Thesis Examination: Doctoral and MPhil Examination

Chapter 7 of the Handbook provides detailed information on the policies governing doctoral and MPhil thesis examination, and you are advised to read it. This section provides complementary information and answers to frequently asked questions.

Master of Philosophy Examination

The subject/ other components of the program must be completed before the thesis is submitted.

Doctoral examination procedures shall normally apply, including procedures which operate when there is a difference of opinion between examiners. A difference is that one of the two examiners may be internal to Monash University.

Sending of Thesis

Theses are couriered to overseas examiners and mailed by registered post within Australia. The Examinations unit staff check that examiners have received their thesis copy. If a copy happens to go astray in the mail system, a new thesis is sent out as soon as possible.

Examiner Report Deadline

Examiners are given 8 weeks in which to submit their reports, or longer if they require extra time. Examinations unit staff will inform candidates and supervisors of any extended deadlines.

We keep track of examiners who are late submitting their reports and we follow them up on a fortnightly basis. Any problematic cases will be taken to our Steering Committee for discussion on how best to manage them. In some cases, the supervisor may be permitted by MRGS to contact the examiner to find out when the report can be expected.

Heavy workload and professional travelling commitments are the most common causes for examiners needing more than eight weeks. 

Result

On receipt of both reports, a copy of each is sent to the candidate, supervisor and Head of Department/Graduate Coordinator with a memo of instruction regarding the next stage of the examination, which will vary depending on the two examiner recommendations. In some cases, the faculty representative on the Research Graduate School Committee (RGSC) (who is usually an Associate Dean, Research/ Graduate Studies) will also be involved. The following recommendations are available on the report form (this sample is available for your information):

• Pass
• Pass – Amendments to Head of Department
• Pass – Amendments to Examiners
• Pass – Questions
• Revision and Resubmission
• Fail

Instructions to candidates will be one of the following:

Pass:  If both examiners recommend that the thesis be passed without corrections, then no further action is required by the candidate for the award of degree to be ratified by the MRGS Steering Committee. However, even where a pass without corrections has been indicated, it is RGSC policy that all typographical errors noted by examiners should be corrected before ratification of the award of degree can be made.  In such cases, the supervisor’s endorsement of the typographical corrections by email or on the form provided is also required.

Amendments to the Satisfaction of the Head of Department/Graduate Coordinator:If amendments to the thesis are required, these should be inserted in all available copies of the thesis, either by using pasted errata sheets or by rebinding. >>see Insertion of Amendments. Thesis copies can be collected for correction from MRGS once the candidate has been formally requested to do so. Candidates are given one month to return amended thesis copies to MRGS. Ratification of the award of degree for these candidates is considered at the weekly Steering Committee meeting once the amended thesis copies, together with the form certifying the amendments, have been received by MRGS. If the Head of Department/Graduate Coordinator has also acted as a supervisor, then the form must be signed by a Deputy.

Review of Amendments by Examiner:In cases where an examiner chooses to review the corrections, rather than refer them to the Head of Department/Graduate Coordinator, candidates will be given one month to prepare amendments. Normally the candidate will email these to MRGS along with the supervisor’s endorsement. MRGS will then email the corrections to the examiner and give the examiner three weeks to review them. Once the examiner has indicated satisfaction with the corrections, insertion of the amendments into the thesis copies and certification by the Head of Department/Graduate Coordinator may proceed as for the case above.

Review by Examiner of Candidate’s Response to Questions:In cases where the examiner requires a response from the candidate to questions, the reports will also be sent to the faculty RGSC representative, who will consult with the supervisor to ascertain whether the questions are appropriate and reasonable. If they are, the candidate will then be asked to prepare a response for submitting to MRGS with supervisor endorsement. Usually this will be done through email and will then follow the same procedures as the above case. Candidates will be asked to insert a summary of the exchange with the examiner into their thesis copies for the award of degree. If the questions are not reasonable, the matter will be considered by the Steering Committee and the examiner will be asked for clarification.

Advisory Panels: An advisory panel is convened to recommend further action to the RGSC when one or both reports recommend that the thesis be revised and resubmitted, or that the thesis be failed, or where there are major discrepancies or ambiguity in either report.

Advisory panels are given a one-month timeline to report back in, although sometimes there are delays when the relevant members are away. Membership consists of four academic staff: the faculty RGSC representative, the Head of Department/ Graduate Coordinator, the supervisor/s, and a fourth member from a different department within the faculty. Candidates do not attend, however they should raise any concerns through their supervisor.

Panels are generally asked to make either one of the following two recommendations:

Adjudication: where two examiners have submitted conflicting recommendations, an adjudicator is appointed to review the thesis, both examiners’ reports, which have been de-identified, and a defence prepared by the candidate, which does not identify the examiners. The primary task of the adjudicator is to make a judgement on the thesis following its evaluations by the examiners, and s/he is given eight weeks to undertake this. The adjudicator is not asked to act as an independent third examiner. Having made this judgement, the adjudicator is then asked to recommend the next course of action.

Revision and resubmission: where both examiners recommend revision and resubmission, or where the panel agrees with the recommendation to resubmit made by one of the examiners, candidates are then asked to re-enrol for 1-12 months and undertake further work on the thesis. When the due date arrives, candidates resubmit four copies of their thesis for re-examination. It may go back to one or two examiners, depending on the case.

Panels do have the capacity to make other recommendations however these two are the most common. In these cases, where an adjudicator or revision and resubmission are recommended, then the examination is likely to take considerably longer to finalise than the average time of six months. The advisory panel reconvenes once an adjudicator’s report has been received, and also where reports on a revised thesis have been received.

Fail: an advisory panel can recommend the thesis fail only where both examiners, or the adjudicator and one examiner, have recommended this.

Contacts during the Examination

We will contact you when your reports are in or if there are expected delays. Please be assured that we are following up on your examination.

If you have any queries with regard to the progress of your examination please contact us.

Managing Your Expectations

We appreciate that examination can be a stressful time for candidates who would like to complete this phase of their life and move on with the following one. MRGS has extensive experience with thesis examination, and we have developed a system that aims to deal with examinations as expediently and as carefully as possible.  At any given time we are dealing with over 300 candidates, their supervisors, and over 600 examiners. While we monitor and actively follow up late reports, we cannot guarantee that your examination will be concluded within a predetermined timeframe.

This section of our website is designed to give you as much information as you need in order to develop an understanding of the examination process. We would also like you to look at the average examination times from thesis submission through to the award of degree, so that you can factor this into your plans.

Post Examination

Once your degree has been awarded at our weekly RGSC Steering Committee, you will be sent a letter of confirmation. You will also be able to obtain a copy of your updated academic transcript from Student Services for a small fee.

Graduation

The award of degree also means that you are eligible to graduate. Applications to graduate should be made at least 1 month prior to the ceremony through the Graduations Unit at www.monash.edu.au/graduations/. You are unable to use the doctoral title until you have graduated.

Thesis Distribution

Once your degree has been awarded, we verify copyright notices are present in your final thesis copies and add the date of your award of degree. The thesis hard copies are then distributed as follows:

• Matheson Library (for archiving)
• you
• your academic unit
• your supervisor

You are welcome to collect your thesis copy and that of your supervisor in person - please contact us to arrange this. Otherwise your thesis copy will be mailed to you by registered post. Any unamended thesis copies will be returned to you or disposed of by us in confidential waste at your request. We can insert copyright stickers in additional thesis copies upon request. If an examiner has requested a thesis copy, you are now permitted to contact them to discuss this. If a thesis copy has not yet been returned, we will keep track of it and return it to its destination when it arrives.