Procedure for submission and defence of a PhD dissertation
The document prescribed by the University of Novi Sad entitled Regulations of Ph.D. studies describes the current process of a Ph.D. dissertation submission. This process is shown in Figure 1 represented using an UML activity diagram which is created using the StartUML tool.
Ph.D. studies are organized by 14 faculties belonging to the University of Novi Sad. The procedure of submitting and defense of a dissertation consists of the well-defined steps. First step of the procedure is giving approval by Senate of the University in a form of a positive report about an evaluation of the suitability of a Ph.D. candidate, Ph.D. topic and advisor. After that, the Ph.D. candidate (student) can start research and writing Ph.D. dissertation. Once a student in cooperation with his/her advisor finishes a Ph.D. dissertation forthcoming activities are shown in Figure 1. As already mentioned, actors of the process are:
- Ph.D. students (Student),
- Faculties’ councils and the Senate of the University (Faculty and University councils),
- Committees for evaluation and defense of dissertations (Committee members),
- Officers employed at the student service of Ph.D. studies (Student service),
- Librarians employed at Faculties’ libraries and the Central University Library (Library).
Figure 1. The process of a dissertation submission and defense