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Defense

Below is a summary of our defense procedures. Questions regarding specific defenses and defense procedures in general should be directed to our Graduate Thesis Coordinator at grad.defense@uregina.ca or 306-585-5378.

Defense Examination Attendees

Below are FGSR’s requirements for defense examination attendees. Some academic units may have additional requirements.

Masters Defense

For a Masters defense to be held, the following must be in attendance (in-person or virtually):

  • Candidate
  • External Examiner
  • Either supervisor or co-supervisor
  • At least one member of the supervisory committee (who are neither a supervisor or co-supervisor) who signed off on the acceptability of the thesis
  • Chair

Doctoral Defense

For a Doctoral defense to be held, the following must be in attendance (in-person or virtually):

  • Candidate
  • External Examiner
  • Either supervisor or co-supervisor
  • At least two members of the supervisory committee (who are neither a supervisor or co-supervisor) who signed off on the acceptability of the thesis
  • Chair

The Chair must notify FGSR if the required number of examiners are not in attendance, as the defence may have to be resceduled.

 

Defense Procedures 

  1. The chair will introduce the candidate and all members of the Examining Committee. 
  2. The candidate will give a presentation that is a brief overview of their research, findings and conclusions (approximately 15 minutes for a Masters candidate, and 30 minutes for a Doctoral candidate). No questions are allowed at this time.
  3. After the student’s presentation, the supervisor or co-supervisors will be asked if the candidate has omitted any major points of the work in the presentation.
  4. The External Examiner will question the candidate. This is expected to be the longest single period of questioning, usually from 30 to 60 minutes. 
  5. The other members of the examining committee will question the candidate.
  6. After the first round of questioning is completed, the chair will ask for further questions.
  7. When the questioning is completed, the candidate, and all individuals who are not members of the examining committee, will be asked to leave the room. 
  8. The examining committee will discuss the thesis and its defense. The acceptability of the thesis and the defense are two different issues. The chair polls the committee, beginning with the external examiner, and asks two questions:

        a)  Whether the thesis:
            (i)  Passes without revision,
            (ii)  Passes with revision,  
           (iii)  Must be rewritten.  

       b)  Whether the defense was: 
           (i)  Acceptable, 
          (ii)  Not acceptable and must be repeated, 
          (iii)  Not acceptable and student fails.

For the thesis to pass (either without or with revision) the External Examiner must agree that it passes; further, at least half of the committee must also agree that the thesis passes.

For the defense to be found acceptable, the External Examiner must agree that it is acceptable; further, at least half of the committee must also agree that the defense was acceptable.

    9. The candidate will be invited back into the room and the decision of the committee will be announced.

    10. The candidate will be asked to complete several forms.

Please refer to the Instructions for the Chair for further information. 

Forms Completed Following a Successful Defense

Required:

  1. Library Permission Form.
    Permission to use post graduate thesis     section grants permission to the University of Regina and its libraries to make the thesis available for inspection and copying.
    oURspace Institutional Respository Licence Agreement     section grants permission to the University to place the student’s thesis in the University of Regina’s repository (oURspace). The student retains copyright of the thesis.
    Theses non-exclusive license     allows Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, distribute and sell the thesis (and other rights too). The student retains copyright of the thesis.
  2. Application for Graduation: 
    You must submit your application to graduate using the UR Self-Service graduation application (regardless of your intent to attend the Convocation Ceremony).

Additional Form, only as required:

Certification of English Standard: This form is included only if the FGSR office has deemed the thesis does not meet an acceptable standard of English and requires revision and verification by a qualified proof-reader. The Chair is to give the form to the student and the student must submit the completed form with the final corrected version of the thesis. 

 

Failed Defense

At the defense, after all the questioning is completed, the examining committee will discuss the thesis and its defense. The acceptability of the thesis and the defense are two different issues. The chair polls the committee, beginning with the external examiner, and asks two questions:

a)  Whether the thesis: 
     (i)  Passes without revision,  
     (ii)  Passes with revision, 
     (iii)  Must be rewritten and re-defended.

b)  Whether the defense was: 
     (i)  Acceptable, 
     (ii)  Not acceptable and must be repeated, 
     (iii)  Not acceptable and student fails.

If the external examiner decides that the thesis passes, then each member of the examining committee votes on if the thesis passes. If half, or more, of the examining committee (other than the external examiner) feel that the thesis is acceptable, then the thesis is acceptable. The only remaining decision is if there are edits. (It is very rare for a thesis to pass without any revisions). If less than half of the committee decides that the thesis passes, then the thesis must be rewritten (even if the external examiner thinks that the thesis should pass).

If the external examiner thinks that the thesis must be rewritten, then the decision is that the thesis must be rewritten (this would be an extraordinary event, since the external examiner has signed off on the thesis).

The same procedure is followed for the defense. If the external examiner decides that the defense is acceptable, then each member of the examining committee votes on whether or not the defense is acceptable. If half or more of the committee (other than the external examiner) decides that it is acceptable, then the defense is acceptable. If more than half of the committee feels that the defense is unacceptable, then then defense fails (even if the external examiner found the defense acceptable).

If the external examiner finds that the defense is unacceptable, then the defense is unacceptable.

If the defense is found to be unacceptable, then the committee must decide if the student will be given a chance to repeat the defense, or if the students fails (in this case the student will not be awarded the degree and will be required to discontinue).

There are two cases in which a student can fail:

  1. If a student’s defense is found to be unacceptable on their second attempt;
  2. If the external examiner and the committee agree unanimously that the student should fail.

Otherwise, the student whose defense is found to be unacceptable will be given a second opportunity to defend their thesis in the following semester.

In an exam with multiple portions, a failure of any portion of the examination is considered to be a failed examination.