The examination committee is assembled by the Director of the Doctoral Study Programme (DSPL). It consists of at least three people: 2 examiners and 1 chair, who will be assigned by the DSPL. Examination and supervision of the thesis should be separated; therefore, the supervisor is not part of the exam committee. Normally, both external reviewers act as examiners at the defense. In any case, one of them MUST be an examiner.

• Contact the potential examiners in order to coordinate an appointment. If you need support with the coordination, please contact the administrative office of your supervisor.
• The defense should preferably take place on site (travel allowance max. 700 EURO for both reviewers/examiners together - see information sheet on travel expenses from the Büro Studienpräses), but can also be held online.
• Contact the respective study program director (DSPL) regarding the chair of the exam committee.
• Submit the registration form—“Registration for doctoral thesis defense (SL/P4)”—at least 2 weeks before the planned date via ssc.wiwi@univie.ac.at
• Annual progress reports (in case they have not been submitted yet) as well as a list of the completed courses to be used for graduation (according to the Curriculum) are also to be submitted. This will be checked by the SSC.
• Upon the approval by the DSPL, the official invitation is sent out to the exam committee, the candidate and supervisor(s), as well as to the Faculty at large.

The assessment of the defense is a numeric grade. At the end of the presentation, each member of the committee gives a grade for the whole examination (on a scale of 1-5). If a majority decision can be reached (i.e., the majority of the members of the committee agree on the same grade), this decision equals the grade (e.g., 1,1,2 -> majority decision is 1 = “very good”). If all members give a different grade, then the mean is calculated (e.g., 1,3,5 -> 1+3+5=9, divided by 3 -> mean = 3).