Degree Doctorate/PhD

Detailed steps for the submission of the dissertation as well as all necessary forms can be found on the website of Examination Unit.

Brief overview of the steps to be followed

1. registration of the dissertation in the examination office

2. after completion, the thesis must be submitted in electronic form to the Examination Office. The dissertation must be assessed within three months of submission.

3. the guidelines of the Rectorate for safeguarding good scientific practice must be observed and it must be ensured that the online publication does not infringe the rights of third parties. More detailed information can be found on the website of the Examination Office.

4 If publication of the thesis is not possible for legal reasons, it is necessary to clarify with the supervisor of the thesis and with the Dean of Studies whether blocking or partial publication is an option.

5. agree whether the supervisor would like a printed version for the assessment of the thesis. However, this is purely for assessment purposes and is not forwarded to the examination office.

6. complete the forms and send them together with the dissertation as a PDF file to the Examination Office. The following forms must be completed:

- Form for the submission of the dissertation

- Registration form for the ULB

7. the reviewers are selected by the Dean of Studies. As a rule, the main supervisor takes on the role of reviewer. The second assessor should be agreed in advance with the Dean of Studies and is an external person in accordance with the requirements of §26 of the study regulations.

8 The assessments and reports as well as the registration for the viva voce must be received by the Examinations Office at least one month before the defence .

In order to ensure that the forms are up to date, we do not link to them here, but refer to the page of the Examinations Office. The overview provides a quick overview of the necessary steps for submitting the dissertation.

The dissertation is registered using the form provided by the Examination Office. The form includes details of the research project/topic, the team of supervisors and the exposé.

Exposee

The exposé is prepared as part of the course 845940 SE "Conception of the dissertation", must be presented publicly during the course and is sent to all habilitated persons in the faculty. The exposé consists of both a description of the content and a description of the intended procedure (schedule) according to which the dissertation is to be written. If this exposé is not yet available at the time of registration of the dissertation, a preliminary exposé with the same content can be enclosed instead. If the exposé from the course is available, it must be submitted to the Examination Office and will then replace the provisional exposé. See also §28 study law conditions.

Supervisor team

Students are entitled to propose a team of supervisors consisting of at least two supervisors (dissertation committee). As a rule, the main supervisor is a member of the University of Innsbruck with a teaching authorisation (venia doecendi). See also § 26 Study Law Conditions.

Contributing supervisor

The supervisors may call upon members of the academic staff of the University of Innsbruck assigned by the supervisors to assist in the supervision of the students. The responsibility for the supervision lies exclusively with the supervisors.

Examination dates

Students are free to choose their examination date in consultation with the members of the examination senate. The prerequisite for registering for the viva voce is a positively assessed dissertation.

It is strongly recommended to make an appointment with the examination senate consisting of the first examiner, second examiner and Dean of Studies in good time!

Examination content

The final oral examination takes the form of a viva voce, i.e. in addition to the presentation of the dissertation, topics of the dissertation in the overall context of the doctorate are the subject of the examination.

The time schedule is not formally regulated and is the responsibility of the examination senate. For a standardised procedure within the faculty, the following procedure is recommended:

• Presentation by the student on the topic of the dissertation (30 minutes)
• Defence of the thesis 60 minutes (30 minutes per examiner or 60 minutes together).

The defence is public.

Examination senate

The examination senate is made up of three people who, as a rule, must be authorised to teach (venia docendi):

First examiner: usually the supervisor of the dissertation.

Second examiner: usually an external person selected by the Dean of Studies on the basis of a proposal from the first supervisor. In most cases, the second assessor takes on the role of the second examiner. This person must not have been a member of the supervisor team

Registration for the viva voce must be submitted to the Examinations Office, stating the two examiners and their confirmation (signature or email), and stating the room, date and time.

Chairperson: In the context of a viva voce, the Dean of Studies assumes the role of chairperson. The task of the chairperson is to ensure the proper conduct of the examination, including

• Keeping the examination record (sent out by the Examination Office before the examination)
• Opening and sending an invitation link for virtual examinations to the candidate, the examination senate and the examination unit (publicly announced)

Deadlines

After consultation with the examination senate, the defence can be registered with the examinations office from the time the two expert opinions are available or 4 weeks before the desired date (e-mail confirmations from the examiners are sufficient). It is strongly recommended to make an appointment in good time!

2 weeks before the date, the defence must be publicly announced with the examination senate and location in accordance with the Universities Act. This is done by the Examination Office.

You can find an overview of all the forms required for graduation at Curriculum Forms.

• Forms Doctoral programme in Technical Sciences

Or on the website of Examination Unit.

Templates for the formal structure of final theses are available at fileshare.