英国博士学位论文答辩及其特点

British Doctoral Dissertation Defence and Its Characteristics

英国博士教育沿袭精英教育传统而注重质量。以牛津大学和杜伦大学为案例,探讨英国博士学位论文答辩准备和答辩过程的严肃性与规范性。英国博士学位论文答辩,除了遵循博士学位论文答辩的基本要求外,还具有以下显著特点:答辩前可对答辩人进行辅导,官方组织和邀请教师与同学参加答辩人的模拟答辩;答辩委员会成员人数不多,但整个答辩持续时间较长;答辩人需要根据答辩委员的意见逐条修改论文,相关措施杜绝答辩流于形式。

British doctoral education follows the tradition of elite education and focuses on quality.Taking Oxford University and Durham University as cases,this paper analyzes the preparation and process of British doctoral dissertation defence from two aspects:strictness and standard.Besides the basic requirements,British doctoral dissertation defence has the following remarkable characteristics:the doctoral candidate can be counseled before the defence,which is officially organized for both tutors and candidates as a simulation;the number of defence committee members is small,but the defence lasts for a long time;expert opinions are absorbed for the dissertation revision with some measures to guarantee the defence quality.