Award of PhD degree (promotion)
During phase 3 a graduate student should consult and follow closely the protocol for conferral of PhD degree at the University of Twente1.
This is a very formal protocol and must be carefully observed. The responsibility to comply with the protocol rests with the graduate student, although the senior supervisor (promotor) and Graduate Programme Secretary will offer assistance. The procedure involves completing and submitting forms according to a specified schedule linked to the preparation, examination and oral defence of the PhD thesis.
The promotor normally gives close attention to draft thesis and has to be satisfied that it is a work of sufficient scholarship for the award of a PhD degree. Only with the approval of the promotor is the draft thesis sent to the examination committee. The members of this committee are normally required to accept or reject the thesis, i.e., conditional acceptance is not possible. However, committee members often suggest editorial comments which can strengthen the thesis.
Provided the examiners accept the thesis, the graduate student proceeds to have the thesis published. This is carried out at ITC with the assistance of the Graduate Programme Secretary. The research operating costs budget covers the cost of printing 150 copies; a longer print run is possible provided the additional cost is covered from other sources. The graduate student also has a pdf file of the thesis and grants permission for this file to be posted (after the award of the PhD degree) on the ITC library website.
The oral defence is an extremely formal and tightly regulated public ceremony in two parts. First the members of examination (promotion) committee pose questions on the thesis that the graduate student answers. Then the committee withdraws for deliberation. After some time it returns and the second part of the ceremony is the award of the PhD diploma and congratulatory speeches. The entire ceremony takes less about two hours and is normally followed by a reception at which the public have the opportunity to congratulate the "young doctor".
1 Some PhD students that started their studies in 2009 or before will defend their dissertation at another Dutch university, based on previous agreements.