Oral Examination for Higher Research Degrees

John Kirby

Graduate School

Faculty of Medical Sciences

University of Newcastle

Purpose of an examination

• For the University– To assess and maintain quality– To mark ‘completion’ of the degree programme

• For the Student– Potentially leads to award of a degree– Is an important and memorable life event

• can be a real emotional roller coaster (for everyone involved)

– Excellent preparation for the rigours of life!

Who needs an oral examination?

• All PhD and MD candidates– Students and full-time JRAs need one internal and one

external examiner– Staff candidates require two external examiners

• With an internal chairperson who play no direct role in the examination

• Not all MPhil candidates– Same criteria for examiners as above– Oral examination held at examiners request

• Not only for weak students • With a good candidate can be fun for everyone

Appointment of examiners• See nomination forms on Graduate

School www-site. • Examiners must:

– be cognisant of standards– have subject knowledge (need CV)– command authority– not have played a role in the research– (if external) not have been a member of

Newcastle staff for at least 5 years– be able and willing to examine

Invitation to examine – the examiners perspective

• Hard work for almost no pay!• This is not necessarily an honour

– Not even a valued career move?

• Why you and not someone else?– Are you a ‘soft touch’?– Are you the supervisor’s best friend?

• Will see the abstract of the thesis at the time of invitation

• Think about the thesis– Has the right to REFUSE!

Who does what?• Your supervisor sorts out the details

– date, hotel, time, room, food, drink, etc.• The internal examiner

– Reads the thesis– Ensures the examination complies with Newcastle

University protocol– Ensures appropriate report forms are completed and

submitted in a timely manner– Provides balance, fairness and ensure good

examination conduct– Potentially plays a role during any appeals process

• The external examiner– Reads the thesis– Turns up on the day– Goes home

External examiners

• Usually is the scientific specialist

• Maintains inter-university quality– Report provides important feedback to

Graduate School

• May not be completely ‘up to speed’ with local regulations!

Criteria – all theses

• Should be:– Authentic– Scholarly– Professional– Well-structured, written and presented

• Some examiners are very concerned about the English

• Proof read carefully

MPhil candidates

• Should– Demonstrate advanced knowledge– Have good knowledge of literature

• Theses need not be– As original as a PhD– Worthy of publication

PhD/MD candidates

• Should – provide evidence of adequate industry– demonstrate ability for originality– understand relationship with wider field– thesis should contain material worthy of

publication

Preparing for the big day

Research Student Handbook, page 110

The Preliminary Report

• Regulations vary between institutions • Many institutions require examiners to

independently produce reports before the examination.– Newcastle does this– These can flag up potential problems

before the examination

• You won’t see this and should not make contact with your examiners before the exam.

What will happen on the big day?

• Arrive in good time– Aim for “smart casual” but be comfortable

• Bring your lab books– You may need to show these

• Bring your thesis– Stick in post-it notes to allow you to find the good

bits very easily

• Bring any publications or abstracts• Bring paper and pencils

– You might be asked to illustrate your answer

What your examiners will have done before your examination - 1

• Read your thesis in very great detail• Taken a day away from a busy

schedule• Suffered a long train journey/flight

– Maybe stayed overnight in a (cheap) hotel

• Arranged the examination room– Interview style or seminar?

• Stuck lots of post-it notes in your thesis to highlight areas to discuss (do not despair!)

• Agreed a plan with their co-examiner• Will be aware that:

– Oral examination of a good candidate can/should be one of the most pleasurable academic experiences for all involved

– Examination of a poor thesis/candidate can be very draining for all concerned!

• Will have devised different strategies for both situations

• Will try to put a nervous student at his or her ease with general questions

What your examiners will have done before your examination - 2

Oral examination • Don’t respond to criticism by becoming aggressive!

– But you should defend your decisions – Remember, constructive criticism is the examiners main

job

• Don't answer a long question with a simple “yes” or “no”– The more you say, the better you look (hopefully!)

• and the less your examiners can ask!

• Be up to date with your literature (your examiners will “google” the subject area immediately before the exam!)– There’s nothing worse than an examiner who has found a

relevant paper in last week’s Nature that you know nothing about.

Examination Results

PhD results (06-08)

A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B30

25

50

75

100

Examiners score

nu

mb

er o

f st

ud

ents

At the end (if all has gone well)

• The candidate will be asked to withdraw for a few minutes

• REMEMBER the examiners do not award the degree!!

• The examiners will work out what they wish to say, then invite the candidate back

• They will tell the candidate what recommendation they will make to the higher degrees committee (or other appropriate authority).

• They will smile and shake your hand.

• You phone your mum/dad/significant other…

Corrections

• Make whatever corrections are necessary as soon as you can– One of your examiners will need to approve any changes

• Resubmit 2 copies of the revised thesis to the Graduate School– 1 is returned to the supervisor– 1 is held in the library

• You may wish to make additional copies for yourself (and your family)

Electronic thesis

• It is likely soon that the library will also require an electronic (pdf?) version of each thesis

• This should increase the potential value of each thesis as it will be easier for others to access and read– Also easier to detect plagiarism

Can examiners do more to recognise excellence?

• In many countries, 1st rate PhD students can be defined. – the French system allows PhDs to be awarded as

"honourable (not very good)", "very honourable" (average) and "very honourable with felicitations" (top 5%).

– there is no similar recognition in the UK.

• In Newcastle we ask examiners (on a separate report sheet) to indicate whether they consider the thesis to be in the top 10% of theses they have examined.– A committee will consider this recommendation and

prizes (a nice medal) will be awarded.• We hope this will be good for the student’s CV.

The appeal process

www.ncl.ac.uk/spo/AppealsForm.pdf