Procedures for the Completion of the PhD Degree

Entrance Requirements | Credit/Course Requirements  | Comprehensive Exam

At least FOUR months before the completion of the thesis, the Research Supervisor selects an External Examiner (and an alternate) who meets the requirements specified by the University. The form for the " A Request for Appointment of External Examiner for Doctoral thesis" must be completed by the Supervisor and must be signed by the Graduate Advisor before it is submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies

Permission to write the thesis

The student's Supervisory Committee must confirm that sufficient work has been done for inclusion in the thesis.

 The student should review the following site:

  Pathology Checklist for the completion of the PhD degree

Committee Approval of the Thesis for Defence

The requirement that PhD Students have an internal defence is no longer required.  It is now replaced by the following protocol:

The last committee meeting before the student may proceed with the university defense may be run in either of the following ways:

1.  It may be held as a committee meeting at which a quorum agree that the thesis has been adequately revised and is ready for the final university defense.  A quorum will be the chair, the supervisor and two other members.

2.  Or it may be run in a defense format if the student and supervisor would like to have it serve as a practice for the university defense.  No new examiners are required and the thesis committee chairman will chair this more informal defence.

In either case, the thesis must have been deemed to be suitable for the University Defense to the satisfaction of all of the thesis committee members and each of them must sign and complete the  Supervisory Committee - PhD Thesis Report . This form must be submitted to the Graduate Program Assistant, before the student may submit the thesis to Graduate Studies.  The committee members should not sign off on the form until they are satisfied that the theis is ready for the university defence and the student should not proceed until they have the signed form from each member and the chairman of the thesis committee. 

After the submission of the PhD Thesis Report

The student is required to submit two copies of his/her thesis to the Faculty of Graduate Studies along with a memo from the Graduate Advisor informing the Dean that the student has completed all the academic requirements for the PhD degree and that the thesis, having been approved by members of the Supervisory Committee, is ready for submission to the External Examiner and the Chair (please see program secretary for memo). If the External Examiner is in North America, a period of  8 weeks is required between delivery of the thesis and the date of the final examination. If the External Examiner is overseas, a minimum period of  10 weeks is required.

Final Examination

The final Oral Examination is conducted according to the procedures specified by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Please visit http://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/final-doctoral-exam/doctoral-examination-final-oral-defence  for information.

The Research Supervisor should, in consultation with the Graduate Advisor, select two University Examiners - one from the department in which the thesis is being written and the other from another department. The Departmental University Examiner should be familiar with the discipline, while the non-Departmental University Examiner should preferably be an expert in the field related to the thesis research.

The Chair of the examination committee will be appointed by the Faculty of Graduate Studies once the date of the examination is set by the graduate secretary.

At least 8 weeks before the final examination, the student will be asked by Graduate Studies to submit his/her examination program to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The examination program is the responsibility of the candidate but it must be approved by the Research Supervisor before submission to Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Once the candidate has satisfied all conditions, he/she should take the original copy (unbound) to the Facutly of Graduate Studies.

In order to be accepted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, theses must comply with the guidelines on the Graduate Studies website at http://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation (Preparing the Thesis and Thesis Formatting Requirements) and must be accompanied by all appropriate paperwork. Please refer to the Thesis Preparation and Submission Checklist at http://www.grad.ubc.ca/forms/?=THS to ensure the appropriate paperwork are submitted.

  1. Provide the department with a bound copy of the approved final version of the thesis.

  2. Arrange for an exit interview with the Graduate Advisor.

  3. When all conditions have been met, the Dean will inform the Senate of the candidate’s successful completion of the program. On approval by the Faculty, the candidate will be nominated for the awarding of the degree. Nominations for the awarding 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.

  4. Failure to complete all requirements for the PhD degree within the 6 year University deadline will necessitate application for an extension requiring approval of the Graduate Advisor and the Dean of Graduate Studies.