The final examination consists of the public discussion of a written dissertation on a topic related to one or more of the subject areas of the course of study, which the student will agree with the chosen supervisor as a guide for the drafting of the paper. For the presentation of their work to the committee, the student will also make use of multimedia support, if deemed appropriate. The thesis should preferably be of an applicative, design or experimental nature, from which the Commission can assess cultural and scientific maturity and the quality of the work carried out.
The student and the supervisor may avail themselves of the collaboration of a co-rapporteur in the preparation of the thesis. The Co-Rapporteur may be a lecturer from another university, including a foreign one, or a professional figure, including a person of another nationality, from outside the University. In the latter case, when submitting the thesis application, a certificate signed by the Supervisor must be produced attesting to the scientific and/or professional qualifications of the Co-Rapporteur in relation to the dissertation being examined. The specific task of the supervisor and the co-adviser, if any, is to coordinate the student's activities in the preparation of the dissertation in relation to the number of training credits envisaged for this activity.
The thesis, which may also be written partly or entirely in English, accompanied by the signature of the supervisor, must be submitted by the candidate to the competent administrative offices at least 7 days before the final examination. At the same time, the student must deposit a one-page summary of the thesis, in both paper and electronic format (MS Word or PDF), with the Department's Teaching Secretariat, which will forward it to the individual Examination Commissioners as an attachment to the invitation to the final examination session.
The Commission for the evaluation of the final examination is appointed by the Director on the proposal of the School Coordinator. The Committee consists of at least seven members, the majority of whom are full professors of the University, who teach in the Department. The Commission may include tenured, substitute or contracted professors, researchers, established professors and assistants from the exhausted list, even if they belong to another department of the University, provided that they comply with Art. 24 paragraph 2 of the RDA. Professors from other universities and experts from research bodies may also be members of the Commission.
As a rule, the President of the Committee is the Director or Coordinator of the School of Studies or, as a secondary role, the senior professor with the longest tenure. He/she is responsible for ensuring that the test is conducted in the proper manner and that the final assessments comply with the general criteria established by the School.
In order to pass the final examination, a minimum score of 66/110 is required. The maximum score is 110/110, with the possible award of honours.
The score for the degree examination is equal to the sum of the basic score and the assessment mark referred to in paragraphs 12 and 13 below. The basic score is given by the arithmetic mean weighted with respect to credits and converted into hundredths (communicated by the Student secretariat) of all the educational activities with a grade expressed in thirtieths, provided for in the candidate's study plan, with rounding off of tenths to the nearest higher or lower unit; grades of thirty and cum laude are assigned a value of 31.
For the awarding of points for the curricular grade, the Commission has a maximum of 4 points, which may be assigned by adopting the following criteria: - International mobility with acquisition of CFUs. - Completion of studies in progress; this criterion may be used if the last exam is taken within the last session of the calendar year and the degree is awarded within the last useful session of the last year of the course. - Acquisition of at least two honours in the characterising subjects; - Training and orientation periods in companies or research bodies.
In order to award the mark for the thesis, the Commission has a maximum of 7 points, which may be awarded by adopting the following criteria
- the quality of the thesis work
- the extent of the effort put into the thesis;
- the student's ability to know the topics of his thesis and the main bibliography of reference and to be able to link them to the characteristic themes of his course of study;
- the ability to present the topics of the paper fluently and to draw conclusions consistent with the results obtained;
- the ability to summarise, in a precise and exhaustive manner, the work carried out and the results achieved, within the time allocated for the presentation;
- the ability to respond to questions posed by the Commission in a fluent and relevant manner.
Honours may be awarded, on the recommendation of the supervisor and the unanimous decision of the Board, only for theses which the Board considers to be of high quality.