The evaluation committee
How is the evaluation committee appointed?
- You submit your thesis.
- The department sends you a letter confirming that you have submitted your thesis.
- The department sends a proposal for the evaluation committee to the Faculty, with a copy to you.
- You have one week to submit any comments on the composition of the committee.
- The department’s proposal is approved by the Dean, after which the Faculty sends letters of appointment to the committee members, with a copy to you.
- Normally, no more than four weeks should pass from the approval of your application for evaluation until the committee is appointed.
How long does the evaluation take?
The evaluation committee’s recommendation should normally be available within ten weeks after the committee has received the thesis.
During holiday periods, the evaluation may take longer. The deadline for the recommendation is stated in the committee’s letter of appointment.
If the committee is granted an extension of the deadline, you will be informed of this by the Faculty. If you have not heard anything eleven weeks after the committee was appointed, you may contact the department to ask whether the work is nearing completion. The committee must not be contacted directly.
Possible outcomes of the evaluation
Unanimously positive recommendation
If the evaluation committee’s recommendation is unanimously positive, you will be informed of this by the Faculty once the Dean has approved the recommendation.
A few days after you receive this information, you will receive a copy of the recommendation by post. You will also receive a letter with information about the time and place for the public defence (disputas) and trial lecture.
The letter will also state:
- the date and time when you will receive the prescribed topic for the trial lecture
- deadlines for:
- delivering the thesis for printing
- submitting any list of errata
- writing the text for the defence web page and submitting a press photo (jpg)
Divided or negative recommendation
If the evaluation committee’s recommendation is divided or negative, it must first be approved by the Dean and is then sent to you together with a letter stating the date on which the case will be dealt with as a decision matter by the Appointment Committee at the Faculty of Humanities (in Norwegian only). You should be prepared for the fact that the process from this point may take some time.
When the recommendation is sent to you by the Faculty, you will be given a deadline for submitting any comments on the recommendation. Your comments will be sent to the evaluation committee, which will itself decide whether it wishes to respond to them.
Please note that the comments you submit do not have the status of an appeal. You cannot lodge an appeal against a possible rejection of the thesis until the case has been considered by the Appointment Committee.
The Appointment Committee will normally decide to reject the thesis if the negative recommendation is unanimous.
If the recommendation is divided, the Appointment Committee may choose either to reject the thesis or to approve it for public defence. The Appointment Committee may also request additional expert opinions.
Regardless of the outcome, you will receive a letter with a copy of the Appointment Committee’s decision. Only at that point can you submit an appeal against the decision, if you wish.
A thesis that has been rejected may be resubmitted in revised form no earlier than six months after the date on which the decision to reject was made, that is, the date of the Appointment Committee meeting. You may only resubmit the thesis once.
The committee recommends revision
The evaluation committee may recommend that you be given the opportunity to revise the submitted thesis within a deadline of six months. In that case, the revised thesis is considered part of the first submission.
The committee will then not submit a formal recommendation, but a preliminary statement addressed to you, with concrete suggestions for changes. The Dean will, by delegated authority, decide whether revision is to be permitted, and you will be informed of the decision in a letter. You cannot appeal against this decision.
If you submit a revised version within the specified deadline, the same committee will deliver its final recommendation after assessing the revised thesis.
However, there is no automatic approval of the thesis even if you follow the committee’s suggestions and submit a revised thesis within the deadline.
An extension of the deadline for submitting the revised thesis will only be granted for very good reasons. Having employment in addition to the PhD is common, and is not normally an acceptable reason for extension. The expectation is that you address as many of the committee’s points as possible within the given deadline. However, if you become ill or have a child, you may apply for an extension of the deadline. Contact the Faculty’s PhD coordinator for more information.
If you do not submit a revised version within the deadline, the thesis will normally not be approved for public defence.
In that case, the committee’s preliminary statement will be handled as a decision matter by the Appointment Committee, in the same way as when the evaluation committee’s recommendation is negative or divided. You must then wait at least six months before you can submit the thesis for a second and final time.
How to lodge an appeal
You may appeal against a decision that the thesis, trial lecture or defence is not approved. A reasoned written appeal must be sent to the Faculty.
The Faculty may annul or amend the decision if it finds that the appeal is well founded. At the Faculty of Humanities, the Appointment Committee (Tilsettingsutvalget, TUV) makes decisions in appeal cases concerning non-approval of the thesis.
If the faculty does not uphold the appeal, it will be submitted to the appeals committee at the University of Oslo for a final decision. The appeals committee may review all aspects of the decision appealed.