All examinations must be conducted according to the procedures described in .
The Oral Examination
1) The examination begins when the thesis is distributed to the examiners, at least three weeks prior to the date of the oral examination. The thesis may not be discussed amongst the examination members (with the exception of the Supervisor and/or Co-Supervisor) or the student. The student may not submit revisions while the examination is in progress.
2) The oral examination is normally open to the public but only members of the examination committee may question the student.
3) The oral examination questioning will not normally exceed two hours.
4) The thesis oral examination may be preceded by a separate public seminar, which will not include any questioning by members of the examination committee. If no public seminar preceded the examination the student may be offered an opportunity to give a brief (15 minute) presentation summarizing the thesis in addition to the two-hour examination time.
5) Before the oral examination begins, all members of the examination committee must submit their written and signed examination reports to the Neutral Chair. Written reports are confidential and will not be communicated to the student or other members of the examination committee before the examination committee鈥檚 recommendation has been finalized by completing the final examination form.
6) Examiners, either in person or via teleconference, must be present during the entire questioning process (see Examination Guidelines at ).
7) All examiners must be given the opportunity to question the student and the questions must be relevant to the thesis document.
8) Prior to the oral examination, if an examiner suspects that academic misconduct has occurred in the thesis, they must contact the Dean of Graduate Studies immediately. The examination will then be suspended until such time as the Dean (or designate) is able to determine whether academic misconduct has occurred and what penalties will be applied. Depending on the determination, the examination may proceed as scheduled, be rescheduled, or be cancelled.
9) Any procedural irregularities must be reported to the Dean of the Graduate Studies within 5 working days of the examination date, regardless of the outcome of the examination.