Appointment of Examiners
The Board of Graduate Studies, on the recommendation of the Dean of Faculty, shall appoint examiners. The Board shall appoint three examiners for a doctoral thesis, at least two of whom shall be external to the University. The Board shall appoint two examiners for a master thesis, at least one of whom shall be external to the University. The Board shall appoint three examiners for a research professional doctoral thesis or portfolio, at least two of whom shall be external to the University. One of these examiners may be an industry-based examiner.
Examiners shall be selected as far as possible to ensure that the specialist fields entered by the thesis are covered by appropriate examiners. Every effort shall be made to obtain examiners with accepted national/international reputations in the fields of research covered by the thesis.
Examiners with readily identifiable conflicts of interest should not be nominated. Potential examiners who should be excluded (or decline to examine) include those:
- who have had substantial direct involvement in the candidate’s work;
- who believe they are likely to fail the thesis on the basis of the research paradigm or methodology;
- who have supervised this or another thesis by the candidate;
- who are close working colleagues of the candidate;
- who have co-authored a paper with the candidate; or
- whose own work is the focus of the research project.
The supervisor must not be an examiner. Where the candidate is also a staff member of the university (or has a close association with it), it is strongly recommended that all examiners be external to the university
Supervisors are asked to recommend potential examiners using the appropriate form. Before doing so they shall consult with the student who may make suggestions and indicate preferences. However, students should not be told the names of the nominated examiners. In making the recommendations, supervisors must justify the choice of the person as an examiner. This should be done in terms of the persons position, research record etc.
The recommendation is made initially to the research area coordinator/discipline head/professor and the Sub-Dean (on the appropriate form). If the research area coordinator/discipline head/professor and the Sub-Dean both agree that the examiners meet all requirements and should be recommended to the Board of Graduate Studies for appointment, the Sub-Dean forwards the appropriate form to the Board If they do not agree, the supervisors are asked to nominate other examiners.
Two months' notice of submission is required, at which time the title of the thesis is confirmed.