Ph. D. Defense

For each candidate, the head of the Mathematical Physics Sector will propose to the Council of the School an examining committee consisting of: two examiners appointed by the ministry, one external specialist examiner, at least one senior member of Sector Council and the student's supervisor. At this stage, a date will be fixed for the final examination.
One copy of the thesis must be handed to the SISSA secretary no later than one month before the final examination. Each thesis should include an abstract of one or two pages outlining the content and highlighting the original contributions.
The specialist examiner is to send the Head of the Sector Council a written report with his/her main remarks and criticisms including requests for clarifications, along with a final statement as to the validity of the work for a good Ph.D level. The only case where a written report is not needed is if the thesis is judged excellent, and no revision required. If negative, the report should be submitted in good time so that the candidate may modify the thesis accordingly, or, in the worst case of a thesis judged seriously deficient by the specialist examiner, the full Examining Committee--who as a whole carries the final responsability for the exam--will be alerted of the difficulty. In this case the matter will have to be discussed in the Sector Council.
On the day of the final examination, the candidate will give a one--hour presentation on the subject matter of the thesis in front of the full examining committee. After questions, the committee will confer privately and then announce its decision (either fail, or pass with the awarding of the degree).