Final steps

At UNIL, each faculty has its own regulations concerning the stages of the doctorate. It is thus very important to find out about the specific rules and requirements of your faculty.

Therefore, in addition to the general information below, please ask your thesis director and your doctoral program or thesis secretary office for advice.

Indeed, each faculty has its own procedures and deadlines for:

• Appointment of the jury members (proposal and approval);
• Submission of the thesis manuscript (number, where, by which deadline);
• Private defence ("colloque" or jury examination);
• Public defence;
• Award of the title of Doctor.

With the exception of Law, the final thesis evaluation includes two steps: the private and the public defences.

The private defence is a discussion conducted behind closed doors lasting several hours between the doctoral candidate, the jury members and the thesis supervisor(s). It allows in-depth discussion of all aspects of the thesis. Generally the candidate is asked to make certain changes at the end of the examination.

The public defence is organised some time after the private defence, once the candidate has made the corrections requested by the jury. Thus the public defence is unlikely to give rise to major differences between the candidate and the jury. The thesis defence is a public event, intended to allow the candidate to present their work.

To help you prepare for your private and publique defences, the Graduate Campus is offering a dedicated workshop.

After the public defence, in order to obtain the title of Doctor, several essential steps still need to be completed, as described below :

Once you have successfully defended your thesis and made any required corrections to the manuscript, a few steps are still necessary before you receive your diploma :

• pay the defense fee (500 CHF)
• meet your faculty requirements (e.g. validate ECTS credits)
• complete the online diploma request
• submit your thesis on Serval in pdf format, including title page and imprimatur
• Agree to the general conditions relating to the deposit and conditions of electronic distribution of a university thesis

As of February 1, 2025, the legal deposit of theses is no longer carried out in paper form at the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne (BCUL), but in electronic form on Serval. The BCUL is in charge of validating your deposit, but it is your responsibility to check that your pdf :

• is the final version that has undergone the imprimatur process 
• includes the title page and imprimatur
• is of sufficient quality, especially if it includes images (max 350 MB)
• respects any confidentiality agreements signed (publishing house, patent, etc.).

IMPORTANT ⇒ You must remain enrolled as a doctoral candidate until your thesis is registered by BCUL, if the deposit on Serval is validated:

• after October 15 : registration is mandatory for the fall semester.
• after February 28 : registration is mandatory for the spring semester.