Graduate School

Your Master’s degree or PhD begins with your academic expertise – and goes beyond it.

In our Complementary Studies, you engage with students from other disciplines and explore questions that deliberately extend beyond your own field. In our doctoral studies, you discuss theoretical and ethical questions of research with doctoral researchers from different disciplines.

You learn to understand different ways of thinking, connect perspectives and approach complex challenges from more than one angle.

Because the best questions often emerge where disciplines meet.

You should not simply complete your degree. You should shape it.

Electives allow you to integrate courses from other disciplines into your Master’s degree and develop your own areas of focus. The result is an academic profile that reflects your interests, goals and questions.

And if you are already considering a PhD during your Master’s, the Doctoral Track gives you an early opportunity to explore the world of research. You can gain experience in doctoral studies, become part of the research community and connect with potential supervisors.

You decide where your learning takes you.

Independent thinking thrives on changing perspectives.

International study programmes, joint and double degrees, exchange opportunities and English-taught courses bring different academic and cultural perspectives together. You can also experience internationality right here on campus – through courses, projects and the Graduate Community.

It is about more than speaking other languages. It is about questioning familiar assumptions, engaging with difference and turning new perspectives into new insights.

Learn globally – on campus and around the world.

Independent learning does not mean learning alone.

Graduate School is a community of students, doctoral researchers, teachers and researchers. Small seminars, research projects and shared events create opportunities for discussion, collaboration and new ideas.

Our campus offers many opportunities to connect – academically, personally and across programmes. What begins with our Opening Days in October continues throughout the year with the Graduate Student X-Mas Party and other community events: Connect, stay in touch and keep the conversation going!

Individual learning becomes collective thinking.

We do not see teaching as a one-way transfer of information.

Teachers provide impulses, ask questions, open up perspectives and guide learning processes. Students increasingly take responsibility for what and how they learn.

That is why we focus on innovative teaching formats, research-based learning and close support. Good teaching is not measured by how much information is delivered – but by what students are able to develop from it.

More ownership of your learning – more insight and transfer.

At Graduate School, you learn not only how to answer academic questions, but how to develop questions of your own.

Master’s students gain research experience early on. Doctoral researchers work on their own research projects and discuss them in interdisciplinary settings. The Doctoral Track and the Individual Research Master connect these worlds while you are still completing your Master’s.

This creates an academic culture where curiosity, critical thinking and intellectual independence go hand in hand.

From asking questions to creating your own research.

Specialist knowledge remains important. But it is not enough for a world in which knowledge, technologies, professions and societal challenges are constantly changing.

That is why we develop capabilities that last: critical thinking, independent learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, academic research skills and the ability to embrace new perspectives.

Our ambition is for you to leave Leuphana with more than a degree. We want you to leave with the ability to keep discovering new paths to knowledge – independently, throughout your life.

We empower you to learn independently.