IMPRS PhD graduate school of astronomy extended

20. Dezember 2011

The »International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg« (IMPRS-HD) was established in 2004 as one of the first graduate schools in Heidelberg as a result of the close collaboration between the Heidelberg astronomy institutes. The overall aim was to establish a structured PhD programme taught in English in order to attract excellent students from international backgrounds, and also to provide German students with an eduction in an international environment.

After the successful constitution of the IMPRS-HD, and an excellent acceptance by both students and professors over the last 6 years, the school was evaluated by an international board of referees. In light of the very positive assessment, the Max Planck Society has granted IMPRS-HD an extension for a further period of 6 years which has started in the winter term 2011.

The Max Planck Society supports IMPRS-HD with 350.000 Euro per year. The University of Heidelberg also supports the graduate school. Together, 12 PhD fellowships are provided. In addition, IMPRS-HD has funding for travel support, conferences, and summer schools. Additional resources by institute budgets and third-party funding allows to fund further 70 PhD students within the IMPRS-HD.

The acronym IMPRS-HD stands for the main goals of the project:

»International« stands for the English-language lecture programme and the current rate of 70% international students. This large fraction results in the comparatively high rate of female students of about 30%.
»School« stands for a modern, structured educational programme, providing the students with the opportunity to broaden and deepen their scientific expertise besides their actual research work. On top of the mandatory programme of lectures and joint seminars, the school also offers so-called softskills seminars, providing further training beyond scientific skills which are valuable (not only) for a scientific career: scientific writing, presentation skills, or application procedures. German classes are offered to the international students.
»Max Planck« and »University of Heidelberg« signify the close collaboration of these institutions: the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, which leads the coordination of IMPRS-HD, the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, and the University of Heidelberg, which together coordinate the structured programme of IMPRS-HD. The exceptional quality of the PhD education within IMPRS-HD is also visible by the fact that each student is supervised by a so-called Thesis Committee – a team of three co-supervisors.

With the establishment of the "Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics" (HGSFP), which was founded in 2007 within the framework of the German "Excellence Initiative", and which supports the IMPRS-HD PhD students administratively from university side, a further deepening of the collaboration has been reached. Since 2007, IMPRS-HD is an independent part of the HGSFP and supervises the majority of the Heidelberg PhD students in astronomy and astrophysics.

The IMPRS-HD attracts worldwide interest: each year up to 150 students from all continents apply for 20-25 PhD fellowships – right now IMPRS-HD has about 80 PhD students (see the histogrammes below). This large number demonstrates the international visibility of this Heidelberg education programme, which is competing with the other leading institutions for the best students worldwide.

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