Candidates for the Final Doctoral Examination must have fulfilled all course and/or language requirements of the degree program. It is the responsibility of the Candidate's program to ensure that all of these requirements have been met, and that the Candidate's oral language proficiency is adequate for full communication between the Examination Committee and the Candidate.

The Final Doctoral Examination is a public event at UBC, and as such will be conducted in English. The Candidate's oral proficiency in the language of the examination must be adequate for full communication between the Examination Committee and the Candidate. For theses in language programs, some questions can be posed or answered in the language concerned, provided the the Examination Committee can follow proceedings (by translation if necessary) in this other language.