Court of Examiners

The Court of Examiners is appointed by the Council of the College. Its purpose is to conduct the Fellowship Examination and to assess the knowledge, clinical skills, judgement, decision making and professional competencies of candidates, in order to ensure that they are safe and competent to practice as surgeons.

The Court is composed of surgeons representing the nine different specialties in which the College conducts the examination. The number of Examiners varies in each specialty in line with the number of trainees and examination candidates.

The clinical/viva examinations are generally conducted during May and September each year in venues across Australia and New Zealand and alternate between the following locations:

• Australia - Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
• New Zealand - Auckland and Wellington

The written exams are normally conducted in April and August each year in the following locations:

• Australia - Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney
• New Zealand - Auckland and Wellington

2019 Court of Examiners members (PDF 73.67KB)

Applications for appointment to the Court of Examiners for 2020 are now open for the following specialties:

• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Urology

Please email your completed application form (PDF 1.07MB) and a current curriculum vitae to Court.Examiners@surgeons.org by Friday 8 November 2019 for appointment in February 2020.

Please read the following policies paying particular attention to the selection guidelines:

• Appointments to the Court of Examiners (PDF 105.31KB)
• Conduct of the Fellowship Examination

Please contact the Examinations Department for further information.

Examinations Department
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
250-290 Spring Street
East Melbourne VIC 3002 Australia

Telephone: +61 3 9276 7471
Email: Court.Examiners@surgeons.org