Stanford
Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures

4.7.1 Doctoral Degrees, University Oral Examinations & Committees: Policy

Jump To:

Last updated on:
Monday, March 7, 2022

Summary

Every doctoral student is required to pass a university oral examination, which can be one of three types, as determined by the degree program. Every university oral examination is chaired by an out-of-department chairperson. This policy outlines university requirements for committee membership and responsibilities, scheduling and procedures for the examination, and reporting the results.

Rationale

Why a University Oral Examination?

The doctoral degree is formally awarded by the faculty of the university as a whole, not by individual degree programs. Although responsibility for admitting, educating, and recommending doctoral candidates is in effect exercised by degree programs, the university exercises control over the doctoral degree through general regulations; through the university oral and other examinations; and through the ultimate power of the Academic Council to disapprove the awarding of any individual degree.

The purpose of the university oral examination is to test the candidate’s command of the field of study and to confirm fitness for scholarly pursuits. The student, the degree program, and the university all derive benefits from this requirement that would not be easily obtained by other means. The oral examination retains value first as a teaching experience and intellectual encounter for the student; second as a milestone, a means of internal indication, and a point of contact with the larger university for the degree program; and third as a small but significant unifying force and means of promoting communication between the different, often highly specialized, degree programs of the university.

Why a University Oral Examination Out-of-Department Chair?

The out-of-department chair serves as an impartial representative of the academic standards of the university by maintaining the quality and integrity of the university oral examination.

The out-of-department chair is both a quality controller and an umpire. As a quality controller, the chair's role is to actively participate in the assessment of the quality of the student and judge the intellectual merits of the candidate. The chair is also an umpire whose role is to act as a time-keeper and monitor of university rules and procedures. In order to maintain impartiality, the orals chair may not simultaneously serve on the student's dissertation reading committee.

For the individual student, the outside chair may serve as both an observer and, to some extent, a buffer in the rare case when candidates’ examinations are clouded by intellectual and even political factionalism in their own degree programs.

In addition, oral examinations make the character and quality of programs visible to faculty members from other areas. The appointment of an outside chair provides an opportunity for a measure of outside scrutiny of the department’s academic programs. 

The convention of the out-of-department chair continues to foster serendipitous contact among members of the faculty and helps strengthen the intellectual ties that make it possible to describe the university as a community of scholars. (Adapted from “The Study of Graduate Education at Stanford,” 1972, pp. 76-77, 81-82; and discussion of the Academic Senate, April 29, 1993.)

Policy

Passing a university oral examination is a requirement of the PhD, JSD. and EdD degrees. The purpose of the examination is to test the candidate’s command of the field of study and to confirm fitness for scholarly pursuits. Degree programs determine which of the following three types of oral examinations is to be required in their doctoral programs:

  • A test of knowledge of the student’s field; this type of examination is intended to assess the student’s overall mastery of a specific field of knowledge 
  • A review of the dissertation proposal covering content relevant to the area of study, rationale for the proposed investigation, and strategy to be used in the research; this type of examination is intended to assist the student in refining a dissertation topic and to ensure mastery of theoretical and methodological issues as well as the materials needed to conduct the research effectively
  • A defense of the dissertation presented either upon completion of a substantial portion of the dissertation or upon completion of a pre-final draft (in either case, a draft of the work completed should be available for the examining committee well in advance of the examination); this type of examination is intended to verify that the research represents the candidate’s own contribution to knowledge, and to test his or her understanding of the research. General questions pertaining to the field as a whole, but beyond the scope of the dissertation itself, may be included.

Authority: 

Applicability: 

All PhD, JSD, and EdD degree candidates and programs.

Related Pages: 

4.7.2 Doctoral Degrees, University Oral Examinations & Committees: Implementation

1. Scheduling the Oral Examination

Degree program policy determines when, after admission to candidacy, the oral examination is taken. Timing of the examination depends on degree program policy, on the nature of the examination, and on the estimated readiness of the student. The examination may be scheduled at any time during the year, unless otherwise specified by degree program policy. 

Students are required to be enrolled in the term in which the university oral examination is taken. The period between the last day of final exams of one term and the day prior to the first day of the following term is considered an extension of the earlier term. Candidacy must be valid at the time that the examination is taken. If the oral examination is a defense of the dissertation, the Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee form must be submitted to and recorded by the degree program prior to the scheduling of the examination.

The University Oral Examination form is used to schedule the examination officially, including: 

  • Date, time, and location of the examination
  • Type of examination and title of dissertation or subject of examination
  • Composition of the committee, approved by the department chair or faculty delegate
  • If a member cannot attend the scheduled examination, the examination is rescheduled. 

The university oral examination is typically completed with the students and all members of the examination committee, including the out-of-department chair, attending in person. In some limited cases, it may be appropriate for the student or some or all members of the committee or chair to participate remotely. Decisions to approve remote participation are approved by the department chair or director of graduate studies. Prior to approving remote participation, the degree program should confirm the technology to be used. Should the technology fail during the exam limiting the participation of the student, an examiner, or the out-of-department orals chair, it may be necessary for the examination to be rescheduled.

Back to top

2. Committee Membership

The University Oral Examination Committee consists of at least five Stanford faculty members: four examiners and the committee chair from another department. The chair of a Stanford oral examination is appointed for this examination only, to represent the interests of the university for a fair and rigorous process as described above. In order to maintain impartiality, the orals chair may not simultaneously serve on the student's dissertation reading committee.

All committee members are normally on the Stanford University Academic Council, and the chair must be a member. Emeritus faculty are also eligible to serve as examiners or chair of the committee. Emeritus Stanford faculty, though no longer current members of the Academic Council, count as Academic Council members when serving on dissertation oral committees (clarified by the Committee on Graduate Studies in 2011; see SenD#6535).

