Since the academic year 2011-12, HPI offers a Master's program which is designed to lead up to a Ph.D. degree. The "Ph.D. Track" allows, top candidates to enroll directly from a completed Bachelor's degree into HPI's Ph.D. program. The program which addresses outstanding students is open to both, HPI students and external applicants from Germany and abroad.

The objective of the program is, to engage excellent students in research earlier and let them accumulate achievements relevant for their Ph.D. earlier.

In order to accomplish this, the students who are part of the "Ph.D. Track" join our Research School as early as during their Master studies. They decide for one of the HPI research groups ("Fachgebiete") directly after completing their Bachelor's degree and will be personally supported by one of the heads of faculty. Being part of the Research School the young academics have the chance to attend seminars, workshops and be part of research projects. Thereby, students are working already during their Master studies towards their Ph.D. thesis. Additionally they are asked to publish their research results and present them at scientific conferences.

The "Ph.D. Track" students receive, as usual, after two years a regular Master's degree at HPI. Thereby, the topic of the Master's thesis is directly linked to the Ph.D. topic. The Master's thesis contains and serves as a dissertation proposal.

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