Procedures for the final examination of master's degree courses

In order to obtain a Master's degree, students should write a dissertation at the end of the master’s degree in front of an Dissertation Panel. 

The elaboration
The topic of the paper is agreed between the student, in relation to his/her interests, and a professor who serves as the supervisor.
The paper is developed independently by the student; the method of preparation is agreed with the supervisor, who will provide advice and all necessary assistance.
In relation to the number of credits associated with the final examination, the approximate size of the final paper ranges between 100 and 150 pages, each of approximately 2,000 characters (including spaces, tables, figures, graphs, bibliographical notes, etc.), for a total of approximately 200/300 thousand characters. The student is therefore required to work for a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 months.
 
Download the guidelines for writing the master's dissertation: the initial research of materials, structure of the work, recommended graphic formats, bibliography, electronic resources, etc.
 
Language
The dissertation may be written in Italian or English, for students of the socio-political-economic curriculum (if in English, the dissertation must be accompanied by a 10-page abstract in Italian language). Students of the English-language curriculum should write their dissertation exclusively in English.
 
FIRST STEP: Identification of the supervisor 
Starting from the first semester of the second year of the course, the student may contact a professor or researcher belonging to a Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD) included in the list of exams taken, to request his/her availability to take on the role of supervisor. The supervisor must be a professor/researcher who has (or has had) courses in the Interfaculty degree Programme and who belongs to a Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD) included in the list of exams taken. The sectors of characterising and related or supplementary activities are included. It is not possible to graduate with professors of elective activities if those courses fall within a SSD other than those provided for by the Didactic Regulations of one's own degree Programme. 
 
SECOND STEP: Formal submission of the graduation application on the Infostud platform and necessary requirements 
Once the student, in agreement with his/her supervisor, has carried out a substantial part of the dissertation work and has identified the session in which he/she intends to graduate, he/she must submit the graduation application via Infostud, within the booking window provided for each session, scrupulously respecting the deadlines that will be published in the Schedule. The deadline for submitting the online application is mandatory and no exceptions may be requested for any reason. Students are therefore advised to contact the supervisor in good time for all the necessary requirements. Any unavailability of professors in the last few days before the deadline cannot under any circumstances be invoked to obtain an extension of the deadlines.
 
In order to submit the application, the student must activate, if he/she has not already done so, his/her institutional email address, following the instructions given at www.uniroma1.it/emailstudenti. At this email address the student will receive the receipt of the degree reservation and/or any other communication from the Student Affairs Office or the Supervisor.
 
According to the provisions of the Presidential Decree no. 642 of 26 October 1972 (Tariff, Part I, Article 1), the submission of the application to the graduation session is subject to the payment of a fee of €32.00 (€16.00 for the application and €16.00 for the parchment), which can be downloaded from Infostud.
Payment of the fee must be made no later than 5 working days before the scheduled deadline for the submission of the application and not close to the application deadline, as otherwise the system will not allow the student to book, as at least 72 working hours are required before Sapienza acquires the payment.
 
The application may only be submitted once 96% of the total number of credits required for in one's course of study has been achieved, excluding credits to be acquired through the final examination (and any internship, if foreseen in one's course).
This means that a 509 system student may still have exams to take for no more than 8 cfu; a 270 system student may still have exams to take for no more than 9 cfu; an old five-year system student may still have no more than 1 exam to take.
It is understood that all credits still to be taken at the time of submission of the application must be taken and recorded no later than 20 days from the start of the sessions. If the credits for internships (and for ord. 509 students also for supplementary didactic activities) are not already recorded at the time of submitting the application, it will be necessary to deliver by the same date and therefore no later than 20 days before the start of the session, exclusively to the Internship Office - 1st floor, Via Salaria 113 room B4 during reception hours - the documentation for the acquisition of the missing credits, following the instructions given at the link 

