• The External Examiner should utilize the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies as his/her contact with Simon Fraser University on any issues pertaining to the content and evaluation of the thesis; there should be no direct contact with the student or members of the supervisory committee concerning these issues.
  
• The External Examiner should norrnally communicate and coordinate logistical details of the defence through the senior supervisor, i.e., suitable dates, participation in person (travel and accommodation, etc.), remotely via video- or tele-conference, or in absentia.
  
• The External Examiner must receive a copy of the completed thesis minimally one month prior to the scheduled date of the thesis defence. If this schedule is not met, the defence may he postponed, upon the request of the External Examiner.
  
• The External Examiner should send a written pre-defence report on the thesis, to the Dean of Graduate Studies only, to arrive at least two weeks before the date of the Thesis Defence. Please refer to the guidelines for content and format.
  
• The Dean of Graduate Studies will send a copy of the report of the External Examiner to the Chair of the Examining Committee for distribution to all members of the Examining Committee. In cases when the External Examiner finds the thesis ready for defence, the report will he kept confidential to the student until after the examination. See Regulation 1.9.5.
  
• Providing both the External Examiner and the Supervisory Committee agree that the thesis is ready for examination, the arrangements for the Thesis Defence will proceed. Confirmation as to the precise time and location of the Thesis Defence will he announced by the Dean of Graduate Studies.
  
• The defence is conducted in accordance with Regulation 1.1 0.1 and departmental practice. The defence is open to all persons. The Chair introduces the student and members of the examining committee, and outlines the procedures to he followed. The student presents a brief oral summary of the thesis. The examining committee asks questions to test the student's knowledge of the thesis subject and related fields. Once this process is complete, questions from the audience will he permitted.
  
• Immediately following the oral examination, the Examining Committee will meet privately. The thesis may he graded either Pass, Pass with revisions, or Fail; the Committee may decide to defer its decision, as per Regulation 1.1 0.2 (attached), until a specified time, when re-examination will occur. Note that all decisions on the thesis are by simple majority vote of the Examining Committee except that the classification of the thesis may not he at a higher level than that of the External Examiner.
  
• If the thesis is passed, the External Examiner will send a brief report to the Senior Supervisor which indicates the general quality of the thesis. That report may be either a copy of the pre-defence report to the Dean of Graduate Studies (if that report so indicated) or a post-defence report.
  
• The External Examiner is referred also to sections 1.9.3 and 1.9.4 of the University's Graduate Studies General Regulations.
  
• SFU covers the cost of vidcoconferencing charges when utilizing SFU facilities in the Library Thesis Defense Room. Travel expenses for External Examiners are the responsibility of the hosting department and should he discussed with the Graduate Program Chair before making arrangements. When travel expenses have been approved, the co-operation of External Examiners is requested in minimizing these expenses as the University's budget is under severe constraint. In this case, please ensure the department has provided you with a Travel and Business Expense Claim form. Original receipts for airfare, hotel expenses, transportation (taxis), and meals should he returned to the hosting department.

• There should be a clear statement that the thesis is or is not ready for defence. A thesis is ready for defence if the examiner believes that it substantially meets the requirement for a doctoral thesis in the relevant discipline, and that likely revisions will not require re-examination by the examining committee. If the examiner believes that the thesis is not ready for defence, the reasons for this assessment should be made clear.
  
• If the thesis is ready for defence, the external examiner should outline the main strengths of the thesis, as well as any areas of concern.
  
• If the external examiner believes that the thesis is of exceptional quality this should be indicated. The best theses may be nominated for national awards, and these require a copy of the external examiner's written and signed reports (pre and post defence).
  
• Minor comments and corrections can be made directly on the thesis, and this can be handed (or mailed) to the student at the conclusion of the defence.
  
• The report can be e-mailed or faxed to the Dean of Graduate Studies. A typical length would be 1 -3 pages.

• There should be a clear statement that the thesis is or is not ready for defence. A thesis is ready for defence if the examiner believes that it substantially meets the requirement for a doctoral thesis in the relevant discipline, and that likely revisions will not require re-examination by the examining committee. If the examiner believes that the thesis is not ready for defence, the reasons for this assessment should be made clear.
  
• If the thesis is ready for defence, the external examiner should outline the main strengths of the thesis, as well as any areas of concern.
  
• For areas of concern, the examiner should outline what is problematic, and what revision is required to correct it.
  
• If the external examiner believes that the thesis is of exceptional quality this should be indicated. The best theses may be nominated for national awards, and these require a copy of the external examiner's written and signed reports (pre and post-defence).
  
• For minor errors, typographic errors, etc. the examiner may either provide a separate list or return the relevant pages of the thesis (or the entire thesis) with corrections marked. The senior supervisor will be responsible for ensuring that minor errors are corrected.
  
• The examiner will not be able to ask questions, he/she should provide a list of questions to be asked of the student at the defence on a separate page. The questions will be asked on behalf of the external examiner by the chair of the examining committee. The examiner should indicate the type of response he/she expects the student to make to the questions.
  
• Material may be e-mailed or faxed to the Dean of Graduate Studies. A typical length for the various reports would be:
  
  • 3 to 4 pages for the assessment and discussion of areas of concern (1 to 2 pages for a thesis of exceptional
    quality);
    
  • 1 to 2 pages for major questions and expected responses
    
  • as many pages as necessary to define minor corrections.

Our regulations (1.9.5) and common sense dictate that the external examiners of theses and projects should be free of potential conflict of interest. By this I mean that an examiner should be a disinterested evaluator of the work, and should not be placed in a position in which it might be perceived that personal considerations could sway the examiner's assessment of a piece of work.

I have come across some situations in which I felt that the external examiner was too closely associated with the student, supervisor or the supervisory committee. Although I am confident that the selection of external examiners was done with the best motives, it is essential for the reputation of the student and the University that we try to avoid perceived or potential conflict of interest.

The following is a list of relationships that could be perceived as creating a conflict of interest:

• Student and external examiner have or had a relationship unconnected to the student's academic work. Examples: family connections; business connections.
  
• Student and external examiner had or have an academic relationship.
  
  • Examples: examiner was student's instructor or a member of a previous supervisory committee; they have participated together in a research project; they have published together.
    
• Student and external examiner are planning a future relationship, contingent on a successful defence.
  • Examples: student will work as post-doctoral fellow in
    external's lab; student will be hired by external's company.
    
• External and senior supervisor have the kinds of relationships discussed in points 1 through 3.
  
  • Examples: external examiner is the spouse of the supervisor;
    external examiner was supervisor's student (or vice versa); they were collaborators in a research project.
    

Given the interconnections between researchers, the need for students in many disciplines to publish, and the very specialized nature of some areas of research, it is unrealistic to expect that external examiners will have no knowledge of, or no connection to, the student in all cases. I believe that it is also unrealistic to try to write precise rules to avoid such problems. A better approach is for senior supervisors and graduate program chairs to ask themselves whether a potential conflict of interest could be perceived. In addition, when the potential examiner is contacted, it would be worth checking (diplomatically!) whether there is a conflict of interest that ought to be declared.

Thank you for your assistance with this.

Wade Parkhouse
Dean of Graduate Studies
November 2009