Award of PhD degree (promotion)
The actions derived from the protocol (see doctoral regulations of the University of Twente; please note that the Dutch version is the authoritative text) and adopted by the Academic Board of ITC are to be carried out as follows:
- Promotor accepts manuscript of candidate and invites members of the examining committee for assessing the thesis and attending the defence (as a member of the opposition) (composition according to the UT protocol, chapter 7 and annex 5).
- Promotor asks Graduate Programme secretary for a date and secretary selects a limited number (two or three) possible dates from the list of the College van Promoties (CvP), University of Twente, and informs the promotor. Note: These dates are not yet fixed, and may be occupied by other candidates.
- Promotor selects date based on availability of all committee members and informs Graduate Programme secretary. Note: Members of the reading/examining committee should be aware that they are required to be present at the graduation ceremony.
- Graduate Programme secretary sends the following completed forms to College van Promoties, with copies to the promotor:
1. Aanwijzing promotor (including MSc degree of candidate and Nuffic statement if required)
2. Aanvraag promotiedatum
3. Samenstelling promotiecommissie (this may be sent later).
Note: Samenstelling promotiecommissie should contain the addresses of all members on the reverse side for correspondence College van Promoties. - College van Promoties confirms date to Graduate Programme secretary, and date is published on the list of graduations, which is updated monthly. Secretary informs promotor of fixed date.
- College van Promoties and Graduate Programme secretary determine the necessary deadlines: at least six weeks for the reading committee to assess the manuscript and at least six weeks for printing and distribution, so in total 12 weeks before graduation date.
- College van Promoties sends (standard) letter to committee members and promotor, with copy to the Graduate Programme secretary. Note: Reactions should be formally addressed to the dean, but in practice the reply e-mail address is that of the secretary.
- Graduate Programme secretary sends manuscript to the committee members at approximately the same time as the College van Promoties letter is sent. (Note: It is unfortunately not possible to send the College van Promoties letter and manuscript physically together.)
- Reactions are received by the Graduate Programme secretary (as delegate of the dean). In a case where committee members have not replied or have replied to the wrong address, they are reminded by the secretary.
- When all reactions have been received and are positive, the Graduate Programme secretary sends the title page and reverse side to the College van Promoties for approval. Next the secretary makes a last check of the manuscript and submits it together with the cover (to be designed beforehand by student support) for printing.
Additional remarks
The promotor gives close attention to the draft thesis and has to be satisfied that it is a work of sufficient academic level 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 required to accept or reject the thesis (i.e. conditional acceptance is not possible). They are requested to return a form with their judgment only. Committee members may suggest some editorial corrections. Besides this, it is not permitted to edit the manuscript other than for typographical errors.
The research operating costs budget should cover the cost of printing 100 copies; a longer print run is possible provided the additional cost is covered from other sources. The graduate student also prepares a PDF file of the thesis and grants permission for this file to be posted (after award of the PhD degree) on the ITC library website.
The oral defence is an extremely formal and tightly regulated public ceremony. The attire of the doctoral candidate and any assistants is expected to be in accordance with the value the university attaches to this ceremony. The ceremony is conducted in two parts, preceded by a short (15-minute) public presentation of the main results by the doctoral candidate. The members of the 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 than about two hours and is normally followed by an informal reception at which the public have the opportunity to congratulate the “young doctor”.