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Cotutelle

How to Obtain a Binational Degree

The Bologna process and the general internationalisation of the Higher Education sector will contribute to the Cotutelle’s rising importance. Within structured PhD programmes, Cotutelles are becoming an important factor in establishing collaboration between Graduate Centres. Cotutelles thus constitute a valuable contribution to the internationalisation of PhD programmes.

The PhDnet offers its members the opportunity to obtain their doctorate within a Cotutelle-framework. Doctoral degrees are thus jointly awarded by JLU and one of the six partner universities in Bergamo, Helsinki, Lisbon, Stockholm, Graz and Warwick.

The universities share supervision and examination responsibilities and recognize course requirements and examinations that have been completed at the partner institution.

Cotutelles offer great advantages for doctoral researchers

  • who aim at establishing and assuring professional connections to both countries,
  • who have not yet decided on which country they would like to work in,
  • who plan on embarking on careers in international contexts,
  • whose research is closely connected to another country.


Supervision by a professor in Germany and at a partner university abroad enables doctoral researchers to closely engage with the respective research cultures and Higher Education systems. Hence, they gain further transferable skills, which stretch far beyond improved foreign language abilities and intercultural competences. We expect transnational PhD programmes to open up new career opportunities to graduates.