PhD B

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The Doctorate B to the Doctor of Science (Dr. sc.) Was an academic form of qualification in the GDR . It was introduced after the Soviet model (see “ Doktor nauk ”) with the “Ordinance on Academic Degrees” of November 6, 1968 and was regulated by the doctoral regulations of January 21, 1969. It was open to people who were in possession of an academic degree of "Doctor of a branch of science" through their doctorate A and generally wanted to become a university professor. To demonstrate the teaching certificate that was Facultas Docendi acquired. After the establishment of German unity , Doctorate B plus Facultas Docendi were generally recognized as an achievement equivalent to a habilitation. The PhD B was therefore not just a newly named habilitation . Rather, the aim was to flatten the academic hierarchy. For this purpose, the distinction between habilitation and doctorate has also been leveled conceptually.

According to Wilhelm Bleek and Lothar Mertens, the demands on the scientific quality of a dissertation B were "exorbitant", since the demands on dissertation A were already very high. In the 1980s, the level of aspiration was lowered and in 1988 the exception was made that a doctoral procedure A could be converted into a doctoral procedure B.

Doctoral assistants or senior assistants had the opportunity to acquire the highest academic degree through Doctorate B , if the SED supported this. The Humboldt University's rules of procedure of June 1, 1974 specified further conditions : “[A] successful activity in academic collectives, advanced training in the areas of Marxism-Leninism , excellent work in shaping developed socialism”. As a result, according to the assessment of the historian Ralph Jessen , non-scientific components were added to the requirement profile that could not be controlled by the scientific community.

Scientists with a doctorate in the GDR were generally expected to pursue a B doctorate as well. The lack of capable scientists caused by the science policy of the GDR led to a lowering of the scientific standards, which was reinforced by the strict ideological demands placed on future university lecturers. It was common practice in the GDR to often expand the topic of PhD A with PhD B. If PhD B was in the same subject area as PhD A , a sc. (= “Scientiarum”) was added to the doctoral degree. Since 1991, PhD B has been converted into a habilitation in most cases, whereby the documents for PhD B and Facultas Docendi were required in the application process at a university or academic institution with the right to habilitation.

Due to the separation of teaching qualifications in the form of facultas docendi and PhD B, the status of PhD B was initially low. By 1972, the number of exams taken decreased. The university policy course was then changed, because many academics had neglected their professional careers in favor of political career criteria. In 1973, the PhD B was therefore made a condition of an appointment. A good “party career” did not make up for a lack of professional qualifications in appointments. This raised the importance of the PhD B and increased the number of procedures.

In practice, the number of B doctorates completed by far exceeded the need for university lecturers and since the mid-1970s it has become a mass grade. Had amounted to 1950, the ratio of habilitated to PhDs still 1:25 of the 1970s came in the second half on a doctorate B four to six promotions A . This corresponded to the intention of the reformers, who wanted to create a doctorate B, a non-occupational academic degree without reference to university teaching.

literature

  • Dieter Voigt et al. : On the questionability of academic degrees and titles in the GDR. The primacy of communist ideology over science. An analysis of doctoral theses and habilitation theses from 1950 to 1990. In: Heiner Timmermann (Ed.). GDR research. Balance sheet and perspectives. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-42808462-4 , pp. 227-262.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Lambrecht: Science policy between ideology and pragmatism: The III. University reform (1965-71) using the example of TH Karl-Marx-Stadt. Waxmann, Münster 2007, p. 262.
  2. ↑ a b Wilhelm Bleek u. Lothar Mertens: GDR dissertations. Doctoral practice and secrecy of doctoral theses in the SED state . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1994, p. 74.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Bleek et al. Lothar Mertens: GDR dissertations. Doctoral practice and secrecy of doctoral theses in the SED state . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1994, pp. 75-76.
  4. ↑ Dieter Voigt et al. : On the questionability of academic degrees and titles in the GDR. The primacy of communist ideology over science. An analysis of doctoral theses and habilitation theses from 1950 to 1990. In: Heiner Timmermann (Ed.). GDR research. Balance sheet and perspectives. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-42808462-4 , p. 244.
  5. ↑ Ralph Jessen: Academic Elite and Communist Dictatorship. The East German university teaching staff in the Ulbricht era. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-525-35797-2 , p. 117.
  6. ^ Teresa Brinkel: Folklore knowledge production in the GDR. On the history of a subject and its processing. LIT-Verl., Münster (Westf.) 2012, ISBN 978-3-64380127-2 , p. 206.
  7. ↑ Tobias Schulz: "Socialist Science". The Berlin Humboldt University (1960–1975) . Böhlau, Cologne 2010, pp. 259–260.
  8. ↑ Ralph Jessen: Academic Elite and Communist Dictatorship. The East German university teaching staff in the Ulbricht era. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-525-35797-2 , p. 118.