Representation from the PhD minor department on the committee is at the discretion of the major and minor departments.

If the oral examination is a defense of the dissertation, the Dissertation Reading Committee usually constitutes the three of the four examiners on the oral examination committee (see GAP 4.8 Doctoral Degrees, Dissertations & Dissertation Reading Committees).

The student's department chair or faculty director of graduate studies may, in some cases, approve the appointment of an examining committee member who is not a current or emeritus member of the Academic Council, if that person contributes an area of expertise that is not readily available from the faculty and holds a PhD or equivalent foreign degree, via the Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members. However, the majority of the examiners must be current or emeritus Academic Council members. More specifically: 

  • If the committee has four or five examiners, only one non-Academic Council member may be appointed to the oral examination committee. 
  • If the committee has six or seven examiners, up to two non-Academic Council members may be appointed to the oral examination committee.

Exceptions for individuals whose terminal degree is not the PhD or equivalent foreign degree may be granted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE). Requests for this exception must be approved and submitted to VPGE by the student’s department chair or faculty director of graduate studies. The prospective committee member’s curriculum vitae and a brief description of their contributions to the student's research should be submitted via email to the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

The responsibilities of the examiners are to:

  • Ask challenging questions
  • Follow the university and degree program guidelines for oral examinations
  • Vote on the candidate’s performance

Back to top

3. Out-of-Department Chair

The chair of a Stanford oral examination is appointed for this examination only, to represent the interests of the university for a fair and rigorous process as described above.

The chair must be a member of the Stanford Academic Council and may be a Professor Emeritus. If emeritus, the chair counts as an Academic Council member. The chair of the examining committee may not have a full or joint appointment in the advisor's or student's department, but may have a courtesy appointment in the department. The chair can be from the same department as any other member(s) of the examination committee and can be from the student's minor department provided that the student's advisor does not have a full or joint appointment in the minor department.

For Interdisciplinary Degree Programs (IDPs), the chair of the examining committee may not have a full or joint appointment in the primary advisor’s major department and must have independence from the student and advisor. To maintain the independence that is the intent of the policy requiring an outside chair, the faculty director of the IDP is not allowed to chair an examining committee for students in that IDP.

The Department of Electrical Engineering has been granted an exception to this policy, whereby “out-of-department” may include a faculty member from another division of the department. The School of Education has been granted an exception to this policy, whereby “out-of-department” may include a faculty member from another program area of the school.

Responsibility for appointing the out-of-department oral examination chair rests with the candidate’s major department. Many departments invite advisors to participate in the process of selecting and contacting potential chairs. The department should not require the student to solicit the out-of-department chair, although the student may participate in selecting and contacting potential chairs. (See July 2012 memo from Richard Roberts, then chair of the Committee on Graduate Studies.)

The responsibilities of the chair of an oral examination are to:

  • Serve as an impartial representative of the academic standards of the university;
  • Ensure that the examination is conducted within university and degree program guidelines and keep examiners aware of both sets of rules;
  • Ensure that the candidate is asked challenging but fair questions (the chair may participate in the questioning);
  • Confirm that one or more members of the examining committee will provide the candidate adequate evaluation after the examination;
  • Vote on the candidate’s performance;
  • Report the examination results and any changes in committee composition on the University Oral Examination Form and return this form to the degree program's graduate studies administrator within five days of the examination; and
  • In the event of a candidate’s failure, submit a written evaluation of the student’s performance to the candidate, the chair of the major department, and the Registrar's Office within five days of the examination.

Back to top

4. Conducting and Voting on the Examination

A portion of the oral examination may take the form of a public seminar, but a period of private questioning by the official examining committee must be included. The examination should be conducted according to the degree program's stated practice, although it should not exceed three hours in length.

At the conclusion of the examination the candidate should be asked to leave so that the committee can confer in private. At the conclusion of the examination, a vote is taken and the chair tallies the votes of the members.

Voting is by secret ballot. Only members of the official examination committee are eligible to vote. Five members of the committee present and voting constitute a quorum. To be eligible to vote, an examiner must have been present throughout a substantial part of the examination and during the final discussion. It is the chair’s responsibility to determine who is eligible to vote. The candidate passes the examination if the examining committee casts at least four favorable votes out of five or six, five favorable votes out of seven, or six favorable votes out of eight.  

If a member of the oral examination committee is participating by telephone or video conferencing, the examiner must convey his or her vote to the chair in secret.

Back to top

5. Reporting of Results

At the conclusion of the examination, the chair tallies the votes of the members and records the results of the examination on the University Oral Examination form. Within five days of the examination, this form must be returned to the degree program graduate studies administrator who records the results.

Any violation of university policy or procedures should be reported by the chair to the school dean’s office for review. 

If a university oral examination committee votes to fail a student, the committee should remain convened to formulate a recommendation for the degree program. The committee may recommend the length of time that should intervene before the student retakes the examination and conditions to be met before it may be retaken.

If the committee votes to fail a student, the committee chair sends within five days a written evaluation of the candidate’s performance to the degree program and the student. Copies of the University Oral Examination form and this evaluation should also be sent to the school dean. Within 30 days and after review of the examining committee’s evaluation and recommendation, the chair of the student’s degree program must send the student a written statement indicating the final action of the degree program.

The committee also has the option of recommending that the student not be permitted to repeat the oral examination, but only if this action has been preceded by a written warning to the student from the degree program that the student has not been making satisfactory progress. In effect, this is a recommendation that the degree program should terminate the candidate. If the candidate is to be terminated, the guidelines for dismissal of graduate students must be followed (see GAP 5.6 Dismissal for Academic and Professional Reasons).

Back to top

Related Content

Related Policies

Related Student Services Sections

Related Information and Forms