En route to the Doctorate

Permission to defend a dissertation in a public examination and appointment of the examiners

The Faculty Council will appoint the pre-examiners of a doctoral dissertation. The doctoral candidate and the professor in the discipline must agree, in good time before the Faculty Council meets, on the submission of the dissertation for examination.

The doctoral candidate will submit the dissertation manuscript (in two or three copies) to the office of his or her faculty or department, which will provide the candidate with detailed instructions for subsequent procedure. Some of the practicalities (for example, language revision) vary according to faculty. However, all doctoral candidates must write a short English-language abstract of their dissertation no later than at the pre-examination stage.

If a doctoral candidate has not completed the Licentiate degree, he or she must submit information on the completion of studies included in the postgraduate degree to the faculty or departmental office.

The Faculty Council will appoint pre-examiners (usually two) for the dissertation; the doctoral candidate may object to these appointments.

Within three months of their appointment, the pre-examiners will submit reasoned written statements proposing that the right to defend the dissertation at a public examination be granted or denied. The doctoral candidate may respond to the pre-examiners' statements.

On the basis of the above-mentioned statements, the Faculty Council will decide whether to grant the doctoral candidate the right to defend the dissertation.