5.3 Οδηγοί νεο

Postgraduate Diploma Thesis (M.D.E.)

The postgraduate student is required to prepare and successfully support his/her postgraduate thesis in the respective semester of study indicated in this Guide to Studies.

The purpose of the thesis is to demonstrate the ability of the postgraduate student to expand her/his knowledge, to assimilate new knowledge and to express it correctly. Research in the context of the M.Sc. involves the reflection and review of acquired knowledge, the definition and study of a problem, the interpretation of phenomena or situations and the combination of the above, depending on the topic and the ability of the postgraduate student to analyse, synthesise and logically process data.

The most common approaches are research literature, experiments, case studies and surveys.

 

With the preparation of the M.D.E., the following objectives are pursued:

  • Enhancing the student’s ability to deal with a problem.
  • To enhance learning by studying and working through an important problem and acquiring new knowledge from the study.
  • To enhance the student’s ability to seek and present a complete and correct solution to problems that may arise.
  • To train the student to search, investigate, select, use and record information from bibliographic sources.
  • The student’s practice in writing and presenting a text with information from bibliographical sources, without altering the meaning of the information from the original.
  • The training of the student in the ability to write not only a thesis, but any kind of text that needs to contain scientific thinking, presentation of positions and proposals, submission of new ideas and directions and, in general, any kind of text that serves the scientific nature of the author and the promotion of his/her ideas and proposals.

Postgraduate students who have completed the first two (2) semesters of study and have passed at least six (6) courses of the first year of the Programme of Studies are entitled to undertake a thesis. After the end of the second (b) semester of study or during the third (c) semester of study in the MSc, postgraduate students are invited to declare a field of scientific interest, according to a list posted on a specialized electronic platform with the subject of the thesis.

The subject of M.D.E. must be part of the broader range of scientific fields treated in the D.P.M.S.

Two types of Postgraduate Diploma Thesis are foreseen in the programme:

  • Research Diploma : is an original research project.
  • Systematic review: an extensive and thorough literature review on a scientific topic of great interest or other important work, which cannot, however, be considered an original research work.

Supervisors of the Master’s Thesis are appointed as supervisors (faculty members or retired faculty members, or members of the Training Group or external scientific collaborators of the Master’s Thesis who hold a PhD degree). For each M.Sc., a three-member Examination Committee is appointed, consisting of three (3) Supervisors. The Supervisor A (“Rapporteur”) and the Supervisor B evaluate and guide the preparation of the M.D.D. The Supervisor C has a grading role in case of disagreement between the Rapporteur and Supervisor B, or replaces one of the Supervisors (A or B) in case of justified inability to participate in the evaluation process of the M.D. Each Supervisor is also appointed as Supervisor B for an equal number of theses.

The dissertations of the D.M.P.S. are organized, coordinated and monitored through a specialized electronic platform with the subject of dissertation.

Before the start of the M.D.E., students are trained online or face-to-face on issues related to the writing of theses and the search for bibliographic sources.

The preparation of the M.D.E. is completed with the submission of three (3) proposals/projects, which are evaluated and graded by the two supervisors:

  • Progress 1h concerns the drafting and submission of the content and the initial pages of the thesis.
  • Progress 2h is the final draft of the text.
  • In the 3h stage, the final text is submitted.

The process is concluded with the support (presentation) of the M.D.E., which has been approved in the procedure of the advances, before the Supervisor A and the Supervisor B, at least. In the absence of one of the above two supervisors, his/her place on the evaluation committee will be taken by Supervisor C.

The deadlines for the submission of theses and the dates for the presentation of theses are published on the dedicated online platform.

The evaluation of the postgraduate thesis is based on a ten-point scale (0-10) with an accuracy of one decimal place. The course of the second semester of the curriculum “Preparation of the Diploma Thesis” is awarded a grade equal to or higher than five (5).

Specific issues concerning the course “Thesis Preparation” and the procedure for undertaking, preparing and completing the Master’s Thesis are defined in the Postgraduate Thesis Regulation of the Master’s Degree Programme, which includes the following:

  • the educational purpose of the NDE,
  • the stages of the submission of the IO,
  • the areas of research interest,
  • the stages of conducting the NDA,
  • the change of title of the M.D.E,
  • the deliverables of the course “Preparation”,
  • good practices in the drafting of the text and the electronic or printed reading of the M.D.E,
  • information for studying and finding bibliographic sources,
  • guidelines for the preparation of research papers,
  • the evaluation criteria of the IO,
  • change of supervisor, etc.