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McGill.CA / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Thesis / Thesis Guidelines / Doctoral oral defence / Serving as Pro-Dean for oral defences

If you are a Pro-Dean at a defence

First, thank you for your contribution to graduate studies. We appreciate your time and service to serve as Pro-dean.

Guidelines

These are the most recent Pro-Dean Guidelines (including myThesis instructions), updated June 19th, 2023. We encourage you to review the guidelines prior to the defence date.

Important points:

  • Pro-Deans should review the thesis documents and download the Certificate of Oral Defence from myThesis prior to the defence.
  • The definition of oral defence outcomes can be found in the Pro-Dean Guidelines and on the website. After the defence, the Pro-Dean accesses myThesis to enter the Committee’s decision and upload the Certificate. Instructions are provided in the Pro-Dean Guidelines. For help, contact thesis.gps [at] mcgill.ca.
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  • Please note: Formatting criteria should be met for manuscript-based theses, specifically pertaining to the inclusion of bridging text and literature and discussion of findings sections.
    Traditional theses must include all thesis components, but their structure may vary based on disciplinary norms. If you are not familiar with disciplinary norms for the student's thesis and require clarification, please contact the Chair of the oral defence committee (representative of the Academic Unit).
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The Certificate

The Certificate of Oral Defence is a fillable form. Pro-Deans must download the Certificate from myThesis prior to the defence (instructions in the Pro-Dean Guidelines).

For in-person defences: The Oral Defence Certificate should be printed prior to the defence and signed by all members of the Committee after the defence (wet signatures).

For a fully remote or hybrid defence, signatures confirming the final Committee decision will be in the form of email confirmation from each Committee member to the Pro-Dean indicating the overall committee decision ("Passed" or one of three "Not Passed" outcomes). Wet signatures can be obtained from members who are present in person.
The Pro-Dean signs the Oral Defence Certificate on behalf of the Committee, based on their email confirmations. The Pro-Dean should send the Committee email confirmations thesis.gps [at] mcgill.ca, or upload them directly to myThesis.

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