After the viva

Thank you for acting as an external examiner. Please see the below for information on potential additional duties after the viva, depending on the viva outcome, as well as how to claim your expenses.

Additional duties after the viva

Referred thesis

If the outcome of the viva is ‘Referred thesis’ then the maximum timeframe for re-submission of the thesis is 12 months. Regardless of whether a second oral examination is required, the revised thesis must be re-examined by both the Internal and External Examiners. 

The Doctoral Researcher will re-submit their thesis to the Doctoral College Office, and they will send the Examiners the re-submitted thesis for examination. If a second oral examination is required, this will be arranged by the Independent Chair, who will be appointed and approved by the Director of Doctoral Programmes. 

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Examiners should complete a Preliminary Report Form after reading the re-submitted thesis. This should be completed before the viva (if one is required), or the Examiners meeting (if there is no viva) to discuss the Referred thesis outcome.   

New Joint Report Forms are to be submitted by the Examiners confirming the outcome. For a Referred thesis, the possible outcomes available to examiners are: 

• Pass: no amendments 

• Pass: minor amendments 

• Pass: modest amendments 

• Recommend award of MPhil with no amendments 

• Recommend award of MPhil with minor amendments  

• Recommend award of MPhil with modest amendments  

• Fail: no award made and no re-submission permitted 

The Joint Report Forms should be returned to the Doctoral College Office. Joint Report Forms should normally be returned within 10 working days of the viva (if there is one) or within 3 months of receiving the re-submitted thesis (if there is no viva) 

Checking amendments

In most cases at Loughborough, the Internal Examiner is responsible for checking that the post-viva amendments have been correctly completed by the candidate. In some cases, however, the University may ask the External Examiner to consider the amendments and confirm that they are satisfactory. In these cases, the Doctoral College Office will make this request.

Expense claims

Once you have completed the viva process, please submit your expenses form. The Expenses Claim Form can be found below and includes information on what can be claimed.