Who transmits

The Faculty of Graduate Studies will send the dissertation to the External Examiner.  Any shipping costs incurred are the responsibility of the Graduate Program or Research Supervisor.

Paper vs. electronic

The External Examiner may wish to receive the dissertation in paper or electronic form (PDF). The Candidate and Research Supervisor will be notified of this preference in advance by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Please note: Paper copies may be printed on A4 (as opposed to "Letter" size) paper, but the accompanying electronic file must be formatted as "Letter" size (8.5" x 11").

Transmitting large electronic files

If the electronic version of the dissertation is larger than 6MB, it is very likely that it cannot be sent successfully via email as a single document. In such a case, the Candidate should either:

• break the document into separate files of less than 6MB each or
• upload the dissertation on to a password-protected FTP web site. read more

Once the dissertation is transmitted to the External Examiner and a due date for the external report is agreed upon, the Final Oral Defence can be scheduled.

Using an FTP site

Candidates who use an FTP web site to submit an electronic version of a dissertation should bear the following in mind:

• The site must be password-protected.
• An e-mail must be sent to the Doctoral Exams Team with a link to the site, the username, and password to access the dissertation.
• The External Examiner will be instructed to download the dissertation immediately, so the dissertation cannot be changed once submitted.
• The Faculty of Graduate Studies is unable to provide technical support for FTP sites. A candidate should seek the help of an IT expert in his/her home department.