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These proposals have deadlines and decision dates according to the table below. 

When both pre-examination statements have arrived, the first decision on permission will be made according to the table below (scroll down) either in a regular or an email meeting. This is the first round of permission process, after which the student makes corrections to the manuscript. 

The corrections of the doctoral thesis will typically be processed as follows (the second round of permission process):

• When decision B has been given: The Chair of the Doctoral Programme Committee will check the corrections within about one week. There are no deadlines for submission.
• When decision C has been given: When the corrections have been submitted, new decision will be made according to the table both in regular and email meetings. Please follow the submission deadlines of the table. 

(When submitting corrections after a C decision, please note that you can submit the proposal of opponent(s) and details (date, time) of the defence at the same time. In case of regular meetings, both corrections and proposal can be processed in the same meeting. In email meetings, on the other hand, because of the nature of the decision process the items are processed successively in two different meetings. It is still worthwhile to submit the proposal along with the corrections, because typically the opponent and defence details can be confirmed on the next week following the permission. Of course, you can also submit the proposal separately later. Please read more below regarding confirmation of opponent and details of the defence.)

Decisions and other information on permission for public defence

• Processed both in regular and email meetings
• DL on Mondays at 12

The proposals submitted by each Monday at noon (provided that no supplementary information is needed), are in most cases processed within a week either in an email meeting or in a regular meeting. In most cases, the decision day is therefore Friday. No decisions are made on holiday weeks (8, 42) and seasons.

• Processed mainly in regular meetings, but occasionally also in email meetings
• If the statement of the opponent has arrived early enough before the meeting, and the committee is convinced that the doctoral student will not make an official reply to the statement, the thesis can be approved in the meeting. If the defence date is close to the meeting date, the student should prepare to answer to the question of the doctoral education services regarding this matter in a short notice.
• The request for graduation should be sent 4 working days before the meeting at the latest to ensure graduation on a date mentioned on the table.

*Only an email meeting to approve the theses defended during summer. The statements need to have arrived by the deadline.

The Doctoral Programme Committee shall

1. put forth proposals to the school academic committee on the doctoral programme curriculum, degree requirements and admissions criteria;
2. develop the school’s doctoral programme content and joint studies;
3. put forth proposals to the school academic committee on the doctoral research fields and the professors in charge of them;
4. put forth proposals to the dean regarding the admission of doctoral students;
5. appoint the preliminary examiners of doctoral theses and decide on granting permissions for the public examination of the theses;
6. appoint persons to serve as opponent(s) in the public examinations;
7. evaluate doctoral theses;
8. appoint the examiners of the licentiate theses;
9. evaluate licentiate theses; and
10. make decisions on doctoral programme development and quality assurance, and on the processing of feedback
11. consider any other matters assigned by the dean or set forth in the degree regulations.

In addition, the doctoral programme committee shall perform the following tasks (unless it has assigned them to the chair):

1. appoint doctoral students’ supervising professors and thesis advisors
2. decide the language of degree of the doctoral student and the topic and language of their doctoral thesis and
3. decide on the date and language of the public examination of the doctoral thesis and appoint the custos for it.

The doctoral programme committee has on January 2025, assigned the chair to decide on the following matters: 

1. to appoint a new supervising professor and advisor(s) for the doctoral student, if the supervising professor or thesis advisor(s) change after the start of studies but before the start of the preliminary examination;
2. to decide on the degree language of the doctoral student and on the topic and language of the licentiate or doctoral thesis, if these change after the start of the studies but before the start of the preliminary examination;
3. to decide on the time and language of the of public examination of the doctoral thesis and to appoint the custos for it if this information is changed;
4. to confirm the full-time/part-time status changes. The status is defined in admission.

The Doctoral Program Committee (DPC) of the Doctoral program in Electrical Engineering include one student representative and a deputy representative. The student representatives are appointed by The Academic Affairs Commity of the School of Electrical Engineering based on a proposal by Aalto University Student Union (AYY). 

The role of the student representative is to

• participate in the decision-making of the DPC
• serve as an information intermediary between the students and the DPC. Please remember to maintain anonymity in the discussions.
• soliciting and sharing informal feedback from doctoral students for program development
• identifying and voicing pressing student concerns and challenges related to their work and 

wellbeing to the DPC, or the Director of the doctoral program. 

• actively liaising with Aallonhuiput—the Aalto University doctoral student association—to 

  facilitate a close working relationship between Aallonhuiput and the doctoral program. 

The student representative may not 

• participate in decision making related to the evaluation of a study attainment of a degree which they have not obtained themselves (e.g. permission for public defense and evaluating the doctoral thesis).
• talk about matters related to individual students or sensitive matters. All decisions made in the meetings are communicated to the students/applicants by the Doctoral Education Services.