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Internal Procedures and Recommendations Regarding the Defence

Detailed information regarding the doctoral thesis defences is available in Rules for Studies and Examinations for Students in Doctoral Degree Programmes of the MU. This page only presents internal procedures and recommendations regarding the defences:
  • Students submit applications on the Doctoral Study Application Form (in Czech) within the deadline given in the academic calendar. Together with the application form students must submit the following documents: 3 - 4 thesis copies (number of external examiners + 1 copy for the FI), external examiner proposals by the supervisor, abstract, structured curriculum vitae, publications (the student's contribution must be specified for joint publications) – at least two publications should be international publications. Should the thesis be written in English, all the additional documents must be submitted both in Czech and English. The thesis must be produced on white (not recycled) paper, which can be obtained from Mrs. Lysakova’s office
  • Students file their theses in the Thesis Archive in the IS.
  • The Specialist Board propose the chairman, the members of the defence committee and the external examiners to the Dean. The Dean appoints the committee based on this proposal.
  • The thesis is delivered to the external examiners who are given two months to return an opinion.
  • Having received the external examiners’ reports, the date of the defences is set.
  • The actual defence is commonly held in the FI conference room, which is equipped with a board and a meotar. A data projector has to be reserved and collected at the reception (and it has to be returned there after the defence). Students are requested to arrive 10 mins before the actual defence (should the conference room be locked, a key is available in the Dean’s secretary’s office), prepare and test the equipment they plan to use. Students prepare the defence presentation in a suitable font and colour, so that it is readable even for the committee members sitting further away from the board.

    The actual defence lasts for about 10 - 15 mins, then opinions are given and discussed, and a discussion amongst committee members and guests follows. The public part of the defence is followed by a non-public part where the committee debate the defence and vote on the result of the defence by confidential votes. Students are informed of the results as soon as the voting is finished. The results are either pass or fail.

    The doctoral study ends on the day of a successful completion of the defence. Students are awarded a Diploma and a Certificate at a graduation ceremony organised by the RMU (usually at the beginning of December and at the end of May). Should a student be unable to attend the defence, a written apology should be submitted to Dr. Součkova - souckova(at)rect.muni.cz.

    Should a student fail the defence, it is possible to repeat the defence one more time. The committee sets the rules for the repeated defence and the Dean sets the date of the repeated defence, following the Specialist Board’s proposal. It is also permitted to interrupt studies up to the day of the repeated defence. Permission to interrupt studies is given by the Dean (upon the student’s request) and the interruption of studies is not counted into the whole period of studies.