The thesis defense is public and consists of a presentation of 40-45 min, followed by a discussion of 20-60 min.
Examiners are:
(1) the thesis advisor,
(2) the co-referee, and
(3) GHS representative who is also charing the thesis defense.
The examiners agree immediately on the assessment of the thesis defense and communicate it to the candidate. It is recorded on the Thesis Defense Record (DOCX, 906KB) and submitted to the GHS office by the GHS representative. If both the Thesis advisor and the Co-thesis advisor participate, they express one common grade.
The final assessment is summarized on the Graduation Record and is obtained as defined in the «Rules» of the GHS («Promotionsreglement (PDF, 426KB)»), Art. 16.
The doctoral student must attend the defense in person, with at least one examiner present in person. The GHS must be informed in advance if one or more examiners attend the defense online.
GHS Representatives and mentors chairing defenses
Please note that the GHS does not assign the representative/chair for the defense nor coordinate the defense date with them. The PhD student has to contact all examiners independently.
For students that belong to the Expert Committee III the chair of the defense should be the mentor. The mentor assigned at the beginning of the PhD can remain in this role and chair the thesis defense, even if she or he leaves the GHS Expert Committee in the meantime.
For students of Expert Committeees I and II the GHS representative/chair should be a member of the corresponding committee. You can see the current list of the expert committee members here.