N.B. Exclusively for the July session, the Departmental Council of 4 February 2015 resolved that, in derogation of the 96% ceiling, current enrolled students who have already taken all the exams scheduled in their course of study by the end of the January/February session can submit the degree application, with the exception of only the subjects taught for the first time in the second semester of the last year.
Students who find themselves in the condition described above and who wish to take advantage of the summer session in July to complete their course of study, before applying online must contact the Student Affairs Office by writing totesi.scienzecom@uniroma1.it (link sends e-mail) (link sends e-mail) and send the modulo esami da sostenere (exams to be taken form), signed for approval, as an attachment. The Student Affairs Office will carry out the appropriate checks to ensure that the student is in a position to benefit from the exemption. The form approved by the Student Affairs Office must be uploaded together with the other attachments when submitting the application online. It is understood that the credits relating to the missing exams must in any case all be taken in the first date scheduled in June.

The last useful session for graduating in the current academic year is the December/January session. If you postpone to March, you will need to pay the first and second instalment for the following academic year; if you postpone to July, you will also need to pay the third instalment and you can then graduate up to the December/January session without having to pay again (always consult the administrative office's news).  On the other hand, students enrolled on a part-time mode are in any case required to pay fees for the entire agreed enrolment period, even if they graduate in March, or in any case earlier. (Read Art. 13 of the Study Manifesto).
 
Submission of the online graduation application and acceptance of the application by the Supervisor
To complete the online application, the student must enter the following information:

• Supervisor: mandatory for everyone. Please enter the first and last name of your supervisor. In case of homonymy and doubts ask the Supervisor to confirm his or her professor number.
• Co-supervisor: do not fill in this field. The co-supervisor is automatically assigned to master’s students by the Department's Didactic Committee and cannot be chosen by the student.
• Extra supervisor: enter only if provided for. The extra supervisor is a Sapienza professor whose function is to support the official supervisor in assisting and guiding the graduating student during the development of the final paper.
• External supervisor: enter only if provided for. The external supervisor is a figure external to   Sapienza University whose function is to support the official supervisor in assisting and guiding the graduating student during the development of the final paper.
• Graduation session: mandatory for everyone. Indicate the graduation session chosen for discussion (March/July/October/December/January).
• Title of the dissertation: mandatory for everyone. Enter the final title of the final dissertation. 
  ATTENTION: Once the application has been approved by the Supervisor, the student will no longer be able to change the title of the dissertation entered.
• Subject of the dissertation: mandatory for everyone. Enter the subject of the final paper, which must be a subject that the student has taken and is therefore present in his/her study plan and the related scientific disciplinary sector. The scientific disciplinary sector of the subject chosen for the final paper must correspond to the same scientific disciplinary sector to which the supervisor belongs.

Attachments to be uploaded

• Valid ID (if not already uploaded in your Infostud profile) - mandatory for everyone
• Health card or tax code card (if not already uploaded in your Infostud profile) - mandatory for everyone
• Receipt of completing the Almalaurea questionnaire - mandatory for everyone
• Uploading the final dissertation in .pdf format - mandatory for everyone by the deadline stated on the Schedule
• Study plan - mandatory only for Ord. 509 students and five-year students who have formulated it
• Exams to be taken form - upload only if exams are missing to complete the career
• Declaration of exams taken and not recorded on Infostud - only upload if all exams already taken are not regularly recorded on Infostud
• Validation form for exams taken abroad - upload only if exams are not already regularly registered on Infostud
• Examination transcripts - mandatory only for Ord. 509 students and five-year students
• High school diploma (although it is not mandatory, you can upload a scanned copy in pdf format). Those who do not submit a diploma are still required to attach a self-certification according to this scheme. 

 
THIRD STEP: Acceptance of the application by the Supervisor
The application sent by the student will arrive in the private area on Infostud of his/her Supervisor, who must accept it by the deadline for booking for the graduation exam.
The student will receive a confirmation email from the system: it will be the student's responsibility to check in his/her profile and in his/her institutional email the progress of the file, since without the supervisor's approval it will not be possible to go ahead with the procedure.
Further details are published on the University website at https://www.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/field_file_allegati/istruzioni_domandadilaureaonline_0.pdf .
For any doubts regarding the submission of the degree application, students may go well in advance of the deadline to the Admnistration Office - General Services Building, staircase C, ground floor (P.le Aldo Moro,5), or to their own teaching Student Affairs Office
 
FOURTH STEP: Acceptance of the application by the Student Affairs Office
Following the Supervisor's approval, the application will arrive online at the Student Affairs Office, which, in turn, after verifying the completeness of the required documents, will accept it and begin the work of checking each student's career. In this case too, an email will be sent to the student as a receipt of acceptance of the application by the Student Affairs Office.

