15.§ Public Disputation of the Dissertation
(1) [DR 16.§ (1)] Doctoral dissertations shall be defended before a board of referees (hereinafter referred to as Board), in public debate.
(2) [DR 16.§ (2)] For each doctoral dissertation, the DDHC shall set up a Board to conduct the public debate, take a decision on the acceptance of the dissertation, and evaluate the public defence. The Board shall have at least five members. The provisions of Section
8(24) shall apply, as appropriate, to the selection of the members of the Board.
(3) The doctoral school also appoints a substitute chair and two substitute members. The candidate’s supervisor, consultant and the persons publishing together with the candidate in the doctoral topic may not become members of the board. The two referees of the dissertation are also the members of the board.
(4) The doctoral defence may be carried out if the chair and three members (at least one referee and an external member, who may be the same person) are present. If one of the referees may not participate in the defence, he/she shall make a written statement before the defence about the approval of the response given by the candidate. At the defence the assessment of the referee not present is presented by the chair/secretary.
(5) [DR 16.§ (3)] Doctoral dissertations shall be submitted for public debate within two months from the receipt of two proposals in support of a public defence, before the end of the study period. The person who submitted the doctoral dissertation shall receive the assessments in advance and shall respond to them in writing before the defence and ’viva voce’ in the public debate during the defence.
(6) The candidate, all members of DDHC and the professionally competent departments of the university shall be notified about the date of the open debate at least 5 working days before the date of the debate. The doctoral school publishes the date of the debate on the website of the Hungarian Doctoral Council. It shall be stated in the notification that anyone may speak in the open debate and may in advance make a statement in writing
(7) It is necessary to ensure, that the members of the board may get insight into the assessments and the responses prior to the open debate.
(8) In case of a dissertation in a foreign language the defence may be carried out in Hungarian or in the given foreign language, of which the candidate shall make a statement at the submission of the dissertation.
(9) During the debate the author presents the main results of the work done and the theses in a short, free presentation (20′). Thereafter the referees present their opinion and the author answers the questions and the comments asked by the referees and the participants of the open debate. Finally the referees and the participants of the open debate declare whether they accept the answer of the author.
(10) [DR 16.§ (4)] If a doctoral dissertation is involved in a patent procedure or contains data classified for national security reasons, it may be defended behind closed doors on the request of the person submitting the doctoral dissertation, subject to the favourable opinion of the Board and with the approval of the DDHC.
(11) [DR 16.§ (5)] After closing the debate, the Board shall decide on the acceptance of the dissertation behind closed doors, by secret ballot. Then the chair shall announce the result publicly.
(12) The board decides the result of the defence by scoring (0-1-2-3-4 points). The dissertation is deemed to be accepted, if the sum of the points received reaches the 60% of the points available.
(13) [DR 16.§ (6)] The defence and the decision of the board shall be minuted. The higher education institution shall, on request, provide a certificate of the outcome of the defence, indicating in it that the certificate shall not constitute evidence of obtaining a doctoral degree.
(14) [DR 16.§ (7)] In case of two negative assessments or an unsuccessful defence, submission of a new doctoral dissertation on the same dissertation topic shall not be initiated less than two years later or more than once.
16.§ Classification of the Doctoral Degree
(1) Based on the minutes of the thesis defence the DDHC makes a proposal to the UDHC for the award of a doctoral degree within 14 days of the defence.
(2) The UDHC decides by voting on the award of the degree within 30 days of the DDHC proposal.
(3) The classification of the doctoral degree is determined on the basis of the percentage result of the defence. The classification of the degree is “summa cum laude” (excellent) in case of 90 or more percent, “cum laude” (good) in case of at least 80%, 60% shall be achieved for the „rite” (pass) classification.
(4) In case of the doctoral candidates participating in the programme before September 2016 the open debate shall be held after the successful doctoral final examination. In their case the classification of the doctoral degree is determined on the basis of the simple
arithmetic mean of the final examination and the percentage result of the defence. The classification of the degree is “summa cum laude” (excellent) in case of 90 or more percent, “cum laude” (good) in case of at least 80%, 60% shall be achieved for the „rite” (pass) classification. Based on the minutes of the final examination and the defence the doctoral school makes a proposal to the UDHC.
(5) [NHEA 53. § (6)] All doctoral degrees awarded shall be recorded in a central register, which shall be open to the public for inspection. Online accessibility for the register shall be ensured.
(6) [DR 16. § (8)] On the basis of the decision entered into the doctoral records, the higher education institution shall issue a diploma attesting to the award of a doctoral degree by the UDHC, indicating in it the discipline and the branch of science or art within that and simultaneously notifying it to the Educational Authority.