Thesis/Dissertation Examination Guidelines

Examination Committee Composition

Members of the Examination Committee shall be either 1) tenure or tenure track faculty members with at least the rank of Assistant Professor at UBC Okanagan or 2) appointed by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies according to the guidelines for appointment of examination committee members (see below).

The Masters Examination Committee

The Masters Examination Committee includes:

  • the Chair appointed by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.
  • the supervisor.
  • one or two additional members from the Supervisory Committee.
  • one University Examiner who is from UBC Okanagan, but is unaffiliated with the Student/Research supervisor. The University Examiner is expected to be comfortable reading the thesis from a non-specialist perspective.

The examination will not proceed without all members of the Examination Committee. Members of the committee not from UBC O may participate by distance (videoconferencing or teleconferencing) or submit a written report only.

Defence Chair

The College of Graduate Studies will appoint an appropriate faculty member to serve as Chair of the Defence. The Chair must not be closely associated with the candidate (now or in the past) as a colleague, supervisor, member of the research committee, collaborator, co-author, employer, or the like. Nor should the Chair be a former student, supervisor, or current research collaborator of the student's supervisor(s).

As a representative of the College, the Chair is responsible for ensuring that the exam proceeds according to regulations. The Chair conveys the findings of the Defence Committee to the candidate and to the College of Graduate Studies.

The Doctoral Examination Committee

The Doctoral Examination Committee includes:

  • the Chair appointed by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.
  • the supervisor.
  • one or two additional members from the Supervisory Committee.
  • two UBC examiners from either campus, at least one of which must be from a department/program not affiliated with the Student/Research supervisor.
  • an external examiner appointed by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies from outside of UBC.

The examination will not proceed without all members of the Examination Committee. External members of the committee may participate by distance (videoconferencing or teleconferencing) or submit a written report only.

Examination Participants

Examination Chairs are appointed directly by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

External Examiners are invited to participate only by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies based on recommendations from the supervisor/program.  External examiners are expected to be active experts in the field of the thesis and should be tenured (or its equivalent) at a research institution. All recommendations are subject to final approval by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

University Examiners are appointed by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies, based on the recommendation of the supervisor/program.   Appointment of other examination committee members is by recommendation to the graduate program for approval by the College of Graduate Studies.

Supervisory Committee members participating are recommended to the College of Graduate Studies for approval.

Examination Chair

The College of Graduate Studies will appoint an appropriate faculty member to serve as Chair of the Examination. The Chair must not be closely associated with the candidate (now or in the past) as a colleague, supervisor, member of the research committee, collaborator, co-author, employer, or the like. Nor should the Chair be a former student, supervisor, or current research collaborator of the student's supervisor(s).

As a representative of the College, the Chair is responsible for ensuring that the exam proceeds according to regulations. The Chair conveys the findings of the Examining Committee to the candidate and to the College of Graduate Studies.

The External Examiner (Doctoral Exams only)

At least three weeks before submitting the completed dissertation to the College of Graduate Studies for transmission to an External Examiner, the student's supervisor must submit the form "Appointment of External Examiner for Doctoral Examination" to the College of Graduate Studies. Signatures of the student's supervisor and the Graduate Program Coordinator are required on this form. (Please note that two different signatures are required.)

Guidelines for Appointment of Examination Supervisory Committee Members

The supervisor shall recommend to the graduate program the names of the Supervisory Committee member(s) to serve on the examination committee. 

Preconditions for a Thesis Defense/Dissertation Examination

Prior to the final examination, candidates must have fulfilled all coursework, examination, and language requirements of the degree program. It is the responsibility of the candidate's graduate program to ensure that all of these requirements have been met, and that the candidate's language proficiency is sufficient for the examination to be conducted with full communication between the committee and the candidate.

Timelines for Doctoral Examinations

The College of Graduate Studies requires a three-month lead time for the selection of external examiners. The external examiner must have a minimum of four (4) weeks to review the dissertation. The final exam may be scheduled to take place a minimum of one week after the due date of the external examiner's report. Final exams must be scheduled a minimum of four weeks in advance.

Exceptions will require justification in writing from the graduate program, and the approval of the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Any additional costs incurred as a consequence of short lead times will be borne by the graduate program.

Doctoral Examination Procedure

Thesis defenses shall include a public presentation of the candidate's dissertation or thesis, a question period for examiners, and, if time permits, questions from the audience. The examination lasts approximately two to three hours, and concludes with an in-camera discussion by the Examining Committee.

