Research projects have to be planned so that completion and graduation within three years is possible. Supervisors have undertaken to monitor the progress of their doctoral students regularly and to document it in writing.

Once every six months students and supervisors meet and discuss the progress of the student's thesis on the basis of the thesis outline, intermediary reports and single chapters of the thesis (alternatively: research results prepared for publication).

The student will take minutes and record what was agreed on during the meeting. The minutes will be signed by the supervisors and archived by the management of the School.

Once a year all students will appear before the scientific council for their progress review. Together with their supervisors they will present the current state of their research projects and answer questions by the council.

After one and a half years doctoral candidates need to submit a detailed progress report (five pages) explaining what they have done and what they are planning to do for the remainder of their doctoral studies. They should attach a work plan and schedule which shows their time planning until the end of the dissertation period. Additionally, they should hand in a significant part of their dissertation which can take the form of

• a chapter of their dissertation (approximately 20 pages), or
• a submitted paper/manuscript, or
• the draft for a paper describing the scientific background of their experiments, containing an introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

The progress report will need to be discussed with and signed by all supervisors. The progress report will be assessed at a separate meeting, held between the doctoral student and at least one of the academic directors of the School.