PhD defence authorization
After completing the drafting of the PhD thesis and after the favourable report of the person or persons directing it and, where applicable, of the tutor, the PhD student will ask the PPAC for authorization to defend it in accordance with the procedure.
To do this he/she will send a copy of the PhD thesis and of the supporting documentation of the awards not collected in the system to the competent academic area.
The PhD school will establish the procedure to verify that the documentation is completed, that the thesis format is correct and that the research is completely original, for which anti-plagiarism programme will be used.
Once all the PhD documentation has been received and after the competent unit reviews that all the file is complete and correct, there will be a public exhibition period of ten working days during the school year.
After the public exhibition period is finished, the organ designed by the PhD school will value the thesis taking into account the PPAC report and the allegations received, if there are any.
After the valuation of the thesis, the organ designed by the PhD school will decide if to pass or deny the procedures continuity and to assign the research thematic area. After, this organ will value the proposed examining board and it will approve this board, and the public defence will be carried out in three most utmost since the authorisation of the defence, unless justified causes.
Examining board
The PPAC, after hearing the PhD director (and if there is, the tutor) will provide a seven members for the examining board list.
The examining board in charge of evaluating the thesis will be named by the organ designed by the PhD School among the specialists proposed by the PPAC and it will be constituted by three holders and two alternates. Among the examining boards a president and a secretary will be named; and all the members must meet the requirements to be valid evaluators.
Thesis public defence act
The examining board president will call for a PhD thesis defence act, and the secretary will communicate the act day, place and time at least ten days in advanced to the PhD School. The School will then inform the PPAC, the student, the thesis director and will carry out the pertinent publicity.
The defence of the thesis will take place in a public session during the academic period of the academic calendar and will take place at the Spanish university where the doctoral student was enrolled or, in the case of joint doctoral programs, in the terms indicated in the collaboration agreements.
The members of the panel will express their opinion on the thesis and may present as many questions and objections as they deem appropriate, to which the PhD student must answer. Likewise, the PhDs at the event may ask questions and object, and the PhD student will answer all this at the time and in the manner indicated by the president of the board.
Thesis qualification
Once the PhD student has finished the thesis defence, the examining board will issue a report on it and a global qualification following this grading: failed, passed, B (notable, in Spanish grading), and distinction. The secretary of the examining board will draft a minute regarding the doctor certificate awarding, including information on the development of the defence act and the qualification.
If the student requested to achieve the international award on the doctor certificate, the examining board secretary will include in the minute the certification of achievement of the demanded requirements. The examining board president will communicate in public session the qualification achieved.
The examining board can grant the cum laude mention to the thesis if the global qualification is of distinction and there is a unanimous positive secret vote.