Qualifying examination for students enrolled on the 4-year dual MA/PhD degree programme.

The holding of qualifying examination

Qualifying Examinations are held mid January (for students enrolled on 1 February) and mid August (for students enrolled on 1 September). The specific dates will be announced on the Board of Studies Secretariat's 'Exams website ' no later than two months before the examination dates (i.e. 15 May and 15 November, respectively).

It is the responsibility of the student to register for the qualifying examination immediately after a favourable semi-annual evaluation no. 3 and the subsequent interview. See Registration Form.

The examiner is the principal supervisor. An external examiner is appointed by the Chairmen of the External Examiners.

The qualifying examination consists of an academic report and a presentation/oral examination.

(a) Academic report

The basis of the qualifying examination is an academic report forming a whole, which must contain the following elements:

• A section on the academic progression of the project, including a brief overview of the most important activities during the PhD studies (3-5 pages)
• An academic section (min. 25 pages) containing, for example, one or more draft chapters to the PhD dissertation, other academic manuscripts (e.g. articles or conference papers) or a plurality of interrelated academic manuscripts.

The academic report must be written in Danish, English or German and contain a list of essential/key literature references and a summary of 1-2 pages. If the report is written in Danish, the summary must be in English. If the report is written in English or German, the summary must be in Danish.

The academic report must not exceed 35 pages (maximum 84,000 characters (including spaces)), including summary and excluding literature references).

The academic report must be submitted to the Board of Studies Secretariat (Building 1443, room 117) no later than 15 December and 15 June, respectively. The report must be submitted in 3 copies together with a cover page, respectively Cover page, Theology or Cover page, Study of Religion and Arabic.

Immediately after submission, the Board of Studies Secretariat sends the report with enclosures to the examiner and the external examiner.

(b) Presentation/Oral examination

• Presentation
  The oral examination begins with a 20 minute presentation on a set subject related to the report. The examiner chooses the subject. Students have no say in choosing the subject. It is the responsibility of the Board of Studies Secretariat to communicate the subject to the student and the external examiner 2 weeks before the examination date. During the 2 weeks from when the subject is communicated to when the examination is held, there must be no contact between student and examiner.
• Oral examination
  The presentation is followed by an oral examination.

Total duration of the presentation/oral examination is 1 hour including evaluation. There is no preparation time.

Assessment

The report, the presentation and the oral examination are assessed together. The written (report) and the oral (presentation and examination) count equally towards the final grade. Marking is according to grading scale in compliance with the current rules (graded). There is no written examiners’ evaluation. The assessment result is communicated to the student immediately after the examination and subsequently registered in the self-service facility. By passing the qualifying examination, the PhD student acquires the Master’s degree and can proceed to Part B of the degree programme, provided that he or she has received a favourable semi-annual evaluation no. 4.

Make-up and re-examinations

If the student can provide documentation of illness by presenting a medical certificate, a make-up examination will be organised. If the academic report is not submitted by the set deadline, or if the result of the qualifying examination is below the pass grade, the student is given a new submission deadline of one month. Make-up and re-examinations are governed by the general examination regulations.

Scholarship/fellowship

The scholarship expires at the end of the month in which the PhD student obtains the Master’s degree, and he or she will the following month be employed as a PhD research fellow during Part B. If part A has to be extended because of re-examination, the student is not entitled to funding (scholarship) during the extension period.

The Graduate School
of Theology and the Study of Religion
Faculty of Theology
Aarhus University
28.05.2009