Doctoral Examination
Preparation
The last 8 - 9 months before your doctoral examination.
In addition to the various chapters hereunder, covering all preparatory steps at D-BAUG plus the actual implementation of your doctoral examination, our colleagues of the Central Dr-Admin (Academic Services, formerly Rectorate) organise 2 events that make your last phase at ETH easier.
An important detail before you even start wrapping-up: the title page of your thesis.
Check out these parameters.
NEW !!
Please get them approved all at once, around 8 - 9 months prior to your doctoral examination.
(Earlier requests for single nominations will no longer be processed.)
- Why?: Only that late in your doctorate will you know for sure who remained totally independent and who happended to publish with you after all and thus ceases to be independent.
- When?: On the occasion of one of the 4 annual meetings of the "Doctoral Committee D-BAUG".
Please observe cut-off days for meetings of the "Dr-Committee".
Overview
The examination committee comprises the following minimum number of experts, based on the criteria listed in the table below:
- chairperson
- doctoral thesis supervisor as examiner
- two independent and external co-examiners, i.e. from outside ETH and without any co-authorship or involvement in the project of the doctoral student
Please note:
Your Second Advisor can also be a co-examiner, but she/he needs to get approved to assume this extra role. He/she cannot, however, fulfill the requirement "independent".
To Do
- To get external experts nominated, use this online form.
- For internal experts (ETH Domain: ETH, Eawag, Empa, PSI), send an email to .
- Remember to think about this additional role for your Second Advisor.
Requirements for Co-Examiners: effective from 01.01.2024, for all doctoral examinations
Note: If wished for, your 2nd Advisor may also become a co-examiner. A separate nomination via the online form is necessary.
Legal Sources:
Art. 11: Detailed Stipulations D-BAUG
Art. 40, 3b: ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate
Art. 11.3, c: Rector’s Implementation Provisions for the ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate
In case any questions remain, please contact .
As a 1st priority, your chairperson must be the Director of Studies for the field of research of your doctoral thesis.
Only if she/he is unavailable, may you, as a 2nd priority, contact his or her deputy.
How to proceed:
- Email 2 possible exam dates (previously agreed upon with your entire Examination Committee) to your chairperson.
- Upon his/her response, please confirm final exam date via Outlook invitation to your chairperson and, possibly, to the entire committee.
- Well ahead of time, discuss examination mode with your thesis supervisor and the other members of your examination committee.
- Organize a suitable room (big enough to accommodate audience of on-site or hybrid examination mode).
- Plan video conference well ahead and in cooperation with the service desk of ID-Multimedia Service (ID MMS) through using their online form.
- 3 months prior, communicate final exam details to Doctoral Administration D-BAUG via this online form.
In case you receive your Zoom details later, please make sure to provide them to the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG.
If something changes in the examination planning, there is no need to fill in the online form again!
Simply dig out the confirmation you received after you had submitted the online form. Add Zoom link, new starting hour, new room etc. and forward it as an . -- Thereby, you help ensure that all relevant exam information is correctly available in one spot. Thank you very much!
To Do
3 - 4 months before your doctoral examination:
- finalize your LAG and get it confirmed by your thesis supervisor
- submit LAG in myStudies (via button) before getting the 12 credit points confirmed
(on Downloadregistration form (PDF, 886 KB) for your doctoral examination) - send registration form (upper part filled in) to for confirmation of credits
Remember: This is just the credit point confirmation.
You need to register for your doctoral examination with Academic Services.
See separate Tab "Registration for Doctoral Examination".
Legal Basis
Implementation Provisions, Art. 10 onwards (German version is legally binding).
- Submit a pdf-version of your doctoral thesis as an attachment or via Polybox to , 8 weeks prior to your doctoral examination day. This deadline is strict!
- Attach form DownloadDeclaration of Your Personal Contribution (PDF, 199 KB) in your email or include it in the Polybox folder.
- Please also list all current email addresses of your committee members. Thanks!
Upon submission of your pdf, the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG sends out a request for all written reports. Your Examination Committee then has 5 weeks to produce their report, i.e. submission is 3 weeks prior to your examination date.
Last but not least, in preparation for the Dept. Conference, where your promotion request will be approved, kindly provide the following two attachments to your submission email or your Polybox link. Thank you so much!
- a ppt slide according to Downloadthis template (PPTX, 593 KB)
- a pdf, comprising the title page of your thesis and the abstract
Your Examination Date
- Your examination date is confirmed once the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG has received all reports and they are positive.
- The official invitation to your doctoral examination is sent out to you and all members of the Examination Committee as well as the D-BAUG Department Conference around 10 days prior to your examination date. Occasionally, though, this timeframe cannot be met. -- But rest assured that the D-BAUG Doctoral Administration is "chasing" your committee members for their reports if need be.
The Reports:
The following information on written reports for ETH is made available to the Examination Committee:
This is done with the Doctoral Administration of Academic Services, no later than 15 working days before your examination date.
Theoretically, once you've submitted your exam version to the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG, you may register for your doctoral examination from that day onwards.
Implementation
Since 1 July 2016, the doctoral examination at D-BAUG is semi-public.
All elements surrounding this event are outlined in the Detailed Stipulations D-BAUG, Art. 13.
Please note that the German version is legally binding.
Finalization
After your doctoral examination, you will have to go through the following process until you receive your doctoral certificate.
There are 3 ways to pass your doctoral examination:
- without reservation
- with formal corrections
- with corrections to content
In very rare cases, it happened that someone did not pass his/her doctoral examination.
In the event that your examination committee has suggestions for corrections or changes, you’ll be informed accordingly after your doctoral examination.
The extent of this work, if any, is decisive for the date of the D-BAUG Department Conference (DK, 4x/year) at which your promotion request will be approved.
In other words: It may well happen that your promotion request can only be approved at the Department Conference after next. This approval, however, must not exceed 6 months after your doctoral examination.
Legal Basis
ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate, Art. 44 a.
- About 2 weeks before the DK, the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG contacts all the professors in order to find out whether the theses of their doctoral students are ready.
- Your supervisor then needs to approve the electronic version of your thesis, i.e. she/he must confirm to the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG that all corrections, suggestions etc. – if any – stipulated on the examination day have been weaved in.
- If your thesis is ready, your promotion request can be dealt with at the DK. This, however, means that your thesis supervisor needs to be present at the DK in person.
If your thesis is not ready yet, however, it will have to wait until the following DK or the one thereafter.
- Around 3-4 days after the Department Conference (DK), you get dematriculated as a doctoral student by Academic Services and you'll receive a letter by them, stipulating all further steps and the deadline for submitting your deposit copies (3 months later).
You must submit your deposit copies to the central Doctoral Administration of Academic Services no later than 3 months after your promotion request was approved by the Department Conference D-BAUG.
You find extensive information on the Deposit Copies and the submission options on their website.
After you've submitted your deposit copies, you'll receive an academic record from Academic Services.
Legal Basis
Rector's Implementation Provisions, Art. 10.5, Academic record
After you submitted your deposit copies, Academic Services will send you a link to an online form in order to register (or not) for a doctoral award ceremony. Further details such as dates and deadlines are listed on the website Award Ceremony of the Student portal.