Program Overview
Faculty of Humanities
The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Bern is a vibrant academic community that offers a wide range of study programs, research opportunities, and academic services.
Departments and Institutes
The Faculty of Humanities is composed of several departments and institutes, including:
- Department of History and Archaeology
- Institute of History
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences
- Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies
- Institute of Social Anthropology
- Institute Middle East and Muslim Societies
- Institute for the Science of Religion
- Department of Art and Cultural Sciences
- Institute of Art History
- The Institute of Musicology
- Institute of Philosophy
- Institute of Theatre Studies
- Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies
- Department of English
- Institute of French Language and Literature
- Institute of Germanic Languages and Literatures
- Institute of Italian Language and Literature
- Institute of Classical Philology
- Institute of Slavic Languages and Literatures
- Department of Spanish Language and Literature
- Department of Linguistics
- Walter Benjamin Kolleg
- Center for Global Studies (CGS)
- Center for the Study of Language and Society (CSLS)
- Digital Humanities
- Research forum
- Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Research Network (IPN)
- Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities (GSAH)
- Interdisciplinary Unities
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies
- Interdisciplinary Research Program in Jewish Studies
- Eastern European Studies Bern-Fribourg
PhD Program
The Faculty of Humanities offers a PhD program that provides students with the opportunity to pursue advanced research in their field of study.
Completion
To complete the PhD program, students must:
- Hand in their dissertation to the Dean's office
- Register for the oral exam
- Pay the exam fee (CHF 300)
- Publish their dissertation within two years of completion
Handing in the Dissertation
The dissertation must be handed in to the Dean's office by the designated deadline. Students must submit one copy of the dissertation to their first and second supervisors and the Dean's office.
Enrollment
Students do not need to be enrolled for the semester in which the oral exam takes place.
Deadline Extension
The Dean's office can grant a deadline extension if the student has registered for the completion process. Students must write an email to the doctoral office and include their supervisor in the cc.
Exam Fee
The exam fee is CHF 300. Students can pay the fee via e-banking and must include their name and the purpose of the payment.
External Second Supervisors
If a student chooses an external professor or assistant professor without habilitation as their second supervisor, they need an exam authorization filled out by their first supervisor.
Defense
The defense is scheduled in cooperation with the first and second supervisor. The supervisors fill in a green grade sheet after the defense and send it back to the Dean's office.
Publication
Students can publish their dissertation in different ways, including electronic publication or publication of printed copies. The dissertation must be published within two years of completion.
Diploma
After publication, the diploma will be ready within a few weeks. Students must provide the Dean's office with their address or detailed information about the shipping process.
Graduation Ceremony
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities holds a graduation ceremony to celebrate the completion of the PhD program. The ceremony includes a reception and the awarding of diplomas.