The schedule of state examinations and dissertation defence

The path to Ph.D. graduation is lined with a series of milestones: the State Doctoral Examination, the Internal Defence and the final Dissertation Defence.   

Doctoral State Examination

At the beginning of the the 5th semester of studies, students register for the Doctoral State Examination and undergo the examination during the semester. 

Please note that the prerequisite for the PhD examination is the completion of the course RLDrA09 Draft Article! The role of this prerequisite is to check that you have submitted your journal article for review well in advance, so that you don't encounter problems with meeting the requirement of its actual publication before the defence.

Advanced draft, internal defence, and final version of the dissertation

In the 6th semester of studies, students register for RLDrA12 Doctoral Seminar IV: Advanced Dissertation Draft and submit an advanced version of their dissertation for internal (mock) defense during the exam period.

In the 7th semester of studies, students register for RLDrA14 Doctoral Seminar V: Internal Review and Dissertation Submission. In this course, the supervisor and a designated internal reviewer read the thesis and give feedback to students regarding the completion of the thesis at the internal defense.

The internal defence takes place physically, online or in a hybrid mode, and roughly follows the form of the actual defense.

Having received this feedback, the student then completes the dissertation and submits the final version by January 31 (autumn semester) or August 31 (spring semester). (These are mandatory dates for the study programme, it is not just a question of requirements of a specific course.)

Dissertation defence

In the last semester of study, at a date determined by the chair of the Study Programme, the dissertation defense is held.