In order to be admitted to the procedure for the final examination students must:
- have submitted and presented a nearly-final version of the second research paper and the idea and the structure of the third research paper during the Spring presentation session;
- present and discuss the final version of the third paper (with a short recap of the results of the first two papers - no more than 2 slides) during the Autumn presentation session;
- follow the procedure for admission to the thesis review process and to final examination.
If the PhD candidate asks for an extension, the deadlines change accordingly but the steps remain the same.
This procedure includes six different steps:
By the end of the third year and usually by the end of September PhD students may:
- submit the request for admission to the PhD thesis review procedure/final examination
OR
- ask for up to 12 months of extension of their Doctoral Programme.
For further information see https://www.unitn.it/en/ateneo/1932/final-examination
After submitting this request (step 1), by around mid-October PhD students must:
- update the doctoral record including all the activities carried on during the three years and send an email to the Academic Director (and the secretary in cc) confirming the updating
-
submit to the Doctoral programme committee (and the secretary in cc) the following documents:
2a) the thesis title, the thesis index (titles of the three papers) and an abstract of the three papers
2b) the list of the publications and/or papers submitted to journals, if any, referred to all the three years of the PhD programme highlighting the personal contribution to each paper and whether they are connected to some chapters of the thesis. -
decide, with the help of their supervisor, the Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD) of their thesis. This choice has the only aim to classify the thesis without any further impact on the future career of the PhD. It is not necessary that the SSD corresponds to the SSD of the supervisor.
By the same date supervisors must send to the Academic Director (and the secretary in cc): - a short report describing the thesis and its quality. This report should be shared in its content with the co-supervisors and possibly signed by all the members of the TAG
- the name of two referees who have not been involved in the PhD research and who have agreed to review the thesis.
The Doctoral programme committee, after receiving the above-mentioned documents (2, 3, 4), approves the two referees in accordance to art. 29 of the University Regulations for Doctoral Programmes.
By the end of October, the full thesis must be submitted to the Academic Director (and the secretary in cc). The secretary of the doctoral programme will be in charge of sending the thesis, the supervisor’s report and the list of publications to the referees. The referees should send their comments possibily within one month.
When the referees request minor or major revisions, the PhD candidate must address the required changes, send a detailed report to the referees and return the revised thesis to the Programme Secretary. Each referee should confirm in writing that these changes have been made and that the candidate may now be admitted to the final examination for the award of the Doctoral Degree.
In case of positive evaluation of the PhD thesis by the referees (with no revisions or minor revisions) and possibly within a month from the acquisition of their analytical judgement, the Doctoral Programme Committee shall appoint the members of the committee for the final examination, in accordance with art. 30 of the University Regulation for Doctoral Programmes.
The final examination must be taken within 6 months by the end of the programme in accordance with art. 31 of the University Regulations for Doctoral Programmes as detailed here .
The six-month term can be extended if the referees require a longer deadline to review the thesis.
If the candidate is involved in international programmes agreements or in co-tutored PhD programmes (“co-tutelle de these”), the final examination committee and regulations are defined according to the specific agreements.