After examination, and graduation
Once you have received a pass outcome, there are some final steps you need to take to complete your degree.
Before the Board of Graduate Research can recommend the award of your degree to Academic Board, you will need to provide a final version of your thesis for archiving and publication using the University Repository. Before you can upload the final version of your thesis to the Repository you will need to make any required amendments to the satisfaction of your principal supervisor and Director of Graduate Research (DGR) or Head of School. You will also need to complete an Access to Thesis Consent (ATC) form.
All graduate research examinations are now managed through the PRIME Researcher Portal. The new Graduate Research Examinations module within PRIME makes the administrative processes related to your examination more accessible, transparent and efficient. Find out more about the changes and access training materials on the PRIME Graduate Research Examinations Portal webpage. |
Where amendments are required, you will need to provide an amendment report addressing the examiners’ comments and outlining the subsequent changes made to the thesis so that your supervisor and DGR or Head of School can assess whether the changes have satisfactorily addressed the examiners’ requirements.
Once you’ve completed your amendment report, you can submit it for approval by creating an Amendment Report (AR) form from your Graduate Research Examination (GRE) Record in the PRIME Researcher Portal . You can find detailed instructions on how to create and submit the AR form in the Graduate Research Examinations for candidates user guide on the PRIME Help and Support Unite Site. (You will need to use your institutional or staff login to access PRIME and the help site. Visit our institutional account page for instructions on how to activate and use your institutional account.)
Once your supervisor and DGR or Head of School have endorsed the AR form, it will be forwarded to the Chair of the Board of Graduate Research (Chair BGR) for approval and to confirm that you have fulfilled the requirements of the degree and can be recommended to Academic Board for award of the degree.
The final step before uploading your thesis is to complete an Access to Thesis Consent (ATC) form using the PRIME Researcher Portal . The ATC form provides your agreement for the University to publish your thesis and if there are restrictions on sharing any copyright material in your thesis (in which case you will need to provide a second, redacted version). You can also use the ATC form to apply to the Board of Graduate Research for an embargo if there is a reason to restrict public access to your thesis for a set period. You can find detailed instructions on how to create and submit your ATC form in the Graduate Research Examinations for candidates user guide on the PRIME Help and Support Unite Site. (You will need to use your institutional or staff login to access PRIME and the help site. Visit our institutional account page for instructions on how to activate and use your institutional account.)
Once you have submitted all final documentation and the Board of Graduate Research has confirmed you can be recommended to Academic Board for award of the degree, we will send you a link to upload the final copy of your thesis as a PDF document to the Repository (Research Online). When you upload your final copy, we will check over it to make sure it meets all the formatting requirements as outline in the Graduate Research Examinations Schedule B-Presentation of Theses for Graduate Research Degrees [PDF 282 KB], and then will forward the degree award recommendation to Academic Board.
Once Academic Board has approved the award of your degree, you have officially passed your degree, congratulations! We will send you an official completion letter confirming that you have satisfied the requirements for your degree within 10-15 business days of the Academic Board approval.
COVID-19 graduation arrangements
Due to government restrictions, we have had to make changes to our graduation celebrations. To avoid any delays to your conferral due to the restrictions, your degree will be conferred at the time of Academic Board approval and you will be issued with a digital testamur.
The University is planning 2021 graduation celebrations that are in line with current health restrictions so that you can still come together with other La Trobe graduands and your friends and family to celebrate your achievement. It takes an incredible amount of hard work, time and dedication to complete a research degree, and we are incredibly proud of what you have achieved.
To stay informed of updates, please ensure we have your best email address and mobile number so we can easily contact you. Current candidates can update their details in StudentOnLine, while completed candidates who no longer have access to their student account can request their details be updated by submitting a question to ASK a Question.
Nancy Millis Award
The Nancy Millis Medal, conferred by the Board of Graduate Research, is awarded to PhD candidates who are deemed to have authored outstanding theses. Find out more about the award and recent recipients.