External PhD
Freedom means self-reliance.Those who do their PhD externally do not receive an income through employment at the university. This leads to a wide variety of possible arrangements: you are free to work in a café, the library or another city—provided you make it to the few mandatory appointments. Funding can be provided in the form of a scholarship or a part-time job which may or may not be connected with the PhD. This allows you to adjust the PhD to your own needs. Perhaps you want to devote your time to your young children, maybe you have a job that you don’t want to put completely to one side for your PhD, or perhaps your life is based in a different city than the university where you want to submit your thesis. All this is possible with an “external” PhD—provided you find a supervisor who is willing to support you. But be forewarned: more freedom always means more risk of getting distracted. It is therefore important to plan very carefully from the outset.