My role as rapporteur in the Examination Board

As a member of the Examination Board, you are responsible for the appraisal of the dissertation of the doctoral student. The Examination Board consists of five to eight members who are qualified to vote, including the chair, three to six experts who form the ‘reading committee’, and one study programme representative (you) called ‘rapporteur’. In addition, the supervisors of the dissertation can attend the Examination Board meetings, but they will not be qualified to vote. As soon as the Examination Board is composed by the Faculty Council, the chair of the Examination Board and/or the Faculty Student Administration (FSA) will act as your contact person.
The entire process after the dissertation is ‘submitted’ is through Plato. You will be able to download the uploaded dissertation there and consult the reports. All communication also takes place through Plato.
With the exception of the chair, each voting member of the Examination Board draws up a written appraisal of the dissertation prior to the doctoral exam. As a ‘rapporteur’, you are not required to read the entire dissertation. You draw up a brief report of the Examination Board’s reading reports. You draft this short global assessment of the reading reports in Dutch or English. If the dissertation has another language as its subject, it is possible to depart from this rule. You upload your report in Plato at least five working days before the first session. The doctoral student and all members of the Examination Board can consult all reports via Plato at least four working days before the first session.
The doctoral exam consists of two sessions that are each deliberated on and assessed: (1) the first deliberation of the Examination Board on the doctoral dissertation, and (2) the public defence of said dissertation. There are some specific criteria for an article-based doctorate.
As a member of the Examination Board, you attend the two sessions of the Examination Board. If you wish to attend one of the meetings through video conferencing, you notify the administrative supervisor responsible and the chair of the Examination Board. The chair of the Examination Board is responsible for communicating the video link. If you are unable to attend a session, notify the administrative supervisor responsible and chair of the Examination Board.
During the first session, the Examination Board members assess the doctoral student’s skills and competencies by means of a conversation. The Examination Board members and the doctoral student have a substantive discussion. Subsequently, the members deliberate on the basis of (1) the written reports and (2) the hearing of the doctoral student. The members of the Examination Board decide by simple majority of the votes, abstentions not taken into consideration. If a second voting round again results in a tie, the decision will not be in the student’s favour, in accordance with the Education and Examination Code for Doctoral Matters (OERD) at Ghent University. The deliberation will result in one of the appraisals below:

Admission to the second part of the examination (public defence), possibly after making small corrections to the dissertation.
Admission to the second part, following corrections to the dissertation.
No admission to the second part of the examination.

The outcome of the deliberation is substantiated and included, together with the attendance register, in a deliberation report, which is uploaded into Plato by the chair. The report is then sent to the doctoral student.

During the second session (public defence), which lasts one to two hours, the doctoral student puts forward an oral and public defence of his/her doctoral dissertation before the Examination Board. The session starts with a short presentation by the doctoral student for a maximum of 20 minutes, after which the members of the Examination Board can ask questions. The session takes place in Dutch or English, unless otherwise established. All Examination Board members must know the language used (at least passively).
The Examination Board deliberates in camera on the examination as a whole, immediately after the public defence. The Examination Board members decide by simple majority of the votes, abstentions not taken into consideration, whether or not the academic degree of doctor is to be awarded. If a second voting round again results in a tie, the decision will not be in the student’s favour.

The examination decision is publicly announced by the chair immediately after the deliberation, following the second session. The doctoral student is declared passed or failed; no grades of merit or congratulations are awarded. In case of a positive decision, one of the supervisors may hold a laudatio and the doctoral student receives the diploma, a beret and a small gift from the faculty.