Final Oral Examination (FOE) of PhD Thesis

The final oral examination (FOE) of the PhD thesis may be scheduled upon successful completion of the DOE. Students must remain registered throughout the FOE process; registration ends only when the final corrected thesis is uploaded to the digital library repository.

The supervisor will select professors to serve on the FOE committee according to the following regulations:

• The committee will consist of four to six professors who will attend the examination and vote on the PhD thesis and the candidate’s oral defense of the thesis. The committee members will include the supervisor(s) and external examiner.
• The FOE committee may not include more than three professors who have been closely involved with the supervision of the PhD thesis.
• The FOE committee must include at least two professors who were not closely involved with the supervision of the PhD thesis. The external examiner counts toward this requirement.
• An external appraiser may be appointed instead of an external examiner. In such cases, the appraiser does not count as a voting member of the committee. Please note the important distinction between an external examiner and an external appraiser:
  • An external examiner will write an appraisal of the PhD thesis. He/she will also attend the examination and vote to determine whether the candidate has passed the FOE.
  • An external appraiser will write an appraisal of the PhD thesis. However, he/she will NOT attend the examination, nor will he/she vote to determine whether the candidate has passed the FOE.
• The external examiner or external appraiser must hold the rank of at least associate professor, or its equivalent.
• The external examiner or external appraiser must have an “arm’s length” relationship with the supervisor and candidate. Normally this will exclude anyone who:
  • Has served as a Master's or PhD supervisor of the candidate or their supervisor.
  • Was supervised as a Master's or PhD student by the candidate's supervisor.
  • Has been a departmental colleague of the candidate or supervisor in the past six years.
  • Has collaborated on a research project, scholarly work, or publication with the candidate or supervisor in the past six years.
• The external examiner or external appraiser must not have served on an FOE committee in ECE within the past two years.
• If there are any potential concerns about the external examiner or appraiser's qualifications or their arm's length relationship with the candidate and/or supervisor, the supervisor must disclose them and submit a letter of rationale with the FOE booking form.
• SGS will assign a professor from outside ECE to chair the FOE. The chair will oversee the conduct of the FOE, but will not read the thesis or examine the student.
• Except for the external examiner, each professor must hold an appropriate graduate faculty membership (GFM) at the University of Toronto. To serve on this committee the professor must typically hold a full, associate (unrestricted), or emeritus GFM; an associate member with restricted duties can serve only if their graduate faculty membership specifically includes the privilege to serve as a voting member of a final oral examination committee.

The supervisor and candidate are responsible for scheduling the FOE in consultation with the exam committee. The candidate should submit the FOE booking form to the ECE Graduate Office (advising.masc.phd.ece@utoronto.ca) at least 8 weeks prior to the FOE (exclusive of the December/January closure).

• Please note that SGS will no longer secure an FOE Chair if the ECE Graduate Office does not submit a formal request at least 6 weeks in advance, and a formal request cannot be made until certain internal processes are complete. Accordingly, if the FOE booking form is not submitted at least 8 weeks in advance, it may not be possible to proceed with the planned FOE date and/or the candidate's supervisor may have to secure their own FOE Chair.

The Graduate Office is unable to process an FOE request unless all of the following information and documentation is included:

• A complete booking form, including the day, date, and time of the FOE.
• A CV for the external examiner, either as a PDF or as a link to an online CV. This document must include information on their current faculty appointment (and year attained) and a complete publication list. Please note: SGS will not accept Google Scholar pages for publication lists.
• If applicable, a statement from the supervisor concerning the suitability of the external examiner or external appraiser and/or an explanation for any potential conflicts of interest.
• An abstract for the candidate's PhD thesis.

Upon receipt of the FOE booking form, the ECE Graduate Office will confirm the examination with SGS and seek SGS approval for the committee. The ECE Graduate Office will notify the supervisor and candidate when SGS approval is obtained. At that time, the supervisor may forward the PhD thesis to the committee.

Students are advised to consult the SGS website for additional details on the final oral examination process.