Since 1990 the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) has been funding PhD courses (Graduiertenkollegs) at selected universi­ ties in the Federal Republic of Germany. TU Berlin has been one of the first universities joining that new funding program of DFG. The PhD courses have been funded over aperiod of 9 years. The grant for the nine years sums up to approximately 5 million DM. Our Grnduiertenkolleg on Communication-based Systems has been assigned to the Computer Science Department of TU Berlin although it is a joined effort of all three universities in Berlin, Technische Uni­ versität (TU), Freie Universität (FU), and Humboldt Universität (HU). The Graduiertenkolleg has been started its program in October 1991. The professors responsible for the program are: Hartmut Ehrig (TU), Günter Hommel (TU), Stefan Jähnichen (TU), Peter Löhr (FU), Miroslaw Malek (RU), Peter Pep­ per (TU), Radu Popescu-Zeletin (TU), Herbert Weber (TU), and Adam Wolisz (TU). The Graduiertenkolleg is a PhD program for highly qualified persons in the field of computer science. Twenty scholarships have been granted to fellows of the Graduiertenkolleg for a maximal period of three years. During this time the fellows take part in a selected educational program and work on their PhD thesis.