[Vocabulary] take/get/defend a diploma

[tyrp]

Hello everyone,
Which of the expressions is better and in more popular use: to take or to defend a diploma if we mean making a public speech and answering questions on the topic of the diploma research? Will to get a diploma make accent on only receiving the document about one's graduation, and not on the process of taking the floor before a panel of professors and examination board?
Thanks a lot in advance!
PS is it the examination board or also the examining board? Thanks for your kind attention and help!

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

I'd use 'defend'.

A student in the Ukraine or Russia has to complete a thesis and then defend it in front of their department.
(Thesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[tyrp]

Thanks a lot!
PS today the name of our country is Ukraine, not the Ukraine, now that we're independent)))

 

[5jj]

Note that it's the thesis one defends, not the diploma.

 

[tyrp]

Thanks again! Do we never say 'diploma' to mean the MA or BA paper? Shall I stick to thesis only? What about the examination board? Can we say examinating board or does it fall in the eye as strange? Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

No. A diploma is what you get when you finish your degree. It's not the same as a thesis.

PS today the name of our country is Ukraine, not the Ukraine, now that we're independent)))

Thank you for that. I just realized that this is related to the 'на Украине vs. в Украине' debate.

 

[tyrp]

Thanks again!I appreciate your help.