Teaching: Overview

The educational effort within the QCCC programme has been structured to maximize cross-disciplinary interactions. Instruction is entirely in English. The QCCC programme offers beginners an orientation programme including lab rotations. During the Ph.D. programme the students carry out their research work in the group of one of the participating faculty members. The work should integrate theoretical and experimental aspects.

In these areas the students attend seminars, workshops, colloquia, conferences and tutorial courses (see also curriculum):

ENB Tutorial
In the beginning, all students meet weekly for approx. 4 hours to learn the basic topics like theory of entanglement, complexity, control theory, laser photonics, basic experimental set-ups etc. The presentations include on the students’ own work and on relevant work for the plenum.

Workshops
At the end of each term, all participants assemble for 3-4 days for a workshop on topics of common interest in the research field. Contact platforms with industrial representatives as well as training programmes for scientific presentation will be included.

QCCC Colloquium
The students are also encouraged to regularly attend this colloquium in which all doctoral candidates must present and discuss their Ph.D. work to a larger audience before writing up their theses.

QCCC Think Tank Seminar
In the 2nd year, all PhD students will form groups of 2 (one theorist one experimentalist). These groups elaborate novel projects and ideas, e.g. for industrial cooperation, the externships in the 3rd year or postdoc projects. The proposals will be discussed, scrutinized, and improved in a dedicated QCCC-Research Seminar.

Exchange with partners abroad
Within the 3rd year, each PhD student is obliged to spend some 3 months in an associated partner group abroad. Tutorial courses: Each student has to be ready to assist a course held by his supervisors.

Conferences
Every year, each student attends an international conference of choice (e.g. Gordon Research Conference, NATO-ASI, QCMC).

Attendance is mandatory for participants of the QCCC programme.

The progress of each student's thesis will be supervised by a thesis advisory committee including the immediate advisor and two other scientists. The purpose of the thesis advisory board is to monitor the progress of the work, to advise the students in their research and to be available for discussions outside the formal meetings. The thesis committee also decides whether the results obtained by a student are sufficient to fulfill the criteria of the Ph.D. degree and whether he/she is admitted to the thesis defense.

Requirements for admission to the Ph.D. defense are:

  • Completion of the written Ph.D. thesis
  • Acceptance in a peer reviewed journal of at least one first-author-paper reporting a substantial part of the thesis results.
  • Presentation of the PhD work in the QCCC colloquium
  • List of colloquia attended within the last three years
  • Certificate of the attendance of the QCCC curriculum
  • Document of attendance of an international conference
Both the thesis and the thesis defense are in English. Graduation from the Munich Universities will follow the examination regulations of the respective faculties. (In the rare case foreign doctoral candidates should want to graduate from their home university or gain both a Ph.D. from the Munich Universities and one in their home country they will have to notify in advance and handle administrative matters themselves.)