Graduation: procedure and deadlines

Extension of the exam session and final examination deadline to 15 June 2023

The exam session and final examination deadline for a.y. 2021/22 has been extended to 15 June 2023 (Decree-Law No. 316 Prot. no. 62200 of 7 March 2023).

If you were unable to graduate in March due to issues related to the pandemic, you can submit a graduation application for the extraordinary session, but only if you are enrolled regularly, “fuori corso” (past envisaged completion time for the degree course) or as a repeating student in a.y. 2021/22 in the last year of a full-length degree programme.

You are only eligible for this extension if your study plan was complete and you fulfilled all attendance requirements by the end of a.y. 2021/22. More specifically, if you are enrolled regularly, “fuori corso” (past envisaged completion time for the degree course) or as a repeating student in a.y. 2021/22 in the second year and, by the end of the academic year, you included in your study plan all the learning activities provided for in your degree programme in order to take the exams and graduate.

If you have to take exams in order to meet all the necessary requirements, please contact the teacher in question directly. Remember that the deadline for the requirements is the 21 April.

If you are a student required to take a University Language Centre language test, you can find the scheduled test date on the CLA website: a language test will be organised exclusively for students who submitted a graduation application for the extraordinary graduation session. All information about the test and the scheduled date can be found on the CLA website.

You are not eligible for this extension if:

• You failed to meet attendance requirements by the end of a.y. 2021/22;
• You made changes to your study plan in a.y. 2022/23 and took exams related to that study plan;
• You did not have a complete study plan, so in a.y. 2022/23 you had to make changes to include exams
• you are enrolled regularly, “fuori corso” (past envisaged completion time for the degree course) or as a repeating student in a.y. 2021/22 in the second year, and in a.y. 2022/23 you made changes to your study plan to include exams because your study plan did not contain the 120 university credits you needed to graduate;
• If you were enrolled regularly in a.y. 2021/22 in the last year of a full-length degree programme and are now enrolled in a.y. 2022/23 as a repeating student.

Please note: this is not an early session of a.y. 2022/23. If you are enrolled in a.y. 2022/23 in the last year of a full-length degree programme, you are not eligible for this extension.

If you are eligible for this extension, from 31 March you must go to Studenti Online and select the extraordinary session. The dates of the session for most degree programmes are as follows:

• Deadline for application: 12 April
• Late enrolment to the session: 20 April
• Extra-ordinary exams (only for students who applied for graduation): 3 to 20 April
• Admission requirements deadline: 21 April
• Deadline for uploading your dissertation: 12 May
• Deadline for supervisor approval of the dissertation: 16 May

The graduation session (if scheduled) will be held from 22 to 30 May

Remember that if you have paid your tuition fees for a.y. 2022/23, you are entitled to a refund that will be processed after your graduation.

The final examination consists of 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. In order to be admitted to the graduation session, you must have earned the credits from all of the modules and learning activities except the “final exam”. You can choose different graduation sessions, according to when you manage to finish your exams: July, October, December, or March. The earlier you graduate, the more bonus points you may be awarded (please refer to the specific information about the graduation grade).

Graduands of A.Y. 2021-22

Graduands of A.Y. 2022-23

LMEC Graduation days:

Monday 24^th July 2023, 2pm

Friday 27^th October 2023, 2pm

Friday 15^th December 2023, 2pm

Friday 29^th March 2024, 2pm

Applying for graduation

• The application will open 20 days before each deadline from Studenti Online (“Graduation” button).
• You can apply for graduation and pay the graduation fee (€32) only once per academic year.
• You are strongly recommended to apply for graduation only if you are sure to complete all of your exams by the deadline for fulfilling the requirements.
• If you applied by the deadline  but, for any reason, you cannot graduate in the session you applied for (e.g. if you realize you will not have all of your exams registered by the deadline), you must promptly notify the Registrar Office by email (segecosta@unibo.it), with the Programme Coordinator cc’ed, (michela.sandias@unibo.it), from your @studio.unibo.it email address. The Registrar Office will cancel your reservation and allow you to book one of the following sessions in the same academic year. If you graduate in a later session within the same academic year, you will have to re-submit your graduation application and pay only the duty stamp.
• If you apply for graduating in a given academic year, but you realize you cannot graduate within any of the sessions available in that academic year, you will have to re-apply for graduating in the next academic year and pay the €16 electronic duty stamp fee (after having paid the overdue tuition fees)
• When applying, you need to specify the title of your dissertation – as previously agreed with your supervisor. Please consider  it is the title you will provide in the application stage that will be reported in the official degree certificates.

All credits earned within:

Before the indicated deadline, you must:

• Have paid all due tuition fees; the Registrar Office will make the necessary checks and will get in touch with you in case of problems/pending positions. Students who have not completed the payment of all the tuition fees will not be accepted to the final exam.
• Have taken and passed all the exams you need to graduate, including credits from internships and study abroad periods. If you take the last exam the day of the deadline or a few days before, please inform the relevant teacher(s) that you need the exam registered as soon as possible (and anyway within 5 days from the exam date).

• Complete the AlmaLaurea questionnaire online; you will find the link to it at some point in the application; successful completion of the questionnaire will be acknowledged by the system about 2 hours later.
• The Student Administration Office will verify all requirements and will contact you if there are any issues, to allow you to regularise your position before the final examination.

Uploading your dissertation

You have to upload your dissertation in .pdf format (max 30 MB) in the appropriate section of your online application. It is not possible to upload any file after the deadline: if you do not manage to upload tour work within the required terms, you will not be allowed to graduate in the chosen session. Again, please check that your actual dissertation title and that you indicated in the application title do correspond. 

Dissertation approval

Your supervisor will formally approve your work within 3 days since the upload deadline. Please check the state of approval of your dissertation and contact your supervisor if needed.
NB We strongly recommend you apply for graduation and insert online your dissertation title when such title is actually final and not provisional, or anyway, to edit it before the supervisor's approval.

Graduation Day

The defence of your thesis includes your presentation and the questions you will be asked on it by the admission board. Typically, the session covers more than one day. Students are generally informed about the exact date of their defence and the composition of the Final Examination Board one week in advance through their @studio.unibo.it e-mail address. Such information will also be available on your www.studenti.unibo.it in the section called “Graduation”.