[tjr]

E.g. here in Germany, you are required to write a Doctor's thesis (that needs to be accepted by a Professor) and pass an oral exam, but there are usually no required courses.

Any specific examples of this? (In Germany or elsewhere?)

[Nitramp]

Well, you can look at the individual University's pages. Having courses in a PhD, or having something like a "PhD program" in general, is still very rare.

The common model is to take a job as an assistant researcher with the chair of your Professor, work on your PhD thesis and papers 50% of the time, and be treated like cheap slave labour by your professor the other 95% (sic!) of the time.

[mwerty]

Albert Einstein