At least one month before the date of the private defence, the candidate sends the provisional manuscript of his/her thesis to the jury members. The PhD student shall notify the administrative coordinator of the date, hour and place chosen for this defense. He will also provide his updated doctoral training form.
As a reminder, ALL the members of the jury should be present for the private defence (in person or through videoconferencing, for example). In case of force majeur or exceptional circumstances, the absent member must send the president a written report before the meeting, giving his/her reasoned opinion on the value of the thesis and a list of the questions that he/she wishes to ask to the candidate.
During the private defence, the candidate may present a short summary of his/her work. The form and content of each chapter of the thesis will be discussed. The jury examines the text submitted by the candidate and discusses the research results with him/her.
At the end of the private defence, the jury deliberates and comes to a conclusion about the admissibility of the thesis. The result of this deliberation is communicated immediately to the candidate and forwarded to the administrative coordinator.
If the thesis is judged admissible, the jury agrees with the candidate on a date and time for the public defence, which takes place at the earliest one month after the private defence. This information is communicated to the administrative coordinator of the doctoral commission.
If the thesis is judged admissible pending amendments of the text, the supervisor(s) are instructed to check and approve these amendments before the date of the public defence. The implementation of these amendments can't exceed 3 months of full-time work. If not, a new private defence should be organized.
The jury also validates the candidate's doctoral training. Doctoral training is considered completed when the doctoral student is able to show that he/she has obtained 60 credits (including the 5 credits granted for the forthcoming public defence)