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 in 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 nominee of the Dean. You will also need to complete an Access to Thesis Consent (ATC) form.
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 can assess whether the changes have satisfactorily addressed the examiners’ requirements. It may be helpful to provide this report in table format so that your supervisor and DGR can clearly see how you have addressed each requirement.
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 should also attach a copy of the amended thesis here or email it to your supervisor so that they can review how you have incorporated the amendments. 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 Dean of School have endorsed the AR form, it will be forwarded to the Chair of the Board of Graduate Research (Chair BGR) for approval.
The final step before you will be able to upload the final version of 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 your AR (if required) and the ATC have been approved 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 (OPAL). 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.
You will need to ensure that you have a Unique Student Identifier (USI) and do not have any outstanding debt to the University at this point.
Once Academic Board has approved the award of your degree, you have officially passed your degree, congratulations! Your degree will also be conferred at the time of Academic Board approval.
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. You will be issued with a digital testamur normally within a month of the Academic Board approval.
Graduation
Graduation ceremonies are held throughout the year at all campuses so that you can 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 check on graduation information and 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 doctoral candidates who are deemed to have authored outstanding theses. Find out more about the award and recent recipients.
Research Masters Award
The Research Masters Award was established in 2025. Conferred by the Board of Graduate Research, it is awarded to candidates who are deemed to have authored outstanding Master’s by research theses.