I have been an "evaluator" for both a French PhD and a tenure (habilitacion) review. In both cases the approach was similar to those described. The proceedings, except for the committee deliberations, are open to the public, the candidate gives a long presentation, the committee asks questions and then members of the public may ask questions. The PhD defense process was more formal than a US dissertation defense and the party was much better, especially with respect to the wine <g>. A major difference is that there were a number of possible outcomes (I think there were three or maybe even four types of passes possible) in contrast to the single pass/fail used at what I would assume are most American universities. There was much discussion about the level of "pass" to give the candidate, because this rating is used in evaluating the candidate for jobs. Dress was what I would call "university informal" although the candidate typically wore formal dress (not tails). The tenure evaluation was different in the sense that it was a public process, again, except for committee deliberations, and the verdict was announced to the public. The the partying started. Although these presentations were likely stressful to the candidates, the greater formality actually created more of a sense of community, given that it was a real rite of passage, rather than a "okay you passed, let's grab some brewskis at 4:20). Our society, academic and otherwise has lost many meaningful rites of passage and so I liked this one. This thread started with a toast about Finnish PhD's and in Finland when you pass you receive an academic hat but also IIRC a sword! Of course in our most American of ways we'd probably chose to give a handgun and I await with baited breath to see what Texas universities will decide in the future. cheers, g2
-- Gary D. Grossman, PhD Professor of Animal Ecology Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA 30602 Research http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gary_Grossman Board of Editors - Animal Biodiversity and Conservation Editorial Board - Freshwater Biology Editorial Board - Ecology Freshwater Fish Sculpture by Gary D. Grossman https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Grossmans-Sculpture-Portfolio/124819124227147?fref=ts Hutson Gallery Provincetown, MA - www.hutsongallery.net/artists.html My ukulele channel - www.youtube.com/user/garydg29
