Guidance for the candidate: Submitting the thesis for examination
Intention to submit your thesis
You are required to notify Student Administration at least two months before you intend to submit your thesis. You do this by submitting an intention to submit by email to studentprogrammes@stir.ac.uk.
You will need to submit a thesis title which will be used to give the chosen external examiner an idea of your area of study. This is a working title that can change, with the agreement of your supervisor.
Once you have notified us of your intention to submit, your lead supervisor will be invited to nominate an examining committee. The committee will comprise an independent chair, an internal examiner and an external examiner. If you are a member of staff at the University, with a substantive contract, you will be assigned two external examiners. The examining committee should be confirmed by your proposed submission date.
Submitting your thesis
You should ensure that you follow the guidance on the form and presentation of the thesis as outlined in the code of practice (point 86) and submit a completed thesis submission form along with an digital copy of the thesis to Student Administration. Please note, your thesis word count must fall within the maximum word limit as detailed in point 84 of the Code of Practice.
Viva voce - oral examination
The practicalities
The independent chair will liaise with you regarding a date for your viva.
You will be allowed to take your own annotated copy of the thesis into the viva.
A supervisor may be invited, generally by the candidate, to attend the viva as a silent observer.
Your examiners will have met before your viva begins to discuss your thesis. They will discuss the sort of questions that they wish to put to you and who will lead each element of the questioning.
The examiners need to establish that you know your area of study, that you are the author of the work that you have presented and that you have made an original contribution to knowledge.
A viva typically lasts around two hours. A long viva does not necessarily mean that you are struggling to demonstrate the quality of your research – it could just mean that your examiners are thoroughly interested in what you have to say.
Assessment
The viva is an opportunity for you to showcase your research. Details of what the examining committee will be looking for as evidence that you have met the criteria for you research degree can be found in point 89 of the Code of Practice.
Guidance for the candidate: After the Viva
Recommendations of the examining committee
Following your viva, the examining committee will informally explain the outcome to you. Details of any corrections, amendments or additional work required for resubmission will be outlined – you should be sure you understand what is being asked of you.
The recommendations available to the examining committee can be found in point 90 of the Code of Practice
Student Administration will formally notify you of the outcome of your viva and they will provide you with a copy of the examining committee report.
If you have any queries about the requirements for resubmission, it is important that you highlight these as soon as possible via Student Administration.
Corrections/amendments to your thesis
Corrections or amendments to a thesis are generally reviewed and signed off by a nominee from the original examining committee. You should make the necessary changes to your thesis and submit to the nominated examiner. The nominated examiner will then confirm with Student Administration that the necessary changes have been made.
Resubmission of your thesis
If you are required to resubmit following significant revision then you should complete the ‘along with a digital copy of the thesis. You will be invited to attend a further viva, normally with the same examining committee, within 18 months of the initial examination.
Lower awards or no award
On occasion an examining committee may recommend, based on the thesis and the viva, that a candidate is awarded a lower award.
These situations are relatively infrequent but can be extremely distressing for candidates. Support can be found via student support services
Submitting the final thesis
Once you have been given approval to submit the final version of your thesis, you should arrange to have you thesis hard bound according to the instruction in the Postgraduate Research Regulations point 75-78 and point 100-103 of the Code of Practice.
You must ensure that you have deposited a copy of your thesis in the University’s digital repository (before submitting the hard copy).
You should complete the ‘’ and submit this along with the following
- one hard bound copy to the University library
- an digital copy, which will be submitted to the institutional repository