Having transferred to DPhil or MSc status and, if a DPhil student, having confirmed your DPhil status at least three months ago, you are permitted to submit a thesis for examination.

Selecting examiners

A thesis is examined by two examiners, normally one internal and one external to the University. Supervisors are asked to suggest the names of two internal and external examiners to the Medical Sciences Board and, as far as possible, to consult with the student to check if he or she has any reasonable objection to any of those proposed.

Examiner suitability

Examiners should be of high academic standing in the appropriate field and, where possible, should themselves possess a higher degree although the latter would not be an absolute requirement.
Supervisors are required to check that the nominated examiners do not fall into any of the categories or circumstances that may be deemed as conflicts of interest.
The nominated external examiners should normally be based within the United Kingdom. Examiners based in other countries can be considered if a good reason is given for their nomination.
Transfer/confirmation assessors can subsequently be invited as degree examiners for the student provided they have not given further assistance to the student between transfer/confirmation of status and final submission of the thesis.
Where a department uses thesis committees, a thesis committee member should not serve as an internal examiner.
The names of reserve internal and external examiners are sought because (particularly in the Long Vacation) considerable delays are avoided if (should the first person invited decline) a reserve can be invited without the need for further consultations with supervisor and candidate.
Neither examiner will be any of the candidate’s supervisors nor college advisor(s).

Application for appointment of examiners

Ideally at least 6 weeks before your thesis (DPhil or MSc) is to be submitted for examination, you should fill in a GSO.3 form (this form is submitted via the My Student Record section of Student Self-Service) and look at the accompanying GSO.20a notes of guidance. You are advised to meet with your supervisor to discuss suitable examiners prior to completing the GSO.3 form.
Upon receipt of the GSO.3 form, the Medical Sciences Board shall decide whether to approve the appointment of the proposed examiners.
The GSO.3 form should be completed by you, your supervisor, the college and signed by your department’s Director of Graduate Studies, before being submitted to the Graduate School Assistants. It is strongly advised that you submit the form at least 6 weeks prior to the submission of the thesis. This is in order to allow time for several key processes to take place:
1. The GSO.3 form will be considered by the Medical Sciences Board.
2. Once the examiners have been approved, the Medical Sciences Board will notify the Examination Schools.
3. The Examination Schools will send the examiners a formal invitation to examine the student.
4. Examination Schools will not send the thesis out until both examiners have provided written acceptance to the formal invitation to examine.
This process of Medical Sciences Board approval and invitations usually takes 4 to 6 weeks. Students should take this time frame into account when scheduling their viva.
In accepting an invitation to examine, examiners are deemed to have accepted the University’s procedures and conditions regarding the examination, in particular those relating to copyright and confidentiality. These clauses, among other purposes, protect you and your work.
Alternatively, the GSO.3 form and thesis can be submitted at the same time. However, the thesis will not be sent out to the examiners until these preliminaries have been completed - i.e. around 4 to 6 weeks later.
Please note: If your thesis title has changed since transfer of status, it is your responsibility to record the new title in the appropriate section on the GSO.3 form. The Medical Sciences Board will consider the new title when reviewing the form.

Request for a time specific viva

If there is a compelling reason to do so, you may apply to have your viva examination not later than a certain date. The date can not be earlier than one calendar month after the date on which the thesis is received at the Examination Schools or after the date on which the examiners have agreed to act, whichever is the later. You can apply for this in the GSO.3 form.

If the Medical Sciences Board is satisfied that there are special circumstances justifying your application and that there is a reasonable period of time to process the application after submission of the thesis, Examination Schools will ask the examiners to make arrangements to enable the oral examination to be held within the period specified.

You should give the Graduate School Assistants as much notice as possible when an early viva examination is needed, preferably by applying for appointment of examiners (GSO.3) at least 6 weeks before the date of submission of the thesis. The examiners, when invited to act, will be informed that the candidate has asked that the examination should be held not later than a certain date and acceptance of the invitation to examine will be on the understanding that they would seek to meet this request. You should note that it may be impossible for an early examination to be arranged in which case you will be subject to the regular procedure.