The Graduate School offers structured doctoral studies within the scope of the doctoral program at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. Doctoral researchers at the Graduate School can choose their courses from an extensive curriculum. Every year, courses covering at least 50 credit hours per week are available.

• Doctoral studies are organized into 3 thematic areas:
• theories of business, economics, and social sciences
• research methods
• key skills

Doctoral researchers at the Graduate School must earn at least 12 ECTS in the doctoral program. As a rule, a course totaling one credit hour per week corresponds to 2 ECTS credits. The regular period of study for doctoral studies is 3 years (6 semesters). Doctoral researchers from partner institutions may attend courses alongside doctoral researchers from the Graduate School.

Find current courses here.

Ideal-typical course of study

Courses in summer semester 2026

The new courses for summer semester 2026 have been confirmed, here you can find the courses. Registrations for the courses are possible via Geventis.

Courses, summer semester 2026 PDF (0.3 MB)

Courses in winter semester 2025/26

Courses, winter semester 2025/26 PDF (0.3 MB)

Master courses open for PhD students

Open Master courses summer semester 2026 PDF (0.3 MB)

External courses

Career Development Cycle at the University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg will again offer courses and workshops in the Career Development Cycle in the summer semester 2023. With the Career Development Cycle, the Strategic Human Resources Development and Recruiting Department supports doctoral students and postdocs in becoming clear about their goals, planning the way to get there, developing themselves and moving forward. The career development cycle includes five areas: Reflect, Explore, Define, Qualify and Implement.