After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• understand the relation of the research theme to analysing the research problem and to analyse this connection in relation to the actual research specialization
• work with digital information sources, the critical use of which is essential for obtaining information concerning works of art
• use and critically evaluate art history sources (visual, documentary, and textual), creating hypotheses and testing their relevance when dealing with research problems
• evaluate contemporary trends in art history research and explore the possible historical and contemporary art history approaches in connection with preparing their dissertations
• prepare university semester lectures and seminars, and communicate their experience in teaching students on the Bachelor’s and Master’s level
• prepare research projects and independently lead scholarly research work as part of the actual specialization
• publish both scholarly and popular texts and design demanding exhibition projects
• work within research teams and support research projects in transdisciplinary cooperation with other scholarly disciplines

Graduates of the doctoral programme in the field of art theory and art history can work as scholarly employees in research, university, and museum institutions.

They are prepared for work in teams for research and teaching. They can become specialized and scholarly assistants at the university level, obtain positions as curators in museums and galleries and as specialized employees in museums, galleries, and monument care, and find employment anywhere that requires a high level of art history specialization.

Now, when visual culture and the understanding of it play increasingly important roles in society, graduates from the doctoral programme can also make use of their skills and abilities in a range of additional research and teaching professions, as well as in marketing and on the media market.

Students in the doctoral programme study according to an individual study plan under the supervision of their supervisor. Their studies are monitored and administered by the academic commission and council of the doctoral programme. In the standard programme, which lasts four years for an internal student, students have to earn 240 ECTS credits in all.

Students sign in to the course on an ongoing basis; upon registering, they must earn a minimum of 20 ECTS credits each semester. An individual study plan therefore assumes a rational scheduling of energy and abilities in order to creatively establish realistic goals in the particular semesters in order to achieve regular credits along with the research for the dissertation.

Students have to meet conditions for completing shared subjects at the Faculty of Arts (theoretical-methodological seminar and a foreign language). The art history seminar also organizes regular doctoral collegiums, semester colloquia, and additional selected courses. An increased emphasis is placed on publishing, presenting papers at conferences, and the foreign mobility of students.

Prior to submitting their dissertation, students have to pass the final doctoral examination, ideally at the end of the second year of studies.

The final doctoral examination takes place ideally at the end of the second year of studies and always prior to the defence of the final dissertation.

The final examination should first and foremost test the preparation level of the graduate for scholarly and teaching work in the field of art history. The examination questions are linked with the particular specialization, within which the student analyses the theoretical and practical problem of their dissertation.

The examination is oral and consists of three parts: 1) specialized branches (architecture, sculpture, painting, applied art); 2) a wider periodical basis (history of architecture, art up to 1500, art up the year 1850, modern and contemporary art); and 3) historiography and methodology of art history.

Finally, the defence of the doctoral thesis takes place, during which the students should demonstrate the ability to discuss the issue being analysed in a cultivated manner and with critical terminology. They should be able to react in the discussion with their readers and carry out a general argument.