GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY
2015-2016 A.Y.
Master of Science Programs (2-y)
10.
THESIS AND GRADUATION SESSION
The rules described in this chapter are valid up to the April 2017 graduation session (last graduation session included in the 2015/16 academic year). Starting with the July 2017 graduation session, rules applied are the ones described in the Guide to the University 2016/2017.
To be admitted to the graduation session students must earn all the credit points provided for in the program structure except for those credits of the thesis.
• completion of the whole Graduation application procedures; Last change 05/08/2017 11:00 |
10.1.
Thesis
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10.1.1.
Thesis content
In order to obtain the Master of Science degree, the final exam requires students to present and defend their written thesis before the Degree Assessment Board. The thesis shapes the student's educational experience in a significant way. It is the result of research carried out under the supervision of the thesis advisor on a topic linked to the main subject area of the graduating student's curriculum. The topic of the thesis does not necessarily have to be associated with a course in the student's study plan. It can be based on work experience (internship) or a period of study in Italy or abroad. The thesis must demonstrate the student's command of the basic methodologies of the subject areas he/she has studied. Students must also prepare an in-depth analysis of a specific topic addressing the theoretical, practical and empirical aspects in an original and critical way. Students enrolled in Italian class groups can choose to write the thesis in Italian or in English (the language of thesis oral defence is the same as the language in which the thesis is written). Students enrolled in English class groups must write the thesis in English. For a student who acquired an advanced and specialized preparation writing the thesis generally corresponds to 4 months of full-time committment. The committment depends on the number of credit points of the thesis. As a general guide the thesis is made of 50 pages (around 18.000 words) except for: 1) theses referring to the Department of Law, made of about 150/200 pages (around 50.000/70.000 words); 2) theses referring to the field of Economic History of the Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management, which can be of variable lenght, up to about 150 pages (around 50.000). Thesis is followed by an abstract which summarizes the thesis main topic. It is possible to download the Guide for writing the MSc thesis which has been written with the aim of give orientation to students in writing the thesis. • Guide for writing the thesis (MSc Programs related to economics and Management); If needed, any additional information on peculiar courses of a specific MSc Program can be provided by the Program Director and will come out when writing the thesis from the contact between Advisor and student. We invite you to carefully check the correct procedures for the use of citations, in the above guide. The University pays particular attention to the originality of the students’ thesis.It must be the result of a personal contribution, must not be carried out with the aid of outside consulting firms, special attention must be paid to citations and the thesis must not contain texts taken from other sources.To this end the University has adopted ad hoc software in order to verify the originality of the work. Should copying of work be discovered, the student will be referred to the Disciplinary Board and appropriate measures will be taken. Last change 25/01/2016 10:25 |
10.2.
Graduation application procedure
The Graduation application procedures process is structured into the following phases:
Università Bocconi offers assistance at the Secretary’s Office of the Graduate School (Location Table). Last change 01/06/2015 08:00 |
10.2.1.
Thesis title assignment
The thesis is formally assigned by the thesis advisor, who will supervise the progress of the work. The advisor may nominate a second advisor:
In case of selection of a Second Advisor, after entering the title into the IT procedure, students will fill the appropriate form in (Second Advisor form - pdf file) which must be signed by the Advisor professor and returned to the Offices of the Graduate School. Once the thesis has been assigned, the thesis advisor will nominate a discussant to act as the interlocutor during the presentation (defence) of the thesis. There is only one discussant. The discussant is chosen from among the professors who can assume the role of thesis discussant according to rank and qualifications, as defined by the University. Title entering procedures Thesis title assignment can be made only if the student is enrolled in the second year of studies. After having agreed upon the thesis title and the Discussant’s name with the Advisor professor the Graduating student must: access to the function "Graduation - Application Procedures" and fill out the section "Thesis Title entering on the web by specifying:
In case of second advisor, the name has not to be entered online, but communicated in accordance with the procedure described above. The information entered online are immediately made available to the Advisor Professor who, via web, continues with assignment of the thesis and any change of the Discussant professor. Upon title assignment the student receives a notification via yoU@B Diary and can continue with the following phases of the Graduation - Application procedures. NOTE: the title approval by the advisor professor is comulsory requirement for making the graduation reservation. Therefore, we invite you to enter the title well in advance than the deadline for carrying out the graduation reservation (for deadlines see www.unibocconi.eu/graduationcalendar). Modifying the title of the thesis If the student wishes to modify the data relating to the title entered only, he/she must use the function Graduation Application procedure>Change title: in this case, if done already, the final paper title assignment by the Advisor professor is still valid. The student can change the title entered online up to the request of approval to the Advisor professor: once the approval has been requested, the function ‘Change title’ will no longer be available. Any annulment of the title entered If the student wishes to annul the data relating to the Advisor professor and enter a new title, must use the function Graduation application procedures>Cancel title: in this case he/she must repeat the whole procedure of title entering and must wait the title assignment by the new Advisor professor. The student can cancel the title entered online until request of approval to the Advisor professor: once he/she has forwarded the approval request, the function ‘Change title’ and ‘Cancel title’ are no longer available. NOTICE: the student who does not wish to graduate and cancels the thesis tile, must also cancel the graduation reservation made. Uploading Thesis attachments not definitive files Only upon approval of the Advisor Professor to a specific request, the student can forward NON DEFINITIVE files of his/her work (e.g. chapters of temporary sections) by using the appropriate function ‘Thesis attachments’ available online in the Graduation>Application procedure function. The attached files are made available to the professor. NOTICE: uploading the files in ‘Thesis attachment’ function DOES NOT replace the upload of one-definitive file which MUST be made in any case by using the function ‘Thesis title Information completion’>Thesis final attachment Once the title has been assigned by the tutor professor, the student can:
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10.2.2.
