Final Examination [Master’s]

Final
examination

The final examination consists in the discussion of a written thesis on a specific subject-related topic agreed in advance with a supervisor, closely connected with the educational activities of the Degree Programme.

The thesis is discussed before a committee appointed for this purpose; the discussion is awarded a mark out of 110, determined by taking into account the marks obtained in the individual examinations and the outcome of the thesis discussion.

In order to ensure consistency among Graduation Committees in awarding the final mark, they operate according to the following Guidelines.

a) The base mark out of 110 is determined from the weighted average of the examinations relating to the “Master’s programme”;

b) each member of the Graduation Committee awards the final discussion a score from 0 to 9, broken down as follows:

• 0-6 points for the thesis (framing of the work, bibliography, critical depth and any originality of the results)
• 0-1 points for clarity and correctness of the presentation (style, organisation, use of technical/IT tools)
• 0-2 bonus points (for example for the length of studies (not exceeding 2.5 years), or for study experience abroad).

The “virtual mark” is the sum of the base mark and the arithmetic mean of the scores awarded under b) by each member of the Committee, rounded down if the decimal part is less than 0.5 and rounded up if it is greater than or equal to 0.5.

The “degree mark” is the lower of 110 and the virtual mark.

Students who obtain a virtual mark greater than or equal to 112/110 (before rounding) may be awarded “honours” (lode) with the unanimous agreement of the members of the Graduation Committee.

The thesis request form (in Italian) is available here in .doc format (in Italian), or can be requested from the Degree Programme office (Department “Renato Caccioppoli”).