Postgraduate Office

What happens after you have submitted your

Masters Thesis: The examination process
explained

As soon as possible after you have submitted your thesis you will receive an
acknowledgement from the Postgraduate (PG) Office to say that your thesis has
been received. You should hear within 48 hours. If you have not then please
contact the office by email atpostgraduate-office@canterbury.ac.nz.
o After submitting your thesis you will be sent information from the
Postgraduate Office by email. Please ensure that you check your university
postgraduate email account regularly. If you are not going to be able to
monitor emails please contact the PG Office to discuss options for alternative
means of communication.

As soon as you have submitted your thesis, the PG Office will contact your senior
supervisor to request submission of the nomination of examiners form and the
supervisors certificate. Your thesis cannot be sent out for examination until these
forms have been received.
o Your supervisor will be asked to submit these forms within a week of your
submission of your thesis and, if this does not occur, the PG Office will chase
him/her up to ensure the forms are completed as soon as possible.

You will be asked to complete a Notification of Nominated Examiners Form either

by your Department/School or by the PG Office. This form lists your nominated
examiners and provides you with the opportunity to indicate that you agree to have
these examiners or to raise any concerns that you may have about the examiners
with the Dean of Postgraduate Research. If you do raise concerns about your
examiners the Dean will contact you to discuss these further.
o Please complete this as soon as possible and return it to the PG Office your
thesis can not be sent out for examination until this form has been
completed and returned.

As soon as your Notification of Nominated Examiners Form has been received by

the PG Office, the examiners will be contacted to ensure that they are willing to
complete the examination of the thesis, having been informed of the due date for
the report (6 weeks after they have received the thesis). The examiners will be
asked to indicate whether they wish to receive a PDF copy of your thesis
(increasingly preferred by examiners) or a hardcopy and these are then sent to the
examiners
o In the unlikely event that an examiner cannot make the agreed deadline
your supervisors and you will be contacted to discuss possible options
(including different examiners or an agreed later date for the submission of
the reports).

The examiners are asked to acknowledge receipt of your thesis. Once this has
occurred you will be notified by the PG Office.
o Please note that this notification could be a couple of weeks after you have
returned your Notification of Nominated Examiners Form if one or both of
your examiners has requested a hard-copy of your thesis (sent by tracked
courier mail). Most examiners are now requesting PDF copies, so this
process is usually quicker.

You will not hear from the PG Office during the examination process except in the
unlikely event that a problem has occurred with your examination process.
o Your examiners receive a first email reminder from the PG Office a week
before the due date for their report and reminders (email and telephone) are
then sent after the due date if the report has not been received.
o It is inappropriate for you to contact your examiners while they are
examining your thesis. If you have any questions during this period please
direct them to your supervisor, your Department/School Postgraduate
Coordinator, the Postgraduate Office, or the Dean of Postgraduate Research.

Once received, your examiners reports are reviewed by the Dean of Postgraduate
Research and:
o If the examiners have independently recommended similar grades (e.g., B+
and B- or A and A+) the reports are forwarded to the Postgraduate
Coordinator of the relevant programme/department/school who is asked to
recommend the final grade for the thesis.
o If the examiners have independently recommended very different grades
(e.g., B+ and C+ or A and B-) the reports are forwarded to the relevant
Postgraduate Coordinator who is asked to contact the examiners to discuss
whether a consensus can be reached as to a final recommended grade.
If a consensus cannot be reached between the examiners then an
adjudicator will be appointed who will see both the thesis and the
examiners reports and will be asked to recommend a final grade,
which is binding. The adjudicator will be nominated by your supervisor
and will be external to the University of Canterbury.
If your thesis is to be sent to an adjudicator you will be informed
and will be notified of the name of the nominated adjudicator.
Any concerns about the nominated person can be raised these
with the Dean of Postgraduate Research
o Please appreciate that some time is needed for the determination of a final
grade.

As soon as a final grade has been agreed upon, you will be notified by the PG
Office.
o If you have not heard from the PG Office within eight weeks of the date on
which your examiners received your thesis for examination, then please
contact us (postgraduate-office@canterbury.ac.nz).

Once your final grade has been determined you will need to deposit your thesis in
the UC Library and you will then be notified that you are eligible to graduate.
o There are graduation ceremonies in April and December each year. If you
wish to graduate at these ceremoneis you need to apply in advance; please
note that you can apply in advance of the completion of your examination
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process. Information about this can be found at

http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/graduation/
If you do not wish to graduate in person you are able to graduate in
absentia. This occurs at the monthly meetings of the University Council.
Again further information is available at
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/graduation/

Throughout the period of the examination and grade determination you should
regularly check your University of Canterbury email. Notification of any problems
or changes of process will be sent to you via this email address. If you will not be
able to check this email address during the examination process please discuss
with the PG Office any alternative means of communication.

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