Doctor of Science - Europe - Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

In Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland, the most common doctoral degrees in Natural Sciences are the following:

• Dr. rer. nat.: Doctor rerum naturalium, literally "Doctor of the things of nature"
• Dr. sc. nat.: Doctor scientiae naturalis, Doctor of Natural Sciences (less often used)
• Dr. phil. nat.: Doctor philosophiae naturalis, used only by Goethe University Frankfurt instead of Dr. rer. nat.
• Dr.-Ing.: Doctor of Engineering, commonly awarded from Technical Universities only.
• Dr. mont.: Doctor rerum montanarum, used only by Montanuniversität Leoben instead of Dr.-Ing.
• Dr. techn.: Doctor of technology, awarded by Austrian technical universities.

In these countries there are some related doctoral degrees with very similar names, these are the:

• Dr.sc.agr.: Doctor scientiarum agrariarum, Doctor of Agricultural science
• Dr.sc.hum.: Doctor scientiarum humanarum, Doctor of Humanistic Sciences
• Dr.sc.inf.: Doctor scientiarum informaticarum, Doctor of Science in Informatics
• Dr.sc.inf.med.: Doctor scientiarum informaticarum medicæ, Doctor of Science in Medical Informatics
• Dr.sc.inf.biomed.: Doctor scientiarum informaticarum biomedicæ, Doctor of Science in Biomedical Informatics
• Dr.sc.math.: Doctor scientiarum mathematicarum, Doctor of Mathematics
• Dr.scient.med: Doctor scientiæ medicæ, Doctor of Medical Sciences
• Dr.sc.mus.: Doctor scientiae musicae, Doctor of Musicology
• Dr.sc.oec.: Doctor scientiarum oeconomicarum, Doctor of Economics
• Dr.sc.pol.: Doctor scientiarum politicarum, Doctor of Political Sciences
• Dr.sc.soc.: Doctor scientiae socialis, Doctor of Social Sciences

All these doctoral degrees are equivalent to the Ph.D. or Sc.D. of the American system. Until German Reunification, universities in East Germany also awarded the Dr.Sc. However, the East German Dr.Sc. was not equivalent to the Ph.D. since it was adopted to replace the German Habilitation and therefore was equivalent to this German qualification. After reunification the Habilitation was reintroduced at universities in eastern Germany.

The procedure of habilitation is normally required to receive officially the "venia docendi", which entitles the candidate to lecture at Universities. The academic degree after the successful habilitatation is f.e. Dr.rer.nat.habil., by adding the suffix "habil." to the earlier received Doctors degree.

In Switzerland, the Dr. sc. is a doctoral degree awarded only by the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and the Department of Informatics of the University of Zurich. The Swiss Dr. sc., like the D.Sc. in the US, is equivalent to the Ph.D. It is earned with the approval of a committee on the basis of original research, publications, and extensive applied professional contributions and is awarded in doctoral level science and technology programs. Since 2004 the Dr. sc. is the only doctoral degree awarded by the ETH Zurich. The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne awards the degree Docteur ès sciences, abbreviated Dr ès sc. The title is translated into English as PhD.