Oral Defence

A viva is an oral final examination, taken publicly in front of an examination committee. During the viva, the student’s thesis is presented and discussed. The examination committee then withdraws to assess the viva. The precise structure of the viva (length of the presentation, the type of presentation, etc.) varies from discipline to discipline, however the viva usually lasts approximately one hour. It is a good idea to attend another viva at a department in a relevant subject before doing your own. You can find the dates for upcoming final examinations here.

Upon request or if easier to organise, external examiners can also attend the viva via Skype. This request must be made in the online form when registering for your final examination. As a thesis student, you must be present at the viva in person, as must the chair and most of the examination committee members.

If, when registering for your final examination, you state that an examiner will be participating in the viva via Skype, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt will take responsibility for all technical and organisational aspects to ensure the smooth running of the video conference. All the relevant information about your viva (time, location and room, your name, contact details, names of the members of the examination committee, Skype name for the external examiner) is obtained in advance by Central Computing Services (CCS). Approximately half an hour before your viva, technicians will be there to set up the equipment and connect to the examiner.

External members of the examination committee can receive reimbursement for travel costs related to the viva. Further information can be found in the guidelines. If you have any other questions, please contact Dr. Rebecca Unterberger.

The ‘Register for your final examination’ link will appear under ‘Applications / New applications’ in your campus system account once all the prerequisites for your viva have been fulfilled, i.e. all of your submitted courses have been approved, your thesis has been uploaded and submitted, the results of the plagiarism check have been provided and a pass mark for your thesis has been uploaded into the campus system.

Universities Act 2002, § 73. (1) Successful […] theses […] are marked as ‘excellent’ (1), ‘good’ (2), ‘satisfactory’ (3) or ‘sufficient’ (4), while unsuccessful theses are marked as ‘insufficient’ (5). Intermediate assessments are not permitted.

Overall assessment: ‘Passed with distinction’, ‘passed’, ‘failed’.

• Mark for the viva
  plus mark for the thesis.
• Thesis ‘excellent (1)’ plus viva ‘excellent (1)’ or ‘good (2)’ equals ‘Passed with distinction’.
  Thesis ‘good (2)’ plus viva ‘excellent (1)’ to ‘sufficient (4)’ equals ‘Passed’.
  If one of the marks is ‘insufficient (5)’, unfortunately your overall mark is a ‘Fail’. In this instance, you have the option to repeat your viva.
• Legal basis:
  • The University of Klagenfurt Statute Part B section 12 (8b): If, in a Doctoral degree programme, the thesis has been assessed as “excellent” and the viva has been assessed as “good” or higher, the overall assessment shall be “passed with distinction”. Otherwise, the overall assessment shall be “passed”, as long as the viva is passed. If a Doctoral degree programme concludes with a comprehensive Doctoral examination, the assessments of the two subjects are to be taken into consideration when determining the overall assessment, in addition to the assessment of the thesis. The overall assessment shall be deemed to be “passed with distinction” if the thesis and one subject have been assessed as “excellent” and the other subject has been assessed as “good” or higher. Otherwise, the overall assessment shall be “passed”.
  • The University of Klagenfurt Statute Part B section 25 (22): Section 12, Paragraphs 8a to 8d shall enter into force the day after the announcement in the university bulletin and shall be used for all academic degrees or for the completion of a phase of the programme of study as of 01.03.2018. The academic degrees or the completion of a phase of the programme of study shall be the date on which the assessment of the last requirement in accordance with the curriculum takes place.