nationally

This institutional change is linked to:

a) shifts in institutional roles

In the first instance, the right to award doctorates enables universities of applied sciences to assume a more independent position within the research system, thereby challenging the traditional hierarchy between them and traditional universities. Given current trends in knowledge transfer and interdisciplinarity – areas in which UAS are particularly strong – this is entirely feasible.

b) the shaping of the higher education and research system

This holds the potential to further develop a higher education landscape that has thus far been structured in binary terms towards one in which functions become more specialised and diversified.

One example would be the doctoral research schools and their interdisciplinary clusters, which are not in direct competition with any specific discipline at a traditional university and thus represent a distinguishing feature. Furthermore, universities of applied sciences have a significant impact on regional development. There are concrete examples of how research collaborations with companies in the field of applied research have led to the development of key technologies. An applied doctoral programme at a university of applied sciences can make a unique contribution to the higher education landscape.

c) implications for cooperation and competition

Such differences in profiles can be viewed as assets both between the two types of universities and among the universities of applied sciences themselves, and can be utilised through cooperation as complementary assets to enhance each institution’s own strengths.

Doctoral models in the applied sciences across Europe

The development of doctoral programmes at German universities of applied sciences illustrates many broader questions regarding the further development of models within European higher education systems, with a focus on doctoral training.

Currently, universities of applied sciences in some European countries are developing various application-oriented doctoral models: the Professional Doctorate in Finland, the Industrial Collaborative PhD in Sweden and the UAS Professional Doctorate in the Netherlands are just a few examples. It does not necessarily mean that they reflect the future direction of their German counterparts. However, it is a fact that applied sciences doctoral programmes do not constitute a uniform doctoral model at European level that can actually foster diversity within the European doctoral landscape.

In summary, the extended right to award doctorates at German universities of applied sciences marks a national transformation of higher education that can contribute to system differentiation at both national and international levels.

Note: This article is based on the author’s contribution entitled ‘Higher Education Research Revised: The Case for Doctoral Awarding Rights in German University of Applied Sciences.’ presented at the STARring-Conference’, held in October, 2025 at Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences.