The examination of master’s and doctoral theses may take place in either semester,
between semesters or in the summer break, subject to the availability of the
Examining Committee members.
Before initiating the procedure for the thesis examination
The student and supervisors must ensure that:
- The student completed all required program courses with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0,
- The student must have also completed the two required seminars and are entered into the portal and approved by the main supervisor,
- Ensure that the unused grades (any taken courses outside of the degree plan of the MSc program) are approved, and
- The progress report is entered into the portal by the student and approved by the main supervisor.
During initiating the procedure for the thesis examination
The student and supervisors must ensure that:
- Enter the title and abstract both in Arabic and in English into the portal,
- The main supervisor and co-supervisors must approve the thesis readiness,
- The main supervisor may nominate the external and internal examiners,
- Schedule the thesis examination day, date, and time, and place of examination,
- Handle the printed copies of the thesis to the thesis examination committee, i.e., chairperson, main supervisor, external examiner, and internal examiner. The student and the main supervisor are responsible for handling the thesis copies to the examination committee before the day of examination with enough time,
- The external examiner must be a Ph.D. holder with teaching experience from outside the department. He/she can be from outside the Sultan Qaboos University and can also be outside of Oman. The external examiner who is from outside of Oman must be an associate professor. If the external examiner is from outside Sultan Qaboos University, the CV of the nominated external examiner must be submitted. The internal examiner is from the department or affiliated with the department and must be at least an associate professor. The chairperson will be appointed by the Assistant Dean of postgraduate, and
- This information detailed in points 5 to 9 must be forwarded to the postgraduate studies committee in the college for acceptance and later send to the Dean through the Assistant Dean for approval at least one month from the date of the second seminar and one month before the examination date; therefore, the main supervisor must email all this information to the departmental postgraduate coordinator before that with enough time.
During the thesis examination
Involvement in the thesis defense is limited to members of the Thesis Examining Committee. However, members of the Thesis Supervision Committee may attend the defense, which includes the following procedures:
- Preliminary Session: The Examining Committee goes briefly over the Thesis Report and assigned grades using the adopted rubrics for the MSc thesis assessment before inviting the candidate into the room.
- Thesis Presentation Session: This session started by inviting the student to conduct the thesis presentation. The presentation should be delivered in which is not exceeding half an hour covering the thesis objectives and major findings.
- Question Session: The Chair regulates the time so that the whole process should not exceed three hours. At the end of the question session, the student is requested to leave the room.
- Decision Session: The thesis examination committee decides by majority vote to place the thesis in one of four categories (a) pass, (b) pass pending minor revision, (c) deferred pending major revision, and (d) no pass, using the adopted rubrics for the MSc thesis assessment.
- Result announcement: The thesis examination committee may invite the student and announce the result.
After the completion of the thesis examination
- The thesis examination committee members are requested to enter and submit the thesis examination report in the portal,
- In case that the external examiner is from outside of Sultan Qaboos University, the main supervisor is responsible for entering and submitting the thesis examination report in the portal on behalf of the external examiner,
- The main supervisor, external examiner, and internal examiner must submit their detailed report to the chairperson and the student. The main supervisor, external examiner, and internal examiners are advised to handle the annotated thesis to the student detailing their comments, correction, and feedback,
- The chairperson must prepare a report at the end of the examination that summarizes the proceedings and submit it to the Assistant Dean of Postgraduate, who forwards it to the Deanship of Postgraduate within one week from the end of the examination,
- The student should communicate with the main supervisor to get the thesis examination reports,
- The student must implement all the required comments and corrections and submit the final thesis copies within one month from the thesis examination date.