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Before a thesis may be scheduled for defence, your advisory committee must have a meeting to approve your thesis for defence. For M.Sc. degrees, an email vote is sufficient. For Ph.D., the committee must meet in person. A thesis may not be released to the external examiner until the advisory committee approves the thesis for defence.
As part of your pre-defence meeting, your advisory committee must determine names of potential external examiners.
Committees must recommend at least one name for M.Sc. exams, and at least 3 names for Ph.D. exams. For M.Sc. degrees, the external examiner must be from another department within the university. For Ph.D. degrees, the external examiner must be from another university.
In all cases, the external examiner must have an "arm's length" relationship with the student, supervisor and members of the advisory committee. For detailed information on selection of external examiners, and selection criteria for M.Sc. and Ph.D. external examiners, see Section 5.3.5 of the graduate studies policies and procedures manual.
Upon receipt of the suggestions for the external examiner the graduate correspondent will forward the names to the College of Graduate Studies (CGSR) for approval.
The student must not send a copy of the thesis to the external examiner. This is handled by the College of Graduate Studies.
Once the external examiner has been approved, the thesis defence can be scheduled. There are separate procedures for M.Sc. and Ph.D. which are summarized below. For full details, see Section 5.3.6 of the graduate studies policies and procedures manual.
The graduate correspondent or student's supervisor will schedule a date and time at which all examiners are available. Students must not contact the external examiner. Sufficient time must be allowed so that the graduate correspondent can get the paperwork to CGSR at least 3 weeks before the desired defence date.
The graduate correspondent or student's supervisor will work with CGSR to schedule a date and time at which all examiners are available. Students must not contact the external examiner. Sufficient time must be allowed so that the graduate correspondent can get the paperwork to CGSR at least 4 weeks before the desired defence date.
At least seven days prior to their defence, students must provide a Dissertation Summary (not bound with the thesis) to the CGSR Programs Officer.
