PhD graduation procedure

The general principles governing the PhD final examination are established in Art.18 of the SISSA Statute. A PhD student must defend its research work in front of an examination committee composed by a minimum of two Faculty Members and two External Examiner-Opponent. For each candidate, the name of the External Examiner-Opponent will be proposed to the Faculty by the student’s supervisor. A PhD thesis presenting results of the candidate’s research has to be given to the External Examiner approximately six weeks before the final dissertation, unless otherwise agreed between the External Examiner and the Supervisor. The External Examiner will review the thesis and suggest corrections if any. After implementing the corrections based on the External Examiner’s review, the thesis will be distributed to the members of the examination committee at least one week before the examination date. The exam consists in a public seminar followed by a discussion. The exam is not a formality as a small but non negligible number of students may fail to pass it. A copy of the final approved thesis will be finally posted on the web.