Conduct of the final examination
Once the student's thesis has been approved by the supervisor, it is presented in oral form to a Degree Committee, whose task is to assess the student's level of knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, the ability to apply this knowledge and understanding to the specific problem covered by the work, communication skills in written form (with the paper) and oral form (the presentation) and, lastly, the degree of autonomy of judgement on the issues covered by the thesis. The preliminary committee's judgement is then forwarded to the proclamation committee, which assesses the student's career and calculates the final grade according to the criteria set out below.
The Degree Committee, taking into account the indications expressed by the Preliminary Committee, may award up to a maximum of 7.5 points distributed as follows
- up to 6 points to the thesis Based on the certification provided by the Student registry office, the Degree Committee will automatically calculate
- the number of praise:
1 praise: 0 points;
2 praise: 0.5 points;
3 - 4 praise: 1 point;
5 praise and above: 1.5 points.
Honours may be awarded as part of the final assessment for students with a meritorious study record who have done particularly good thesis work. For this reason, the award of honours must be expressly requested by the Rapporteur in the Preliminary Committee and confirmed by the Degree Committee. The Degree Committee may decide independently on the awarding of honours if the sum of the average, career, thesis and number of distinctions exceeds 110/110.
Every year, in the first semester, the course of study organises a Thesis Preparation meeting open to both first and second year students of the Second-cycle degree course, with the following aims: to illustrate the importance of thesis work, to explain the rationale behind the choice of topic and, within it, of a specific problem on which to focus, the stages of the research process that will lead to the "solution" of the problem chosen as the subject of the thesis. The meeting is also an opportunity to present the topics proposed by the individual lecturers of the course, in order to facilitate students' choice. The materials used for the meeting as well as the list of available titles can be found on the course website.
It is permissible to write and discuss the thesis in English, subject to the consent of the thesis supervisor and a formal commitment by the candidate to undertake a professional revision of the text to correct its form, before final approval by the thesis supervisor.
Already since 2017, a joint project with the Human Sciences division has been activated. Human Sciences of the University Library System a short series of meetings for students about to start their thesis work, aimed at providing them with the basic knowledge to use the bibliographic research tools and documentary sources available to carry out their thesis research. The rounds of meetings were very successful, both among the students and in the observation of the teachers, who confirmed that the participating students had developed the desired bibliographic research skills. The experience has been repeated every year since then, three times, when the thesis titles are awarded.
Seminars were also held to train basic skills in the use of SPSS software for data analysis specifically aimed at thesis projects.
The preparation of part or all of the thesis work during mobility periods abroad (Erasmus, Overworld et cetera) is encouraged, subject to agreement with the supervisor. A record is kept in the student's career of having developed part of the research for the purpose of the thesis abroad.
