Conduct of the final examination
The way in which the final examination is conducted and assessed is subject to the regulations of the Degree Course.
The final examination (dissertation project) includes research activities in preparation for the final examination (12 ECTS credits), the curricular internship (6 ECTS credits) and the presentation and discussion of the dissertation project at the graduation examination (3 ECTS credits). The research activities in preparation for the final examination and the internship, which are integrated with each other, consist of a total of 525 hours of activity that should be indicatively spread over a period of 6-12 months. The internship, carried out in university facilities, in organisations or companies outside the university or abroad, has the aim to allow students to acquire and improve the ability to learn and apply professional skills in the environmental field.
Professors are periodically invited to present available dissertation topics, both internally and in collaboration with external bodies, by organising meetings with students and through publication on the degree course website.
In order to be admitted to the final examination, students must be enrolled in the second year and have obtained at least 1/3 of the ECTS credits of the exams listed in the programme of study.
The dissertation involves experimental work, preferably interdisciplinary, which may also be carried out in the framework of different organisations or companies outside the university, in Italy or abroad, provided that they have an agreement with the University institution. The student carries out the dissertation work under the supervision of a professor of the degree course or, in any case, under the supervision of a professor of the University of Parma, possibly assisted by one or more experts on the study subject. The student is admitted after having attended and passed the laboratory and workplace safety course.
Internship activities require the activation of an Internship Project via the Esse3 online procedure, as indicated on the University webpage.
When working on the dissertation project, the candidate is required to present three seminars in front of a Professors' Committee of his/her degree course in order to assess the progress of the research activities in preparation for the final examination and the achievement of the dissertationproject objectives. The seminars also serve to develop the candidates' communication, judgement and self-learning skills. They are distributed at the beginning of the activity (presentation of the project), in the middle (progress seminar in English, covering experimental design and methods) and at the end of the dissertation project (final seminar presenting the results obtained). All seminars are assessed and contribute to the final grade. Successful completion of the third seminar is a prerequisite for admission to the degree examination. Starting with the 2016-17 cohort, candidates must register for Activities in Preparation for the Final Examination (Parts I, II and III) via the Esse3 platform in order to support the dissertation seminars. If a dissertation seminar is rated insufficient by the lecturers' committee, the candidate must take the same seminar again.
To be admitted to the degree examination, the candidate must submit the dissertation both in hard and electronic copy. The dissertation must be written in Italian with an extended abstract in English, but it also may be submitted in English, with an extended abstract in Italian.
The dissertation work is assessed by a committee consisting of at least five professors from the degree course or the university and, if necessary, experts in the field. On the basis of the candidate's work during the dissertation project and the scientific value of the final dissertation, the dissertation supervisor proposes a mark between 0 and 5 to the dissertation committee. Evaluating the candidate's ability to present the dissertation work and considering the evaluation of the three dissertation seminars, the committee awards a markbetween 0 and 3. The final mark is therefore between 0 and 8 points, which are added to the initial mark at the degree examination, calculated from the weighted average of the marks obtained in the profit exams taken by the candidate, rounded down to the lower integer if the decimal part of the mark is less than 0.5 and to the upper integer if it is greater than or equal to 0.5. The overall graduation grade is between 66 and 110. In the case of particularly meritorious candidates, the committee may award honours, provided that the conditions indicated in the University Regulations are met.
REWARDS FOR STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ON UNIVERSITY BODIES N.B. The special mention at graduation for the service offered to support the functioning of the University bodies appears only on the degree certificate (on stamps) that the student may request from the Student Registry Office, while it will not appear on the one that the student can download directly from ESSE3.