The following procedures should be followed by the Chair:

  1. Announce the public examination of (Candidate) for the PhD degree.
  2. Invite the candidate to present a synopsis of the thesis/dissertation. The candidate may speak from notes, and may use audio-visual equipment, but must not read the synopsis. The presentation should be 20 to 30 minutes in length, but no longer, and should not be interrupted by questions.
  3. Call upon members of the Examination Committee to question the candidate. The University Examiner begins the questioning and the supervisor should be the last to question the candidate. The Chair should announce the order of questioning before the start of the examination. The Chair should exercise discretion in managing the question period and may, for example, curb hostile questioning or interventions by the supervisor.
  4. Ensure that all substantive questions raised in the External Examiner's report are put to the candidate. This role is assigned to the student's supervisor.  (Only when the External Examiner will not be attending in person.)
  5. Call for further questioning by the Committee and ask the candidate to address and/or clarify any points that may not have been adequately covered in previous rounds of questioning.
  6. Call for questions from the audience (for a brief period of time) if time permits.
  7. Request that the candidate and all persons not on the Examination Committee leave the room prior to the in-camera discussion. A maximum of three members of the Supervisory Committee may participate and vote during the discussion.
  8. Call for an in-camera discussion for the Examination Committee to make recommendations with respect to: (a) the performance of the Candidate at the Oral Examination and  (b) the thesis/dissertation.
  9. Recall the candidate and, in the presence of the Examination Committee, inform the candidate of the recommendations that are to be made to the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. The Chair should avoid implying that a final decision has been made.

Taping, videotaping, or making other similar records of the examination is not permitted.

Chairs of the Examination Committees

The Chair is appointed by the Dean as a representative of the College of Graduate Studies. The Chair is expected to submit a report including the distribution of votes, recommendations, a summary of required changes, and any remarks that the Chair may wish to add that may help the Dean in reaching a decision on whether to nominate the candidate to Senate for the degree.

The Chair's report should be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies, and distributed to all Examining Committee members within one week of the date of the exam.

Examiners' Responsibilities

External Examiners

See the Doctoral Exams section of this web site for the qualifications of proposed external examiners. The responsibilities of the external examiner are set out in the appointment letter from the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. In the event of a negative report from an external examiner, the external examiner will be required to submit, at the request of the Dean, a detailed written assessment of the thesis and the performance of the candidate in the oral examination.

University Examiners

The responsibilities of the university examiners are:

  • to read the final draft of the thesis.
  • to attend the oral examination and participate in the questioning of the candidate.
  • to cast a vote in the final determination of the acceptability of the thesis.

    Judging the Exam and Thesis/Dissertation

Discuss the candidate's performance in presenting the synopsis, in responding to questions, and in defending the work. The Examination Committee must decide whether or not the performance was at the level of excellence expected of a student completing the graduate degree at UBC Okanagan. All decisions must be determined by a majority vote including the external examiner where appropriate.

The committee should attempt to reach a consensus on an appropriate category for the thesis/dissertation in light of the report(s) of the external examiner(s), assessments of the examination committee and the questioning of the candidate at the examination.

Categories for recommendation

Pass

The dissertation is judged to be satisfactory subject to the correction of only typographical or spelling errors. No change in the material content is required. The final dissertation must be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies within one month of the date of the exam. Distinction: The Examining Committee may recommend a thesis with an unconditional pass for distinction. The distinction rating is given for exceptional innovation and high quality and shall be noted on the transcript.

Conditional Pass, revisions required

The dissertation is judged to be satisfactory subject to the need to make revisions. Revisions may be 1) minor or 2) substantive. Minor revisions are primarily editorial and affect only the presentation of the material and only require the approval of the student's supervisor(s). Substantive revisions affect the content of the dissertation and may require approval by one or more of the members of the Examination Committee including the External Examiner.

Members of the examination committee reviewing the changes should withhold their signatures until the revisions have been made. The chair will inform the candidate and examination committee of the procedures to be followed in this case.

When the revised dissertation has been approved, the student's supervisor must inform the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies in writing. Re-examination is not required. The final dissertation must be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies within six months of the date of the exam.

Unsatisfactory

1) The dissertation is unsatisfactory, or

2) The Oral Examination itself is not at the level of excellence expected for a masters/doctoral student at UBC Okanagan.

Thesis/Dissertation Approval Form

Examining Committee members confirm their approval for submission of defended dissertation or thesis by signing the Thesis/Dissertation Approval form. The supervisor must sign or send a memo confirming that all the changes requested by the Examining Committee have been made.

Once the candidate has satisfied all conditions, he or she may submit the original signed copy of the Thesis/Dissertation Approval form along with the dissertation to the College of Graduate Studies.

Submission of the Final Dissertation to the College of Graduate Studies

 

 

 The College of Graduate Studies is responsible for accepting and processing every master's thesis and doctoral dissertation. Specific instructions on the preparation of the final version of the thesis are available at http://www.grad.ubc.ca/students/thesis/index.asp?menu=000,000,000,000.

Please follow these instructions carefully when preparing dissertations for submission. We strongly recommend consulting the College of Graduate Studies for assistance with questions before starting the final draft.

Degree Recommendation

 

 

 In order to graduate, the Candidate must apply to Enrolment Services by the appropriate deadline. See UBC Student Services: Graduation Information for further details and an online application for graduation.

When all conditions for the degree have been met, the Dean will inform the Secretary of the Senate of the successful completion of the program. On approval of the College, the candidate will be nominated for the awarding of the degree. Nominations for the awarding of degrees are considered at the May and November meetings of the Senate. For a candidate to be considered for a degree, all procedures must have been completed by the dates specified in the University Calendar.

 

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Last reviewed 2/15/2012 9:12:01 AM

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