Guidance on how examiners conduct the oral exam (viva).
Before the oral exam, the internal examiner (or independent chair) must check that the student is not on sick leave or on short-term exceptional leave (eg they have an emergency domestic situation or an emergency caring responsibility). If the student is on sick leave or on short-term exceptional leave, the oral exam must be postponed.
The examiners question the student about the dissertation and assess the student’s performance in the oral exam.
The independent chair, if appointed, oversees the oral exam, and provides advice and direction on the University’s regulations and procedures. The independent chair does not contribute to the discussion of the student’s work.
The examiners asses the scope and depth of the student’s work in relation to the relevant award criteria. A doctoral degree examination, for example, will typically be more in depth with a longer oral exam than that of a research master’s examination.
The examiners and the student discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the dissertation with the aim of:
If during the oral exam, examiners suspect that the dissertation contains academic misconduct, they must pause the exam and refer to the policy on academic misconduct for PGR examinations and awards. The dissertation will have passed a plagiarism review through Turnitin before it was circulated to examiners and so any concerns at this stage are likely to relate to non-textual elements, such as the falsification of data.
Observers can attend the oral exam but they are not permitted to participate in the discussion.
Once the oral exam has finished, the examiners meet in private to decide on a recommendation. The independent chair, if appointed, oversees this discussion.
The examiners can inform the student of their recommendation, but they must make clear that the recommendation is provisional until the Research Degrees Examination Board (RDEB) makes a formal decision.
If the recommendation includes the need for corrections or a resubmission, the examiners must produce combined written guidance that specifies what the student needs to do to address those corrections or to resubmit.
Examiners can annotate a copy of the dissertation to highlight minor errors, such as typographical errors. Annotation on the dissertation can be from one examiner rather than forming part of the combined guidance.
As soon as possible after the oral exam, the internal examiner (or independent chair if there is no internal examiner) must send the combined guidance and any annotated copies of the dissertation directly to the student.
The examiners must also copy and paste their combined written guidance must into their joint final report. The joint report itself is confidential at this stage and must not be shared with the student or with their supervisors.
Having early access to the guidance allows the student to make a start on any corrections or on a resubmission, as they do not need to wait until the formal decision by RDEB. The student can complete and submit their corrections before the RDEB formal decision if this is practicable. This is on the understanding that RDEB might decide on another outcome.
A student who is required to make corrections or to resubmit can contact the internal examiner (or the independent chair if there is no internal examiner) once after receiving the guidance to seek clarification on the changes needed. After that, the student must seek guidance from their supervisors.
