The Candidate's Supervisor and Graduate Program Advisor nominate at least two (but preferably three) people for the role of External Examiner. The Faculty of Graduate Studies will select and invite the External Examiner.

The graduate program is responsible for nominating well-qualified, objective, experienced individuals not associated with UBC.

Please use the Nominations for External Examiner form.

Eligibility requirements for External Examiner:

• Has an established reputation in the area of the dissertation research and is able to judge whether the dissertation would be acceptable at an institution comparable to UBC.
• Has had recent experience with supervision and examination of doctoral students.
• Holds a PhD or the degree the candidate is pursuing.
• Holds Full or Associate, or Emeritus Professor rank (or the equivalent if outside North America) at a university, or has comparable expertise and standing if not a faculty member at a university.
• Has not acted as External Examiner in the Candidate's graduate program, or for a candidate with the same Research Supervisor for at least  three years.
• Must be at arm's length from the Candidate and Research Supervisor. read more.

A brief rationale must be provided indicating the special field(s) of expertise and achievements of each nominee. This may include a list of publications by the nominee that are of central importance or are closely related to the Candidate's research.

Non-faculty nominees:

If a nominee for External Examiner is not currently associated with a university, she/he should have some previous university affiliation—in such a case, please attach a Curriculum Vitae or include a statement outlining the relevant qualifications of the nominee. In particular, please describe how the nominee meets the other criteria for appointment as noted above.