Approximately two months before the oral examination (J-60)

The following steps must be taken:

• The Thesis Director is to send the list of a proposed jury to the Doctoral School for validation or non-validation.
• The Doctoral Applicant is then to enter the request for an oral examination into his/her personal account in ADUM, giving the foreseen date and the titles and levels of the proposed jury members along with their complete addresses.
• A copy of the thesis is to be sent to the Doctoral School.
• Copies of the thesis (one for each of the two reporters) are to be sent by the Doctoral Applicant to the reporters. The Doctoral School will contact the reporters in writing to request a report.
• The Doctoral Applicant is then to update his/her ADUM account, adding all trainings and publications. He/She is to print out the skills portfolio, have it signed by the Thesis Director and send it to the Doctoral School.

One month before the oral examination (J-30)

After consulting the reporters’ reports, the Doctoral School Director decides whether or not the oral examination can take place and informs the Doctoral Applicant of the decision. If the decision is positive, the Applicant contacts the designated jury members to fix the time and date of the oral examination. The date must be at least 3 weeks after the decision to proceed with the oral examination. The Applicant sends each jury member a copy of the thesis and the Doctoral School sends them an official convocation and copies of the reporters’ reports.

ABIES Doctoral School supplies the Thesis Director or teacher in charge with the oral examination documents:

• An oral examination report,
• Authorization to reproduce the thesis,
• Authorization to publish the thesis,A copy of the form used to register the thesis upon completion of the oral examination.

A few reminders about the oral examination

Jury composition

The reporters:

• Must be habilitated to direct research (HDR),
• Must be from outside ABIES Doctoral School,
• Must not be co-authors of publications with the Applicant,
• Must supply their CV and list of publications if they are foreigners and have never been jury members for the Doctoral School.

Composition of the jury:

• A maximum of 8 people including the reporters and Thesis Director),
• 50% must be professors or assimilated professors (only Research Directors can be assimilated professors),
• One person representing the AgroParisTech teaching corps (if the Thesis Director is from outside the establishment).

The day of the oral examination

The members of the jury designate a President.

The President must be a professor or teacher of equivalent rank. If the Thesis Director is a member of the jury, he cannot be chosen as a reporter or as the President of the jury. The President establishes an oral examination report and, using a supplied form, decides whether or not the thesis will be reproduced. The original copy of the oral examination report and the various forms must be sent to the Doctoral School as soon as possible.

After the oral examination

At the latest, THREE MONTHS after the oral examination the Doctor must send the Doctoral School:

• 2 copies of the final version of the thesis,
• The registration form for the defended thesis,
• The reproduction authorization,
• A CD and the thesis on line.

The diploma cannot be given until the copies of the thesis are received.

After the thesis

Every year oral examinations are run for about 100 theses at ABIES.

Individual follow-up of Doctoral Applicants is carried out every year and for five years after the end of the thesis.

A data base of Doctoral Applicants and Doctors, set up in 1999, makes it possible to follow the employment after the thesis.

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