The viva voce, freed from the committee room
For centuries, 'with the living voice' has been how universities verified real understanding. Prova conducts adaptive viva voce examinations for any course and any cohort size — with a full evidentiary record for every candidate.
The exam that survived every technology so far
Printing, typewriters, word processors, the internet — each made written work easier to produce and easier to copy. Through all of it, the viva voce kept its authority, because a live conversation cannot be plagiarized. Medicine and law never abandoned it; doctoral education never abandoned it; the professions that certify life-and-death competence never abandoned it.
What kept the viva rare was cost: assembling examiners, scheduling candidates, and sitting through each session one at a time. A format reserved for the end of a doctorate — one examination per seven years of study — because that was all the system could afford.
Generative AI has now broken every written alternative at once. The viva's moment has arrived — if it can scale.
Everything essential about the viva, none of the bottleneck
Probing dialogue
Questions build on answers, press on weak points, and test the boundaries of understanding — the Socratic core that makes a viva a viva.
Academic judgment
Examiners set the scope and rubric, review the evidence, and decide outcomes. Prova conducts the conversation; the academy keeps the verdict.
The candidate's voice
Students speak their reasoning aloud, in their own words, in real time — the one medium generative AI cannot ghost-write.
Any cohort size
Sessions run concurrently within a window you set. A 400-student module can sit vivas in a week without a single scheduling email.
Perfect consistency
No panel drift, no hard-marker lottery, no fatigue in the day's last session. One rubric, applied identically to every candidate.
A complete record
Recording, transcript, rubric scores, quoted evidence — moderation, appeals, and external examination work from the full session, not reconstructed notes.
From once-in-a-degree to every module
Departments use Prova vivas at three altitudes. As coursework verification — short vivas attached to essays and projects, confirming each submission is understood by its author. As module examinations — a substantial viva replacing or complementing a written final. And as defense preparation — realistic practice vivas for research students ahead of the real committee.
In every configuration, the pattern is the same: the examination method your institution already trusts most, applied where it was never affordable before.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a viva voce examination?
Viva voce — Latin for "with the living voice" — is the oral examination tradition in which a student answers questions and defends their work in live conversation with examiners. It remains the final gate for doctoral degrees across the UK, Europe, and much of the world, precisely because it is so hard to fake.
What does an AI viva voce platform do?
Prova conducts viva-style examinations through natural spoken conversation: questioning students on course material or submitted work, pressing with adaptive follow-ups, and producing a rubric-aligned evaluation with full transcript. It makes the viva format practical for everyday modules and large cohorts, not just final doctoral defenses.
How does an AI viva compare to a panel of examiners?
A human panel brings judgment that stays in the loop — examiners and module leaders review Prova's evidence and control outcomes. What the platform adds is consistency and reach: the same standards applied to every candidate without panel fatigue or scheduling limits, plus a complete transcript rather than examiners' notes.
Is this suitable for undergraduate modules or only research degrees?
The pedagogy transfers directly. Short vivas on coursework verify understanding at any level, and undergraduates arguably need it most: their written assessments are the most exposed to generative AI. Many faculty run 10–15 minute vivas attached to essays, projects, and problem sets.
Does it support external-examiner and moderation processes?
Every viva produces a complete record — recording, transcript, rubric scores, and quoted evidence — which makes moderation, second-marking, and external examination dramatically easier than reconciling handwritten notes from live panels.