Final Oral Defense Guidelines for graduate programs and research students

At the beginning of each term, the Faculty of Graduate Studies sets a grace period called "Phase I", to allow eligible research students to complete their final oral defense and deposit without having to register and pay tuition fees for that term, provided the rest of the degree requirements have already been completed in previous terms and that they meet the Phase I eligibility criteria.

For students aiming to complete within the Phase I grace period for Fall term 2024, the final oral defense must be held no later than September 10th, 2024, and the deposit with Graduate Studies completed no later than September 25, 2024. Such students:

• must apply to graduate by the Fall 2024 convocation application deadline; and

• must not register for Fall term 2024 in the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship, provided their final oral defense is scheduled no later than September 10th and that they meet the Phase I eligibility criteria. Upon completion, the final grade for the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship will be assigned to the previous term, Summer 2024.

*Note: students receiving OSAP or Tri-Council awards should ensure they are compliant with the terms and conditions of their award.

Review all Fall graduation and Phase I relevant deadlines posted on the Important Dates webpage.

Students who complete the final oral defense or the deposit after the posted Phase I deadlines for this purpose must register in the current term in the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship course. 

The following is a summary of the Faculty of Graduate Studies final oral defense requirements applicable to all programs. Students should contact their graduate program office for any additional defense requirements set by the program:

• Before the defense, the candidate is to provide a copy of their document to all committee members:

  • At least two weeks prior to the oral defense date for Master’s thesis or major research paper.

  • At least four weeks prior to the oral defense date for Doctoral dissertations.

• At least eight days in advance of the defense date public notice of the defense must be posted in the academic unit (e.g. on the departmental website) and a copy of the notice received in the Faculty of Graduate Studies from the department (via email to thesis@uwindsor.ca). The department is to ensure that students defending after the Phase I defense deadline are registered for the term in which they are defending before their final oral defense is posted by the department. Review details about Phase I and registration requirements. 
• The Chair of a PhD Defense will be procured from within the Faculty of Graduate Studies; the Chair will be a senior member of the Graduate Faculty from outside the program. The Chair will be named on the Notice of Defense. The Chair is non-voting.
• The Chair of a Master's Thesis defense will be a member of graduate faculty who has not served on the candidate's Master's committee, and who is appointed by the Department Head at the time the defense is publicly announced. Review list of current Graduate Faculty members by program. The chair is non-voting.
• The candidate will present the dissertation, thesis, or major paper at a public defense. Review the Defense Procedures Guidelines: Doctoral / Master's.
• The attendance requirements at final oral defenses are outlined in the Faculty of Graduate Studies “Guidelines on attendance at major paper, thesis, and dissertation defenses".

The "Defense Procedures Guidelines" and the "Guidelines on Attendance at Major Paper, Thesis and Dissertation Defenses" are also available from the "Student Forms" webpage under 'Thesis and dissertation forms'.

The Doctoral Committee will be supplemented by an independent External Examiner at the final oral defense. As an expert in the field of research associated with that of the doctoral candidate, the External Examiner will evaluate the dissertation and will be present (either in person or by teleconference) at the defense. 

All forms related to the External Examiner are available on our Student Forms webpage under "Thesis and dissertation forms".

PhD Dissertation Submission and Defense Timeline Tracker:

For your planning purposes, we have provided a timeline tracker form for PhD Dissertation and Submission and Defense Timelines. If you require accessibility accommodations, please do not hesitate to contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies at adminfgs@uwindsor.ca.

Please note that the timeline form is for personal use only and should not be returned to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

The student is to obtain approval signatures from all committee members and complete the 3-step document submission ("deposit") with the Faculty of Graduate Studies. 

• if students are targeting a specific deadline i.e. for graduation or Phase I completion, it is the student's responsibility to start the deposit within the posted deadline for this purpose, which may be prior to the oral defense - these deadlines are posted each term on the Important Dates webpage. 

The department is to submit to Graduate Studies an official report from the final oral defense specifying the final grade. Review instructions for departments about completing and submitting the defense grade Report Form.

Embargo / withholding request

A digital copy of the deposited document will be added as open access to the University of Windsor Scholarship@UWindsor digital insitutional repository as well as to ProQuest (theses and dissertations only). If the document needs to be withheld temporarily from the public for a variety of valid reasons (e.g. pending publication), at the time of depositing the candidate and their research supervisor(s) may request a period of withholding from circulation, as described in the deposit instructions under section titled "Request for withholding/embargo".