Student - April 23, 2009
FEW PHD THESES IN OTHER LANGUAGES
In recent years only a handful of Wageningen University PhD theses have been written in languages other than English. This is what Professor Paul Struik, member of the Doctorate Board, said in response to a complaint about the new Doctorate regulation that came into effect in March.
‘The problem with holding PhD defences in other languages is that you have to find opponents and an acting rector who can follow the discussion’, says Struik. ‘A PhD is assessed on both the thesis and the defence. If you want to do ir properly, then all the members of the examining committee should be able to follow the debate well enough to assess it.’ Finding enough committee members who are proficient in Spanish, French, Italian or Friesian seems to be difficult.