肆客足球

Doctoral Office
肆客足球 My.Sun A - Z Dates Careers @ SU Contact Us
Welcome to Stellenbosch 肆客足球
Afrikaans
Twitter Facebook YouTube

RIDS  |  Tygerberg Doctoral Office

Examination of FMHS Doctoral Dissertations


When to submit
A PhD dissertation may be submitted as soon as it is ready for examination, at any point in the first or second semester, but preferably ahead of 1 October, for possible graduation in March/April of the following year.

  • NB: As from 2026, SU hosts only a single, annual graduation series, held in March/April.

  • Submission during December is possible, but not recommended. 

  • Results are approved via a quarterly governance process, allowing those who have met all the requirements for the degree to apply for work, promotion, or a postdoctoral fellowship, usually within three months of the oral. 

  • Six months prior to submission, an intention-to-submit form - signed by a supervisor and an HoD other than the supervisor - should reach the Tygerberg Doctoral Office at tyg-phd@sun.ac.za.


Graduation
Inclusion in a specific annual graduation series can unfortunately not be guaranteed, as this depends on how the examination process unfolds. Should the timelines leading to a particular graduation series be missed, the student must re-register to comply with higher education regulations, as graduation will be delayed by a further year. Where a student exceeds the maximum programme duration of five years, however, continued registration will require special permission from Senate.


DOCTORAL SUBMISSION CYCLES
First semester submission season: February - April
Deadline: 1 May (or the last workday before this date)
  • Results approved during the third quarter governance cycle
Second semester submission season: May - September
Deadline: 1 October (or the nearest workday)
  • Results approved during the first quarter governance cycle, in time for March/April graduation

? 

Academic environments must nominate examiners by six months prior to submission, to allow time for the appointment / governance process.?

  • Steps: The supervisor/s may suggest examiners to the HoD. Once the HoD has agreed, the supervisor should informally approach each examiner to request their availability and to obtain their full CV. The HoD will be able to advise who chairs the relevant Postgraduate Programme Committee (PPC). The PPC recommends the nomination by submitting a report and nomination form to the FMHS Committee for Postgraduate Research. The nomination form should include a cell number and be accompanied by external examiners' CVs. No dissertation may be submitted to examiners if they have not been recommended by the Committee for Postgraduate Research (CPR). Please take note that the SU Senate may refuse to approve examiners and results at the same meeting, making timeous nomination essential.?

  • A PhD examiner should hold a doctoral degree. More information about eligibility for PhD examination is available in this document. As far as possible, one internal SU examiner and two external examiners should be nominated for each doctoral candidate.

  • Allow sufficient time for formatting the final manuscript (click here for formatting guidelines) and thereafter producing a Turnitin report (scroll down for more)

  • Submit for examination by sending a single mail with the following three documents attached (and not linked), all in PDF format, to medphd@sun.ac.za, copying the supervisor/s
    1. Dissertation release form? signed by the supervisors and the HoD
    2. Final, approved dissertation in PDF, incorporating the compulsory SU plagiarism declaration and where preferred / suitable, a declaration on the use of AI or LLMs.
    3. Separately, the Turnitin report on the very final version of dissertation (compressed? as necessary)?
    ??In case of a joint degree, where SU is not handling the examination, do inform the Tygerberg Doctoral Office at medphd@sun.ac.za that the dissertation is being distributed for examination.

  • ?Produce a Turnitin report using the Postgraduate Office Turnitin Sandbox
    1. ?Avoid uploading your articles or dissertation to the Turnitin repository
    2. You may exclude matches smaller than three words or 1%
    3. Should your own published articles be included in an online repository,
      you may exclude these from the report
    4. Aim for a Turnitin similarity score of no higher than 15%??

  • Upon submission: The period directly after submission is ideal for preparing and submitting an article for publication in an indexed journal; or where relevant, to kickstart the licensing or patenting process via Innovus. 

  • After submission, if all parties respond positively, and no substantial revisions are required, the examination process can take about ten weeks. Once all examiners have submitted (positive) reports, an oral examination is scheduled. On completion of the oral, the supervisor/s ?should submit a final report on the dissertation and examination process. Once all these documents have been received, the result is ready for consideration by Senate. If the supervisor rep?ort is submitted by eight weeks after the final cut-off date, the formal governance process can take approximately three months.
    ?This requirement applies equally in the case of a joint degree.

  • Oral examination: The written examination is completed before the oral examination is arranged. The revised dissertation is usually available ahead of the oral. At the oral, the candidate should be able to satisfy all concerns of the examiners. Click here for more information on arranging the oral. Directly following the oral examination, the supervisor submits to medphd@sun.ac.za a final report, on this template.

  • SunScholar upload and Abstract: After the oral, the final, approved dissertation is uploaded to SunScholar, as a formal prerequisite for graduation. The relevant student and staff numbers will be required and the appropriate embargo will need to be confirmed in the case of material still to be published or patented. Thesis Management is handled on SunStudent, as per the information at this link. For further assistance, please email Ms Paulette Talliard at scholar@sun.ac.za. The SU library is the custodian of SunScholar and provides more information at this link. The final abstract should be included in all three languages of the university prior to upload.
    *This requirement applies equally in the case of a joint degree, though the joint agreement may specify the translation of the abstract into an additional language.

  • Dissertation title:The title on a doctoral dissertation must in all cases correspond to the Senate-approved title. Should a title change be required, this must be motivated via a departmental PPC report. Should any change in focus, scope, or depth be implied, the student may be required to conduct a new proposal review process, followed by a revised ethics application.

  • A formal letter of completion is automatically issued by the registrar's division upon Senate approval of the result. Should you require a letter of completion at an earlier stage, this can be requested, but only after the result has been approved by the relevant quarterly meeting of the Faculty Board.
    ?After approval of the result by the Faculty Board, a letter of completion may be requested from Ms Megan Jantjies (mjantjies@sun.ac.za) of the registrar's division.
      ?

PhD Support