At the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Göttingen, the oral defense of a doctoral thesis, the Disputation, is hochschulöffentlich, open to the university public. The committee can allow members of the audience to put questions to the candidate. Two faculties at the University of Bamberg also hold the defense in public, for about 90 minutes.
In Göttingen the verdict is reached differently. The committee decides nichtöffentlich, in private, whether the candidate has passed.