Graduation reservation
NOTICE: the first graduation session available for students enrolled in the second year of studies in the 2015-2016 academic year will be held in July 2016. Students can make the graduation reservation via the Student diary function "Graduation>Graduation-Application Procedure>Graduation Reservation" by reserving a graduation session from the Graduation Calendar. Students can sit exams during this period. Students do not need to have passed all exams in order to make the graduation reservation, therefore, it is advisable to make the graduation reservation in advance than the thesis upload. When making the graduation reservation, the system will check online that both the student's financial and administrative positions(*) comply with the graduation session. In addition, the system also checks that students:
Students' administrative status regards:
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10.2.3.
Thesis title information completion - uploading the final attachment
After having completed the first phases of the graduation application procedure, the graduating student must enter - via the web - all information still missing to complete the title of the thesis. Through the function Graduation>Application procedure>’Thesis title information completion’ the student:
The student must upload the definitive file by the deadlines specified in the graduation calendar published on the website www.unibocconi.eu/graduationcalendar. NOTICE: the definitive file of the Thesis must exclusively be uploaded through the Thesis Title - Information completion; the function Thesis attachments’ MUST NOT be considered as an alternative for the upload of the definitive file of the thesis. In addition, once the definitive file has been uploaded and the approval has been requested online, changes are no longer possible. The information entered and the final attachment of the thesis uploaded online are immediately made available for being viewed by the Advisor professor. IMPORTANT NOTE: 1. the text of the abstract MUST BE digited in the box of the procedure and NOT copied and pasted from a file; 2. the definitive file, in PDF format (max 10 MB) must include, as first pages, 4 sheets ordered as follows: 1st page: white page 2nd page: white sheet 3rd page: thanks (if not included a white sheet) 4th page: a white sheet. The text of one’s work (numbering, index, introduction, contents and so on) must start after the 4 pages above. The thesis content must not include the title page as it will be printed automatically and it will include the information on title entered by the student online. Last change 22/07/2015 17:13 |
10.2.4.
Approval request
The approval is the declaration of approval released by the professor regarding the thesis written by the student and it represent the final phase of the Graduation application procedures in order to be admitted in the graduation session. The student can request the approval when:
The approval request must be carried out via yoU@B Diary upon selecting the function ‘Graduation>Application procedure>Request approval by the dates specified in the graduation calendar published on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/graduationcalendar. Upon approval release by the Advisor professor, the student receives a message on the yoU@B Diary and can consider the graduation application procedure correctly completed. Last change 22/07/2015 17:14 |
10.3.
Format specifications
The thesis must be uploaded in a single file, PDF format created with the Adobe Acrobat program, and the name of the file will be TS, followed by the student ID number e.g., if the student ID number is 1234567, the name of the file is TS1234567.pdf.
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10.3.1.
Thesis format specifications
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10.3.2.
Format specifications for any material supporting the thesis oral defense
If the student wishes to prepare any support materials for the thesis oral defense (e.g. any paper presentation brought to the graduation session) he/she is invited to follow the indications below in line with the principles of environmental sustainability applied by the University:
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10.4.
Graduation acceptance
After the period for submitting the thesis has closed, the Study Planning Office will determine whether or not the student meets all the criteria to graduate by in checking that:
Students will receive notification about acceptance to graduation via an online message sent to their yoU@B student Diaries. After making the graduation reservation students can no longer enroll in the academic year if they do not cancel the graduation reservation previously made. The students who wish to cancel the reservation after the scheduled deadline and wish to enroll in the academic year, must submit written request at the Academic Affairs Division Desk. After enrollment in the academic year and settlement of the financial situation, students can submit again the graduation reservation. Last change 22/07/2015 17:20 |
10.5.
Degree Assessment Boards
The thesis is evaluated by the Degree Assessment Board, of which the thesis advisor is a member.
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10.6.
Graduation and awarding of the graduation grade
Students must defend the thesis in the same language they wrote it; students enrolled in class groups taught in English must defend the thesis in English.
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10.7.
Important reminders
After reserving a graduation session students can no longer enrol in the new academic year unless they renounce the graduation reservation. Renouncement to the reserved graduation session after the set deadlines must be done in writing and handed in to the Academic Affairs Division Desk. After re-enrolling in the new academic year and settling any pending financial obligations, students can make another graduation reservation via Agenda. Last change 22/07/2015 17:18 |
10.8.
Graduation session
The graduation calendar can be consulted on the website in the section "Timetable, calendars and rooms". It also contains the following information:
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10.9.
Self-declarations and degree certifications
As a general guide, in the following days after the publication of grades, graduates can:
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