The Anna University’s Centre for Research has introduced several changes to the Ph.D. theses submission protocol due to the COVID-19 situtaton. The changes will be in place till December.

The viva, an integral part of the research project, will be conducted within a week’s notice instead of three months’ notice, the university has said.

The student, the research supervisor and the research coordinator need to be physically present for the viva. However, the doctoral committee members can participate via online meeting platforms with prior permission of the Director for Centre for Research. The examiners can participate via online platforms if they cannot travel.

The mandatory seminars and synopsis meeting must be conducted in the supervisor’s department as a public seminar.

Supervisors have been allowed to conduct the examination according to their convenience but the proceedings of the viva must be uploaded to the CFR webpage, the university said. The documents along with the minutes of the viva must be signed by all the attendees and submitted to the CFR, within a week of the date of the viva.

The University has also waived the penalty for late submission of the thesis. Ph.D. scholars, who have completed six to seven years in June, have been given an extension of six months to complete their work. They have also been exempted from submitting their half-yearly performance report in June. It can now be submitted as an annual progress report in December.

According to a university official the changes were made to expedite the graduation process. Since 2014, every year over 1,000 research scholars graduate from the University.