Nomination of examiners

Upon receipt of notification that a candidate is about to submit a dissertation for examination and after recommendations from the Principal Supervisor, it is expected that a Faculty representative will contact prospective examiners to confirm their willingness and availability to:

• examine a research candidate's dissertation
• complete an examination report form within six weeks of receiving the dissertation.

It is the responsibility of the principal supervisor to ascertain from the candidate whether there is any person or persons likely to be appointed as an examiner whom the candidate has reason to consider inappropriate. The principal supervisor is to take this opinion into consideration in recommending the selection of examiners.

Appointment of examiners

When nominating potential examiners, there will be at least:

• three (3) examiners for all research higher degree candidates. For Masters candidates, one (1) examiner may be internal to the university if suitable examiners are not available,
• plus one reserve external examiner for each candidate.

It is important to note that:

• the candidate's supervisor(s) may not be examiner(s)
• a candidate shall not be informed of the identity of the examiners prior to the final determination of the examination result.

Examiners report

Each examiner is asked to provide a separate report and recommendation on the merit of the dissertation within six weeks of the receipt of the dissertation. Communication between examiners is not normally permitted and under no circumstances will any examiner's details be revealed to other examiners without their consent.

A candidate will normally receive copies of the examiners' reports but an examiner may request that certain parts of the report not be transmitted. Examiners shall be invited to indicate whether, and to what extent, they wish to remain anonymous. If preservation of anonymity is not requested it shall not normally be preserved.