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This information is only a guide. There may be more tasks or forms required.

Steps & timelines

Make sure you understand the following steps and timelines to meet deadlines. You should count on the defense process taking approximately 2 months.

1. See Graduate Studies’ oral exam guidelines.

2. First, your supervisor must confirm to you that your thesis is ready to be submitted to your committee for review. It will have already gone through revisions before you submit it to your committee.

3. Your committee requires at least 2 weeks to read your final thesis. Be sure to also allow for sufficient time to make further revisions.

4. Consult with your supervisor to select an external examiner (EE). For the MSc, they can be within UVic but outside of Psychology. For the PhD, they must be outside of UVic. It is your supervisor’s role to contact the EE.

5. You and your committee will set a date for the oral. It must work for everyone, including the external examiner. It should be at least 4-6 weeks in the future. The department or graduate secretary can help with booking a room. 

6. Once your committee has agreed that your thesis or dissertation is ready to defend, you will need signatures of the committee members and graduate advisor on the request for oral examination (ROE) form. The ROE needs to be submitted to Graduate Studies 20 business days before a master’s defence and 30 business days before a PhD defence.

7. Make an appointment 5 days before the 20/30 business days deadline with the graduate advisor to get their signature on the ROE. Be sure to review the graduate adviser checklist  before your meeting. Email a PDF of your thesis/dissertation to psycgadv@uvic.ca and bring the following to the meeting:

• completed ROE form
• withholding form 
• human ethics approval/waiver
• external examiner’s CV - PhD only
• external examiner arm's length form - PhD only

8. Before submitting the ROE, send it to Karen Kienapple to review and complete the checklist. When the ROE is ready to submit, send it to Karen McKenzie in Graduate Studies and copy Karen Kienapple.

9. Ensure you register for . Later, you will submit your final, approved thesis to UVicSpace.

10. If you plan to pursue a PhD, complete the online application and pay the application fee. Check with the graduate secretary about the application process. No other documentation is required, but a form needs to be completed.

11. Once you have successfully defended your thesis, you should allow at least 2 weeks for revisions and final approval from your supervisor and/or committee. Therefore, plan to defend by mid-April if you want to complete your degree in the spring term, by mid-August if you want to complete your degree in the summer term and by mid-December if you want to complete your degree in the fall term.

12. When all revisions are complete, upload your final thesis/dissertation to UVicSpace. The graduate secretary will send these forms to Graduate Admissions and Records (GARO):

• the letter recommending your graduation (signed by your supervisor and department chair)
• thesis/dissertation approval form

Upcoming deadlines

The next deadlines for meeting all degree requirements are:

• 3:00 p.m. January 2, 2025 for fall term (spring 2025 graduation)
• 3:00 p.m. April 30, 2025 for spring term (for spring 2025 graduation)
• 3:00 p.m. August 29, 2025 for summer term (for fall 2025 graduation)

Graduate Studies allows no exceptions. You must complete your thesis, have your final oral defence, complete revisions and submit a copy of the final version of your thesis with the necessary accompanying documents to GARO by the deadline.

Spring graduation timelines

Fall graduation timelines

Thesis binding

Thesis binding is not required, but here are some resources if you wish to have your thesis or dissertation bound.

• UVic Printing Services