Graduation: thesis defense and final examination

1.  ESSENTIALS

You have to acquire 120 CFU to graduate from HEMAP, 18 of which are for the drafting of the final dissertation. The final examination consists in writing a dissertation on a subject related to your studies, developed in an original way, and to its public presentation and defense to a Graduation Board. The Board, having taken into consideration the presentation and your curriculum, will decide the final grade, which will be announced at the end of your presentation. 

You should prepare your dissertation under the guidance of a supervisor (relatore). Typically, a good dissertation (or thesis) is the result of hard work by the candidate on a well defined project, under the expert advice of the supervisor. Hard work is a student’s task, whereas expertise and support are HEMAP Faculty's responsibility. The process of defining a dissertation  project involves both parts.

In some university systems, the graduation ceremony is where degrees are formally conferred, but marks are known well in advance and the students will have completed their studies weeks or months before the day. By contrast, Italian graduations include a public dissertation defence, called "final examination", before a specifically- appointed committee.

1.1  Goals of a Master's-level dissertation

The master thesis is an individual piece of research on a topic approved by the MTC and the supervisor. The assignment is an opportunity for students to explore in depth an area of health economics and management, to summarize the main theories and models, and to discuss their applicability. The essential requirement of a master thesis is that it literally demonstrates that students have fully understood the state of the art in health economics and management. A thesis cannot be a simple report on a traineeship or other professional experiences without additional academic/research content, although these experiences may provide a useful starting basis for a thesis. The objective of the thesis is to show that the student is able to perform scientific research individually and to report the study and its conclusions in a clear way. It likewise serves as a practice for those intending to pursue doctoral studies after their successful completion of the program.

1.2  Selecting a supervisor

You may choose to major in a topic related to a teaching activity included in your study plan (piano di studi). Almost any professor who taught a module in HEMAP can act as thesis supervisor, including adjunct professors, but excluding foreign lecturers, professor delivering seminars and external experts (unless provided for by a specific agreement). In special instances, and after discussing the issue with the Programme Director, graduands may choose as supervisor a professor of the University of Bologna who is not part of HEMAP Faculty. A co-supervisor (correlatore) is a teacher who may provide extra-help to prepare the dissertation. Foreign professors, lecturers of seminars and external experts can act as co-supervisor. Please note that having a co-supervisor will not grant you any extra-point on your final grade.

1.3  Starting grade

You are admitted to the Final Examination once you have completed all of your credits (except those for the Final Examination itself). Notice that exams grades are on a 18-30 scale, whereas the final grade is on a 66-110 scale. The starting grade is the result of the average of your exam grades converted into the 66-110 scale. To convert  the grades obtained during your studies, consider the following steps:

1. First calculate your weighted average as follows: each exam must be multiplied by its value in credits (CFU or ECTS), and the results must be divided by the total number of credits of all exams.
2. I.E. Suppose that your total study plan includes 3 exams:
   a) Exam X - 6 CFU –Grade 25/30
   b) Exam Y - 8 CFU – Grade 26/30
   c)  Exam Z - 12 CFU – Grade 28/30
   The weighted average will be:(6x25+8x26+12x28)/(6+8+12)= 694/26= 26,69. 
   
   IMPORTANT: Courses and activities providing an assessment on a pass/fail basis (idoneità) such as laboratories, seminars or internships do not count in the starting grade.
3. Multiply the weighted average by 110 and divide it by 30.
4. Then, round up the result to the nearest integer value (so i.e. if the weighted average is 28,7 the admission grade will be 28,7x11/3=105,233, eventually rounded to 105).

For every exam that the student passed con lode, 0.33 points are added to the starting grade. Also, extra poins twill be awarded depending on your graduation session:

1.4 Thesis defense and final grading

HEMAP final examination consists in the defense of the master thesis in front of a Committee composed by at least 3 professors of the School of Economics and Management. The commission can grant a maximum of 6 points to the dissertation, which are added to student’s admission grade.

Up to two (2) further points are granted to the candidate who graduates by the end of their second academic year. Therefore, for students enrolled in the academic year 2021-22 the following further points will be granted:

2.  DISSERTATION CONTENT AND LAYOUT

The thesis topic must be related to one of the subjects covered by HEMAP courses and it is chosen according to the personal and academic interests both of the student and of the supervisor.

2.1  Length

In general, the length of the thesis should be of about 50 pages\20.000 words including notes, tables and attachments.

The thesis to be upload through the “Studenti on line” web page (see link, deadlines and formalities in section 4) should follow these criteria:

• Line spacing: 1 or 1.15
• Font: Times New Roman, Courier or Helvetica 12
• Margins: 2-2-2-2

These norms are indicative and not mandatory, but if a different format is chosen, this needs to ensure easy readability.

• For the title-page, you will need a frontespizio. A template for the frontespizio is provided in the Annex to this document. Please note: the use of the UNIBO logo is NOT allowed in the cover.

For the final dissertation, usually students print one or more copies of the thesis, one for the Committee and/or the supervisor and one to keep (family, friends).

2.2  References and plagiarism

Accurate referencing and bibliography is an important element of the thesis. Students should adopt a standard citation system (e.g. Harvard, Vancouver, etc.) and bibliography format.

The university takes plagiarism very seriously and has legal implications, concepts and statements taken from the literature should be appropriately reworded and referenced. Exact citations should be clearly highlighted (e.g. between inverted commas or through a different font) and the source should include the page number. On-line sources are admissible when they are appropriate and meet the required scientific standards (and should be accurately referenced in the text), but generic sources such as Wikipedia are not necessarily scientific and critically assessed and should be used with extreme care and parsimony.

2.3  Structure

The following sections are usually required in the thesis:

• Title page
• Table of contents
• Table of figures (if applicable)
• Summary / Abstract
• Introduction / Background
• Main part (methods, discussion, results)
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendices (if applicable)
• The title page should also contain the name of the supervisor, the subject taught by the supervisor and the student registration number (matricola)