The doctoral program consists of 8 semesters. During the 8 semesters, students must earn 240 credit points to obtain their degree, as follows:
- Courses: at least 48 credits, with 6 credits per course.
- Semesterly (written and oral) research reports:
- Semesters 1-4: 8-8 credits
- Semesters 5-8: 15-15 credits (total for 8 semesters: 92 credits).
- Publications related to the research topic: at least 75 credits.
- Active participation in a research project: 6-10 credits/project.
- Participation in teaching: maximum 60 credits (no mandatory minimum), 1 contact hour per week (1×45 minutes) = 2 credits.
Doctoral students may receive a maximum of 5 teaching credits per semester for their teaching activities during the first four semesters of their training, and a maximum of 10 credits per semester during the fifth to eighth semesters of their training. Teaching activities shall be certified by the deputy dean of education of the relevant faculty or by an official in a corresponding position (e.g., in the case of foreign education).
According to the credit regulations, students must take a minimum of eight (8) courses as part of their training and pass the exams. Of the eight subjects, four are compulsory foundation subjects related to the doctoral topic, of which two subjects (category of foundational subject in security science) serve to lay the foundations for security science and two subjects serve to lay the foundations for the research topic (category of foundational subject for the research area). These four subjects are approved by the Doctoral School Council (DIT) on the recommendation of the supervisor. The student may freely choose a further four subjects (elective subjects) from among all the subjects offered by the doctoral school, with the agreement of the supervisor.
In order to ensure the success of the doctoral program and the doctoral dissertation, during the first eight semesters of the program, the student must write a mandatory report (semester research and study report) every semester on the progress of their research topic, which is evaluated by the Doctoral School with credit points as specified in its regulations. The report must also be presented orally.
The recommended course structure and the order of mandatory reports are shown in the table below:
| Subject | Semester | |||||||
| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | |
| Foundational subject in security science I. | X | |||||||
| Foundational subject in security science II. | X | |||||||
| Foundational subject for the research area I. | X | |||||||
| Foundational subject for the research area II. | X | |||||||
| Elective subject-I. | X | |||||||
| Elective subject-II. | X | |||||||
| Elective subject-III. | X | |||||||
| Elective subject-IV. | X | |||||||
| Semester-end research and study report | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
