17.1 On the recommendation of the examiners and with the approval of the Research Degree Committee, 1 re-examination may be permitted for a candidate who fails to satisfy the examiners at the first examination and this must include an oral examination. Where appropriate, an approved alternative examination, or another further examination may be required.
17.2 The candidate shall submit the thesis for re-examination within the period of 1 year from the date the examiners’ report was issued by the Research Degrees Team following the final part of the first examination.
Unless the revised thesis is of exceptional quality and the examiners agree that the degree may be conferred without a second Viva, all re-examinations must include a second oral examination. The re-examination shall take place within 1 year of the date of this dispensation, however the Research Degree Committee may, where there are good reasons, approve an extension of the re-submission period.
17.3 The Research Degree Committee may require that an additional external examiner be appointed for the re-examination.
17.4 The submission of the revised thesis and the re-examination process shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements for the first examination.
17.5 The candidate shall follow the guidance for submission as detailed in Section 15 and unless otherwise stated, produce an electronic PDF copy of the revised thesis as at the first examination. This should be resubmitted to the Research Degrees Team with RDC-Sub form, and a copy of the abstract must be included in the electronic copy of the thesis.
17.6 The preliminary assessment of the thesis will be undertaken as detailed in Section 16.2. If the Research Degree Committee has not appointed an additional examiner, the thesis will be sent to the original examination team for re-examination against the final report and recommendations approved following the first viva.
The second oral examination should take place within the maximum deadline of 3 months from the date the examiners receive the thesis and each examiner should submit an independent preliminary report to the Research Degrees Team at least 1 week before the date of the second oral examination.
17.7 Where the examiners agree that the revisions to the thesis are of exceptional quality, they may recommend that no further oral examination is required and the degree may be conferred. However, in all other cases a second oral examination must be held and following that oral examination, they may recommend that the degree be awarded subject to minor or major amendments being completed as indicated in the original report and reiterated in their report following re-examination.
17.8 Arrangements for the second oral examination should be carried out in the same way as for the first examinations and stated in Section 16.
17.9 There are 5 forms of re-examination:
- where the candidate’s revised thesis is of exceptionally high quality and the performance in the first oral or approved alternative examination, or further examination was satisfactory, the examiners may agree that the degree may be conferred and no further oral examination will be necessary;
- where the candidate’s performance in the first oral or approved alternative examination or further examination was unsatisfactory and the thesis was also unsatisfactory, any
- re-examination shall include a re-examination of the thesis and an oral or approved alternative examination;
- where on the first examination the candidate’s thesis was so unsatisfactory that the Research Degree Committee dispensed with the oral examination, any re-examination shall include a re-examination of the thesis and an oral or approved alternative examination;
- where on the first examination the candidate’s thesis was satisfactory but the performance in the oral and/or other examination(s) was not satisfactory the candidate shall be re-examined in the oral and/or other examination(s), subject to the time limits prescribed in section 17, without being requested to revise and re-submit the thesis;
- where on the first examination the thesis was satisfactory but the candidate’s performance in relation to the other requirements for the award of the degree was not satisfactory, the examiners may propose instead a different form of re-examination to test the candidate’s abilities; such an examination may take place only with the approval of the Research Degree Committee.
17.10 The timescale for examining a resubmitted thesis shall be the same as for the first examination, with the oral examination being held within 3 months from the date of receipt of the thesis
17.11 Where the thesis is deemed of such high quality that the degree may be awarded without a second oral examination, the examiners must notify the Research Degree Team normally within 2 months from the date of receipt of the thesis, and within a maximum of 3 months.
17.12 In the case of a re-examination, each examiner shall read and examine the revised thesis and submit, on the appropriate RDC Preliminary Report form, an independent preliminary report on the thesis to the Research Degrees Team before any oral or alternative form of examination is held.
In completing the preliminary report, each examiner shall consider whether the revised thesis provisionally satisfies the requirements of the degree, and where possible make an appropriate provisional recommendation subject to the outcome of any oral examination. This report will constitute the basis of any further revisions should they be required.
17.13 Following the re-examination of the thesis and further oral or other examination if required, the examiners shall, where they agree, make their joint report and recommendation relating to the award of the degree on the appropriate form, RDC-MPhil(B) or RDC-PhD(B).
The RDC form must be signed by the examiners with electronic signatures, and submitted by email to the Research Degrees Team as soon as possible after the completion of the oral examination, and definitely within 24 hours of the completion of the oral examination. Where the examiners are not in agreement, separate reports and recommendations shall be submitted.
17.14 The preliminary reports and joint recommendation of the examiners shall together provide sufficiently detailed comments on the scope and quality of the work to enable the Research Degree Committee to satisfy itself that the recommendation chosen is correct.
17.15 Following the completion of the re-examination the examiners may recommend that:
- the candidate is awarded the degree;
- the candidate be awarded the degree subject to minor or major amendments being made to the thesis;
- the candidate be not awarded the degree; or
- in the case of a PhD examination, the candidate is awarded the degree of MPhil subject to the presentation of the thesis amended to the satisfaction of the examiners.
17.16 Where an oral examination has taken place, the examiners shall inform the candidate of their recommendation about the result of the re-examination but they shall make it clear that the decision rests with the Research Degree Committee.
Where no further oral examination has been held because the thesis was deemed to be of exceptional quality, following the receipt of the examiners’ final report and recommendation, the Research Degrees Team shall notify the candidate of the outcome of the re-examination and shall copy this to the supervisors and appropriate Postgraduate Research Tutor.
17.17 Where the examiners are satisfied that the candidate has in general reached the standard required for the degree, but consider that the candidate’s thesis requires some minor or major amendments and corrections, the examiners shall recommend that the degree be awarded subject to the candidate amending the thesis to the satisfaction of the internal and/or external examiner.
The internal examiner shall collate all the examiners’ comments as a Word document and shall produce an agreed list of the amendments and corrections required to the thesis. This should be sent by email to the Research Degrees Team within 2 weeks of the date of the oral examination and once approved, the report will be sent to the candidate and their team.
17.18 The candidate should send an electronic copy of the amended thesis and a list of where the revisions have been made to the thesis, to the Research Degrees Team or internal examiner as indicated in the letter that will be issued following the examination, to approve the corrections within 3 months of receiving the report for minor amendments or 6 months for major amendments.
The internal examiner should notify the Research Degrees Team of their decision by email, within a maximum of 2 months of receipt of the thesis. The final approved thesis shall then be uploaded to the University’s Repository RADAR and the link emailed to the Research Degree Team within 1 month of the date the Research Degrees Team notified the candidate that the revised thesis had been approved.
17.19 Where the examiners recommend that the degree be not awarded, the examiners shall prepare an agreed statement of the deficiencies of the thesis and the reason for their recommendation, which shall be submitted to the Research Degrees Team for approval by the Chair of the Research Degrees Committee. The report will then be sent to the candidate by the Research Degree Team.
17.20 Where the examiners recommend, in the case of a PhD examination, that the candidate be awarded the degree of MPhil, the examiners shall prepare an agreed statement of the reason for the recommendation, which shall be submitted to the Research Degrees Team for approval by the Chair of the Research Degrees Committee. The report will then be sent to the candidate by the Research Degree Team.
17.21 The Research Degree Committee shall decide on the examiners’ recommendation in relation to the re-examination in accordance with the requirements of Section 16.