Following the completion of years of study and teaching of the Bible and the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus, the last academic stage submits to the thorough examination of the entire faculty the competencies of the student who engages in two successive final debates: the vespers and the courtroom.

Vesperae (or quaestiones vesperiales, or disputationes vesperiales) were the first stage in the process of obtaining a doctorate. These were usually held in the afternoon (hence the name vespera), when the candidate had the role of answering the questions proposed for debate, thus demonstrating his ability to address a topic and argue his position.