Examinations

We hope that the examination process is smooth, but it should be noted that candidates must not contact their examiners independently during the examination process at any stage.

If a candidate has questions regarding the Joint Report or the corrections then they must email their supervisor who will contact the examiners on their behalf and copy their reply to the Doctoral School at doctoralschool@soas.ac.uk.

Candidates should not meet with examiners, speak on the telephone, email or communicate via any other method outside of the viva, both before and after the viva, until the time the candidate’s degree has been awarded. If a candidate contacts you directly please email the Doctoral School directly at doctoralschool@soas.ac.uk so we can manage the situation.

Supervisors are permitted to liaise with the examiners in case the candidate has questions about the scope of the corrections, but not for the purposes of providing material to and from the candidate before or after the examination. This includes forwarding an electronic copy of the thesis. Any official communication regarding the thesis for examination or the amended thesis will come from PhD Manager as automated notifications or from the Doctoral School.

Once your nomination has been approved you will receive automated information from PhD Manager and an email from the Doctoral School outlining next steps and further details. Both of these notifications will include the thesis.

The student's supervisor should contact you after the Doctoral School has dispatched the confirming a time, date and place for the examination. The viva should be held within three months of your nomination and the thesis being submitted. 

The Doctoral School team are not involved in the organisation of the viva, hence if you have not received these details, please contact the student's supervisor as soon as possible.

Examiners are required to complete the following:

• Preliminary report each (prior to the oral examination);
• Decision form (following the oral examination);
• Joint report (following the oral examination);
• List of corrections (if applicable). This will form part of the Joint Report but you can list separately if you wish.

All reports are uploaded to PhD Manager and the Decision Form submitted via PhD Manager. We are unable to operate outside of the system so if you experience any issues from the time of receiving your log in details please contact the Doctoral School immediately so we can assist you.

The Preliminary Report must be uploaded to PhD Manager prior to the viva taking place.

The Joint Report must be uploaded to PhD Manager within three weeks of the viva taking place..

The Preliminary Report will be shared with your fellow examiner(s) via PhD Manager. Please note the student is also entitled to see the Preliminary Reports following the outcome of the viva.

For minor amendments (3 months) either the full examination panel, including the chair will review the corrections; or in examination with an internal examiner, the external examiner may agree that the corrections be reviewed by the internal examiner and the chair. 

For major amendments (12 months) either the full examination panel, including the chair must review the corrections. 

Following the submission on the corrected thesis examiners are required to complete the following on PhD Manager:-

Decision form

This will be sent to you automatically via PhD Manager once the submission has taken place. Occasionally a further Viva will have been requested (though this is not always the case), therefore the supervisor is required to organise this and contact you with the scheduling details. If you have not received these details, please contact the student's supervisor as soon as possible.

Examiner fees are processed once the Doctoral School has received the final outcome of the students examination (following major/minor corrections where relevant). The result along with all completed examiner reports,  Fee Form and, where appropriate, the Expenses Form (on PhD Manager) are needed in order to process payment.

Following the examination, the Doctoral School will contact you with the relevant payment forms. 

Please note: all fees and expenses are paid by BACS transfer directly into your bank account.

For examiners who hold an international bank account you have the option to specify the bank account on the forms.