The habilitation procedure is started by submitting an application to the University Doctoral and Habilitation Council (UDHC). The prerequisites for starting the procedure, the method of application submission, and the documents to be attached are included in the Habilitation Policy. The application can be submitted to the Office of the Doctoral School at any time. The duration of the entire procedure is roughly one year. The Office of the Doctoral School reviews the habilitation application for compliance relating to form, and if necessary, requests additional documents.

Closed phase: At its subsequent session, the UDHC appoints the members of the habilitation review committee. The 3-member review committee reviews the submitted application at a different, closed session, providing an evaluation with a score as well as a written explanation, and, in the case of a positive evaluation, proposes a topic for the public lecture.

The UDHC discusses the proposal of the review committee at their next session and makes a decision whether to start the public phase or close the procedure. The Doctoral School notifies the applicant by means of a decision.

Public phase: In consultation with the members of the review committee appointed by the UDHC and with the applicant, the Office of the Doctoral School organises the habilitation lecture event. The public event starts with a professional colloquium (45 minutes), followed by a habilitation lecture on the selected topic (45 minutes) in the event of achieving a sufficiently high score (at least 20 out of 30), and finally an English-language summary (15 minutes). After each part, the committee and the audience can ask questions and the committee will evaluate the colloquium in a closed session before announcing the result. The committee’s opinion is provided as a recommendation to the UDHC.

At its next session, the UDHC makes a decision whether to award a habilitation title. The decision is then sent to the applicant.

In the event of a positive decision, the habilitation certificate is presented by the University at the next title awards ceremony.