PROWISS

Achievement of competence: "The student knows the fundamentals and methodological basis of scientific thinking, working and acting. This also includes the application of available scientific knowledge to the treatment of individual patients"

• Start of a doctoral thesis or a scientific project
• Compulsory lecture series: "Good Scientific Practice", theory of medicine, image of man, statistics, plagiarism, literature research. No more than 10% or one course day may be missed; there is a written examination at the end.
• In planning: mandatory seminars in the semester ("Critical thinking in medicine", "Methodological basics of scientific work")

It is not possible to attend other mandatory courses in the curriculum during the PROWISS semester.

The courses described above should be completed in compact form in the 4th clinical (PROWISS) semester. Attendance of the compulsory lecture series and the designed seminars before the 4th clinical semester with proof of performance is possible in justified cases (justifiable early start of a doctoral thesis, serious scheduling conflicts, PROWISS abroad). This will be reviewed by the head of the "Quality and Development of Teaching" department.

• Proof of regular participation in the compulsory lecture series "Good Scientific Practice"
• Passing the written exam on the topics of the compulsory lecture series (no grades awarded, only passing grade)
• Submission of an activity report in German or English on the scientific project/status of the doctoral thesis at the end of the semester. This must be submitted by the student to the Office of the Dean of Studies by March 31 in the winter semester and by September 30 in the summer semester as a PDF by e-mail. The corresponding evaluation forms for the work must be signed by the supervisors and sent to the Office of the Dean of Studies.

The proof of achievement is linked to the achievements already made for the cross-sectional subject "History, theory and ethics".

Completing the PROWISS semester at another national or international university is possible and subject to the following conditions:

• Supervision: The cooperation with another institution must be carried out and secured through a supervisor from the University of Regensburg. Through the scientific collaboration between a "site supervisor" and a supervisor at another university, a specific activity (project, doctorate) can be carried out/initiated in terms of time and content. The application for this project must be approved by the "site supervisor" and the activity report must be evaluated and signed by him/her. The application must be reviewed and approved by the head of the "Quality and Development of Teaching" department. Regarding the recognition of a publication as a doctoral thesis, which was created at other national or international universities, the conditions laid down in the doctoral regulations apply. If the project is a doctorate, the "site supervisor" at the University of Regensburg must be a full-time university lecturer in the service of the Free State of Bavaria AND the external supervisor must also be a university lecturer.

• Accompanying PROWISS courses: If PROWISS is completed at another institution, it is possible to attend the accompanying courses beforehand and provide proof of performance for them, subject to the corresponding application obligation. Splitting the attendance of the accompanying PROWISS courses over several semesters is not advisable for organizational and content-related reasons.

Application for recognition of prior learning (docx/pdf - in German)

As the PROWISS semester is not offered in this form by other medical faculties, the recognition of equivalence certificates is linked to a special examination: Previously acquired Master's degrees can be recognized after verification by the Office of the Dean of Studies. In individual cases, a review is carried out by the Dean of Studies or by persons appointed by him. The application for recognition must be submitted in writing to the Office of the Dean of Studies, together with all documents supporting the application.

If the PROWISS semester is used to work on a doctoral thesis, in addition to registering for the PROWISS semester, the doctoral thesis must be registered at the Doctoral Office of the Faculty of Medicine within three months of starting work on the thesis. Forms for the registration of a scientific thesis, including a list of the documents to be submitted, are available on the Faculty of Medicine's website under Doctoral Degree in Medicine (Dr. med.) or Dentistry (Dr. med. dent.)  as well as the obligatory doctoral supervision agreement and a template exposé.

Furthermore, doctoral projects started after 01.01.2017 must also be registered in accordance with the Higher Education Statistics Act (Hochschulstatistikgesetz). The Doctoral Office will be happy to provide you with further information.

Submission and defense of the thesis are only possible after graduation in medicine/dentistry.

Registration for PROWISS must be made in writing to the Office of the Dean of Studies. Please use the form under downloads.

The deadline for the notification of grades by the supervisor to the Office of the Dean of Studies is March 31 in the winter semester and September 30 in the summer semester.

The project report/interim report is submitted by the student to the Office of the Dean of Studies as a PDF by 31.03. in the winter semester and by 30.09. in the summer semester.

The grades are reported to the Office of the Dean of Studies by the supervisor on the dates specified and can also be submitted by the students themselves.

Each report must be provided with a cover sheet. Please only use the template available under downloads.

The external form of the project report should be based on the guidelines for writing doctoral theses (see downloads). The report should be written in a scientific style.

Process flow PROWISS DE (pdf)

Registration form PROWISS DE (pdf)

Evaluation form PROWISS DE (docx/(pdf)

Template cover sheet DE (docx)

Design guidelines DE (pdf)

Guidelines for writing doctoral theses DE (pdf)

Information sheet for supervisors DE (pdf)

If you have any questions about the course of the PROWISS semester, please contact the

Dean of Studies for content-related questions,

and the Office of the Dean of Studies for organizational questions.

How many pages should the report contain?

The report must be at least 10-15 pages long.

The cover sheet has 4 pages - do these also count towards the length?

No. The 4-page cover sheet should not be numbered and is not included in the page count of 10-15 pages.

How should I deal with citations?

Please cite all references in accordance with the guidelines for writing doctoral theses.

Can I include parts of my doctoral thesis in the interim report?

The interim report may contain content from the doctoral thesis, but should be structured accordingly so that the topic is contextualized and previous and further research work is clearly presented. In this case, it makes sense to include a note.

I have published a scientific article. Is this sufficient as an interim report?

The interim report for a doctorate as well as the report on a research project may also contain the text of a publication or the manuscript of a planned publication (possibly also as an appendix), provided that the student is the first author of the publication.

However, the report should have an appropriate structure so that the topic is contextualized and previous and further research work is clearly presented.
If the article has not yet been accepted, it is useful to include a note and the citation of your publication or details of the review process.

I have completed my doctoral thesis.
Can I submit the current status instead of an interim report?

Yes and no. However, please also write a summary of the interim report with a cover sheet and a brief outline of the finalization of your doctoral project as well as a note on the completion of your written thesis. Whether this must be enclosed with the report should be clarified individually.

Can there be accusations of plagiarism if parts of the later doctoral thesis appear in the interim report?

No, because the report is purely internal and therefore cannot be equated with a scientific publication. A note is recommended.

Are the project reports or interim reports published?

No. The project report is first submitted to the supervisor for evaluation and then only sent to the Office of the Dean of Studies for archiving.

I am working on a completely new topic and therefore have reservations about reporting my results.

As the interim reports must be kept for documentation purposes only and no results are published, you do not need to have any concerns.