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Examines research gaps concerning the roles of oral examination and the issues to consider when introducing or revising it. Grounds the discussion in literature and three SORTI-led projects at the University of Newcastle, outlining key quality assurance, purpose, and process considerations relevant to Australian institutions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-u-s-t-r-a-l-i-a-n-u-n-i-v-e-r-s-i-t-i-e-s-r-e-v-i-e-w-an-oral-component-in-phd-examination-in-australia-issues-and-considerations/594718/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-u-s-t-r-a-l-i-a-n-u-n-i-v-e-r-s-i-t-i-e-s-r-e-v-i-e-w-an-oral-component-in-phd-examination-in-australia-issues-and-considerations/594718.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ben ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is the oral component of PhD examination an important topic in Australia?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Because Australia is unusual in not having an oral component as a standard part of final doctoral assessment, and multiple institutions are considering introducing it.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What research gap does the paper address?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It highlights limited work that examines the various roles of the oral component and what issues should be considered when adding or revising it in thesis examination.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What sources inform the paper’s discussion?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper is based on published literature and three research projects initiated by SORTI at The University of Newcastle, Australia.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594718,1792211442,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":52,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},2336478951081,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nAn oral component in PhD examination in Australia  \nIssues and considerations  \nMargaret Kiley  \nAustralian National University & University of Newcastle  \nAllyson Holbrook, Terence Lovat & Hedy Fairbairn University of Newcastle  \nSue Starfield  \nUniversity of New South Wales  \nBrian Paltridge University of Sydney  \nWhile there has been considerable research on doctoral examination there is little that examines the various roles of the oral component and what issues one might consider if introducing or revising that aspect of the thesis examination process. This matter is of particular importance in Australia where it is not usual to have an oral component as part of the final assessment. However, there are a number of Australian institutions considering the introduction of an oral component. This paper, based on the literature and three research projects initiated by the Centre for the Study of Research Training and Impact (SORTI) at The University of Newcastle, Australia, addresses a number of the key issues that would need to be addressed if an Australian institution were to introduce an oral component to the doctoral thesis examination process.  \nKeywords: Assessment, doctoral, examination, oral examination, viva voce  \nIntroduction  \nIn the last 15–20 years there has been considerable international research related to the examination of doctoral theses (see for example Holbrook & Bourke, 2004; Lovitts, 2007; Mullins & Kiley, 2002; Powell & Green, 2003; Prins, de Kleijn, & van Tartwijk, 2015; Wellington,  \n2010) . The published research relates to issues such as purposes (Jackson & Tinkler, 2001), methods (Golding, Sharmini, & Lazorovitch, 2014) and outcomes (Lovat, Holbrook, Bourke, Fairbairn, Kiley, Paltridge, & Starfield, 2015) with a substantial number of works relating to the oral component of thesis examination as identified by Crossouard (2011) . It is this final issue, the oral  \nvol. 60, no. 1, 2018 An oral component in PhD examination in Australia Margaret Kiley et al. 25  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nexamination, that is the focus of this paper, particularly as in most cases in Australia there is not an oral component as a standard part of the PhD examination process.  \nIn light of the existing research this paper specifically addresses the first of the two issues raised by Lovat et al.(2015) in the conclusion to their paper, where they argue that two things seem clear from the debate. The first is:‘the Australian and UK [United Kingdom] processes seem to have something to learn from each other’(p. 19). The second is: ‘an incorporation of the requirement for an individual definitive report from each examiner, with a Viva as an additional and related component, would seem to constitute a process that offers the best form of quality assurance’(p. 20). They also note that the latter:‘offers a means of closure and/or celebration’(p. 20) – a theme that also arises in the work of authors such as Jackson and Tinkler (2004) and Crossouard (2011) and which, we argue, merits separate consideration from assessment considerations per se.  \nThe proposal to address the issues related to the oral component of thesis examination in Australia arose from data collected in an extensive multi-project research program detailed later in this paper. Addressing the issue of the oral component of examination is particularly important given that Australia is one of very few countries that currently does not have some form of final oral assessment as a standard part of the doctoral examination process other than in Practice Doctorates, those involving the visual and performing arts, or where an examiner specifically requests an oral. This can be explained historically by Australia’s geographic location, as can the historical situation for New Zealand (NZ) . Partly because of this isolation, a particularly robust system of using external examiners a","cbCaiaCZx6Q6kzqE","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaCZx6Q6kzqE","pdf",166688,"English","# Introduction\n## Research background and international literature\n## Rationale for studying the oral component in Australia\n## Historical context and changing global practices\n## ACOLA Review and related policy discussion\n## Ongoing debates on alternative examination processes","[{\"question\":\"Why is the oral component of PhD examination an important topic in Australia?\",\"answer\":\"Because Australia is unusual in not having an oral component as a standard part of final doctoral assessment, and multiple institutions are considering introducing it.\"},{\"question\":\"What research gap does the paper address?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights limited work that examines the various roles of the oral component and what issues should be considered when adding or revising it in thesis examination.\"},{\"question\":\"What sources inform the paper’s discussion?\",\"answer\":\"The paper is based on published literature and three research projects initiated by SORTI at The University of Newcastle, Australia.\"}]","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W - An oral component in PhD examination in Australia - Issues and considerations | PDF",1792079706,25]