\tDoctoral dissertations are the strangest genre because they\u2019re both the record of a process of learning and its final product. PhD candidates are so overwhelmed by the effort made throughout the years that they don\u2019t seem to notice this particularity until, precisely, the time of the \u2018viva\u2019 (or \u2018defence,\u2019 as we call it in Spain echoing old Inquisitional tribunals…). Once the questions from the examining board pour down on the poor candidate, s\/he realises that it would be perfect if only s\/he could start again all over, now that the main mistakes are highlighted. But, then, part of the game is that you can\u2019t start all over and correct those mistakes you see in hindsight with all clarity.
\n\tThis leads to a peculiar situation: if an examining board has enough ill-will against the candidate (or his\/her supervisor…) any PhD dissertation can be failed, which seldom happens, if ever, in Spain \u2013quite the opposite. I\u2019m aware that in Britain PhD candidates can be sent back home to reform their dissertations and are allowed to re-submit them a few months later. This is unthinkable here, as it would be an appalling embarrassment for the supervisor. A peculiar idea of honour, then, turns defences into very strange exercises, as a dissertation can be awarded the highest mark regardless of the intensity and even aggressiveness of the criticisms it may receive. No wonder foreign members of examining boards are puzzled by our grading scale (remember the French diva?).
\n\tAs a member of a few tribunals so far, I do worry about our very typical \u2018cum laude\u2019 hyperinflation. I\u2019ve fought hard to keep up standards on examining boards that intended to reward candidates in excess of their merits, as I think that the all-too common automatic \u2018cum laude\u2019 diminishes the merits of real \u2018cum laudes.\u2019 This, ironically, might make me unwelcome to other examining boards, for I may gain the wrong reputation… We need to understand that if universities allow for a wider range of marks, these should be used, included \u2018Aprobado\u2019 (C) and \u2018Notable\u2019 (B). I do realise that the supervisor is a key element in the \u2018cum laude\u2019 hyperinflation, as his\/her colleagues would not want to question their professionalism by awarding one of his\/her dissertations a low mark. Yet, it\u2019s funny how we never think this way of plain exams, which the best university teachers can fail with no qualms about his\/her own reputation (again, quite the opposite). In the same way, although a doctorate is our own honours program, we need to understand that the impact of falling standards will soon be felt and we\u2019ll have indeed dissertations that only merit a simple \u2018pass,\u2019 regardless of the efforts of the supervisor.
\n\tKnowing that this blog is, somehow, autobiographical, I\u2019m sure readers will suspect that I\u2019m referring here to a particular dissertation. Well, yes, last Friday I was part of a PhD examining board and, yes, criticism was quite thorough, despite which the candidate got a \u2018cum laude\u2019 (A+). I awarded this mark with all my heart for I did see that the candidate, a hard-working person whose academic capacities I know well, understood our criticisms and would make most of them in order to publish a better version of his dissertation. Also because his failings were connected to his ambition to do innovative research in his field, which is, after all, the point of a dissertation. Well done!!
\n\tI just hope my own doctoral students do so well and that if they receive a \u2018cum laude\u2019 it is justified on the same grounds. I\u2019m ready to help but I\u2019m also ready for the time one of mine might deserve just a \u2018pass\u2019 despite my efforts. Sooner or later, it\u2019ll happen to any of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doctoral dissertations are the strangest genre because they\u2019re both the record of a process of learning and its final product. PhD candidates are so overwhelmed by the effort made throughout the years that they don\u2019t seem to notice this particularity until, precisely, the time of the \u2018viva\u2019 (or \u2018defence,\u2019 as we call it in Spain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post-graduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}