FIFTH STEP: Uploading the pdf of the dissertation
Once the work has been completed, the student must upload his or her final dissertation, in .pdf format, in Infostud page in a single document, and the supervisor must approve it online.
Uploading and approval must take place within the deadlines indicated in the Schedule. The uploaded dissertation is the one that remains on record. There is no subsequent paper delivery to the offices.

 
SIXTH STEP: Publication of schedules and delivery of the dissertation to the Co-supervisor
Within the deadlines set out in the schedule for each session, the Dissertation Panel will publish the schedules for the sessions on the Coris website. The timetables will also indicate the name of the co-supervisor assigned to each candidate. Graduating students must send by email, from their institutional email address, the final thesis, in .pdf format, in a single document, to their co-supervisor by the deadline indicated in the Schedule and, at the same time, to the professor who will act as Secretary of the Commission, indicated in the schedules. The supervisor and the co-supervisor are entitled to request a hard copy from the candidates, where deemed necessary.

 
SEVENTH STEP: The day of the dissertation discussion
Dissertation will be discussed in the classroom that will be indicated in the schedules.
The order in which students are distributed in the schedule is purely indicative. Therefore, all candidates are required to arrive, unless otherwise indicated, half an hour before the start of the convocation time.
 
CRITERIA FOR AWARDING POINTS FOR THE DISSERTATION
For the dissertation, the Dissertation Panel shall express their mark in one hundred and ten and, by unanimous decision, may grant the candidate honours. The minimum mark for passing the test is sixty-six out of 110.
The starting point for the dissertation is the average of the marks obtained in the individual teaching modules, weighted by the number of credits awarded, which can be viewed on Infostud.
Two points will be added to the score resulting from the weighted average of the exams if the candidate obtains the degree in progress.
The Dissertation Panel may also add points, based on its own unquestionable judgement regarding the candidate's performance, both in the drafting of the paper and in his/her presentation and discussion. Without prejudice to the full autonomy of the Dissertation Panel in this regard, however, the Department has made some suggestions, in order to make the decisions of the various Panels as homogeneous as possible during the final evaluation, inviting the Dissertation Panel to add a mark, normally ranging from 0 to 8, according to the following criteria: completeness, correctness and validity of the essay; originality and research ability; quality of presentation and discussion; CV evaluation.
The Dissertation Panel draws up a specific report on the progress and outcome of the final examination.
For obvious reasons of safety and decorum, students are invited to celebrate their graduation in sober and dignified ways that do not go beyond legitimate congratulations and photographs, demonstrating that they have acquired, along with their specific knowledge, a sense of responsibility and personal dignity. Celebrations in the Faculty courtyards with food and drink, as well as noisy demonstrations that would interfere with other ongoing teaching activities, are therefore strictly forbidden.
 
THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE PARCHMENT
Starting about ten days after the conclusion of the entire degree session, it will be possible to download the degree certificate directly from Infostud.
The degree parchment can instead be collected from the Administrative Office in Piazzale Aldo Moro, building C, ground floor, by carefully following the new procedure, instructions and timetable described at the link. To check that the parchment is ready and for any information regarding collection, please write to segrstudenti.comunicazione@uniroma1.it.
 
REVOCATION OF THE GRADUATION APPLICATION
If, for any reason, the student intends to withdraw from the discussion, he/she will have to log into Infostud and revoke the submitted application, following the instructions given at the link and notify the Supervisor. In order to present himself for the discussion in the following session, the student will have to repeat the whole procedure and resubmit the application again in Infostud by the due dates for the next chosen session, asking his Supervisor to authorise him/her again. However, it will not be necessary to pay the graduation fee again.