Defense and Graduation
Determine Graduation Target – June or November
For June graduation
Apply to graduate between Dec. 15 – Feb. 28 on the Student Service Centre
Students will defend their thesis any time after September and before April. The final thesis must be approved by graduate studies and uploaded no later than April 15th.
For November graduation
Apply to graduate between June 15 – August 31 on the Student Service Centre
Students will defend their thesis any time after April but before August. The final thesis must be approved by graduate studies and uploaded no later than August 31st.
Defence and Formatting Process
The graduating student should make an appointment with Ms. Tingstad to go over the processes to initiate the defence and thesis formatting requirements. A sample thesis format is available on line.
Examination Arrangements
The student or supervisor is required to submit an electronic copy of the thesis and the following forms to Ms. Tingstad. She will complete the thesis defence announcement form.
Masters Thesis Recommendation for Examination Form
Masters Examining Committee Form (the external examiner is sourced by the supervisor.).
Academic degree plan
Once the external examiner has been approved the Associate Director: Graduate Studies and Research, they will send hte electronic copy of the thesis to the extrenal examiner.
The supervisor will schedule defence (coordinating with all examining committee members and the Associate Director: Graduate Studies and Research) for not less than 2 weeks from the date the extrenal examiner receives a copy of the thesis. If special circumstances occur such as distance participation this must be taken into consideration during scheduling.
The Examination
The student will give Ms. Tingstad the following forms to give to the defnce chair:
Report of Final Master’s Thesis Oral Examination and comments form,
Master’s Thesis and Program Completion Form
The M.A.SC. defence is open to the public. The examination chair will begin the defence with introductions of the committee members. The chair will then briefly explain the defence procedures as follows:
1. The student will present a 20 to 30 minute summary of their research.
2. A brief period of questions from the audience.
3. An initial round of questions from the committee, beginning with the external examiner. Each examiner may take up to 15 minutes.
4. The members of the public will be asked to leave.
5. The committee will have a second round of questions (again 15 min each).
6. The student will be asked to leave.
7. The committee will discuss the examination results
8. The student will be asked to come back into the room and the results of the examination will be announced.
The examinatoin chair will facilitate collection of signatures of the examiners and give the comments to the student on the comment form.
Final Thesis Submission
The student will make the requested changes (if any) from the committee and provide a corrected copy of the thesis to the supervisor for verification. The signed forms will then be returned to Associate Chair: Graduate Studies and Research who will then send the forms to the College of Graduate Studies.
The following forms must be submitted or accompany all final Master's thesis submissions to the College of Graduate Studies:
Master's Thesis Approval and Program Completion form
Library and Archives Canada
Thesis License Agreement
Electronic submission cover sheet
Depending on the content of your thesis, you may require one of the following forms:
For a detailed explanation of these forms click here
BC Bibliography
Withhold Thesis from the Public Domain
Once CGS has accepted the final thesis the student will be given information to enable them to upload their thesis to cIRcle, the theses repository at UBC Vancouver. STUDENTS MUST NOT REVISE THEIR THESIS IN ANY WAY ONCE GRADUATE STUDIES HAS APPROVED IT FOR UPLOADING.
Improperly formatted theses may result in delayed graduation. Remember to check your thesis carefully and ensure it meets UBC formatting guidelines.
CGS will review and approve the thesis, verify the program requirements have been met and then sign a recommendation to graduate and the student’s name will be submitted to Senate for approval.
You can check your grad application status online through the Student Service Centre (SSC). Login, go to Applications: Graduation, on the left side menu, select the correct degree program, then select the Get/Edit/View Application button.
Please note: The College of Graduate Studies confirms each student’s eligibility for graduation and recommends the names of the successful applicants to be presented to Senate.
For more information on graduation ceremonies, including ceremony schedules, gown rental, and historical data, please visit Graduation at UBC. (Please note there are no ceremonies in November, you will be invited to attend the following June ceremonies).
No student will receive a degree until all outstanding fees have been paid in full.
Fees Payable Upon Completion of Degree
Candidates who have paid more than the minimum installments for their degree will have their tuition fees prorated to the end of the month in which the Dean, College of Graduate Studies, confirms that all degree requirements have been completed. This includes the submission of either their major paper or final project to their department or their thesis to the College of Graduate Studies. Note: Student fees are not prorated. Fees are due in September, January, and May for graduate students.
Last reviewed 
9/1/2011 10:34:50 AM
