Long story short; I submitted my thesis, had an awful viva; the examiners didn't understand my work and said they personally didn;t like the software I had used, despite it being a leading package in my field of study.
If someone doesn't understand your work, it reflects a failure on your part to explain it!
Everyone was shocked by the outcome - me, my supervisors, etc. I even sent my thesis for external review, and got it back with glowing comments.
So it seems I was unlucky enough to get disinterested examiners who i) didn't like my software choice, ii) clearly hadn't read or understood my thesis properly.
Who chose examiners?
I lodged a complaint to my University, and requested different examiners for the second viva, but it has not been upheld. My complaint was sent to the two examiners so that they could respond - and they have responded with scathing vitriol, and a lot of mis-truths about what happened in the viva, contradicting some of the things I raised.
Two people v you!
I have completely lost faith in the system. I worked hard, produced good work, satisfied all the University criteria for a PhD and yet have not been awarded it.
You haven't because you haven't passed viva, which is an essential part of the assessment process.
Or, I could just quit now, and take legal action against my University for educational negligence and breach of contract to try and reclaim some of my costs. I have a good case.
How has the university been negligent or breached its contract? There is an element of subjectivity to the academic process- you happen to disagree with two experts!
