Who this page is for

The information on this page only concerns students who will work on their Master's degree thesis abroad as part of an official student mobility programme (e.g. Erasmus+, with the exception of Erasmus+ for Traineeship).

If the thesis work is done abroad, but outside the framework of these programmes, the information on this other page applies.

Thesis work done abroad is recognised in the student's career record. Specifically, of the 21 educational credits assigned for the thesis, N_abroad educational credits can be assigned for “thesis-related work done abroad” and transcribed in the final certificate of the examinations taken. The thesis must have a (UniPD) supervisor and a (foreign) co-supervisor.

The student proposes the value of N_abroad in advance, by submitting the learning agreement. The number of credits is then officially determined by the student’s supervisor after the student has returned to Italy.

The student determines the value of N_abroad as follows.

If only thesis-related work is done abroad, this is quantified at 3.5 educational credits per month abroad. If, in addition to thesis-related work, other academic activities (“examinations”) are carried out abroad, the number of educational credits per month abroad is reduced proportionally.

Since N_abroad must be an integer, a fraction of a month greater than or equal to 15 days will be counted as one month, while a fraction of a month less than 15 days will be evaluated as zero months.

Before going abroad

The activities to be performed before going abroad will vary depending on whether or not the topic for the thesis was established before departure.

CASE A) The topic for the thesis was established before going abroad

In this case, the student:

○      identifies the supervisor and has the thesis topic assigned;

○      ensures that the supervisor has agreed this topic with the co-supervisor;

○      contacts the co-supervisor to arrange for them to be available to supervise the student's work in their laboratories.

The student must first obtain approval from the President of the Degree Programme Board (CCS) by email. Only then can the student obtain the President’s signature on the documents. Hence, the student must initially send an email to the CSS's Student Records Committee (pratiche.studenti.LM.IC@dii.unipd.it)  with the following documentation:

○      the proposed learning agreement;

○      a thesis commencement form (the supervisor's signature is not required at this stage);

○      a request for the student's international study plan to be assessed, using this form, in which the student must explicitly specify the proposed N_abroad value; the form must be kept in Microsoft Word format.

The email subject should be: “Learning agreement proposal Last Name First Name”. The name of each file attached to the email must begin with “Last Name_First Name”.

Only when the student has received approval by email may they contact the President to get the documents signed. In this case, however, it is essential that the documents be signed in advance by the Erasmus coordinator and by the thesis supervisor. Any requests that do not comply with this procedure (including the method by which email attachments are transmitted) will be rejected.

CASE B) The topic for the thesis was not established before going abroad

The procedure is similar to the previous case, but the thesis commencement form does not need to be completed and submitted before departure. In addition, with regard to assessing the student's international study plan for determining the N_abroad value, the months abroad must (conventionally) be one less than the actual months spent abroad.

Furthermore, immediately upon reaching the host institution, the student must also:

○      identify a thesis topic along with the co-supervisor and supervisor;

○      ensure that the supervisor and the co-supervisor have agreed the thesis topic;

○      electronically send the signed thesis commencement form to their supervisor; the supervisor will print the form, add the start date and the expected end date, sign it and forward it to the President of the Degree Programme Board. The start date cannot be earlier than the date on which the President receives the form. Work on the thesis may only begin once the student receives email confirmation from the President that the start-up process was completed successfully.

The student will have a maximum of one month (from their departure) to have a thesis project assigned and to start the related work. If the student fails to start working on the thesis within one month of departure, the approval for the learning agreement shall be considered revoked.

Given the many institutional activities in which the members of the Student Records Committee are involved, no requests to process authorisation files “urgently” will be accepted. Students are, therefore, strongly advised to carefully plan the time required to submit their request to the Committee, bearing in mind that, although the Committee generally responds promptly, the process can take up to 10 working days.

Before returning to Italy

The student, in accordance with the instructions received from the Mobility Office, must have the foreign co-supervisor complete the “SHORT EVALUATION REPORT for THESIS WORK” form in which the co-supervisor provides an opinion on the work carried out by the student and a quantification (in educational/ECTS credits accrued with the thesis work) of the work done.

After returning to Italy

The supervisor, once the co-supervisor's assessment has been received, assesses ex-post the appropriateness of the N_abroad value originally proposed by the student and sets the final value. The supervisor then emails this final value to the CCS President, the Erasmus coordinator and the student, and the value is recorded in the student's career record.

The supervisor is solely responsible for the final value assigned to N_abroad. However, if the thesis obtained official recognition abroad (as demonstrated by an original document from the foreign host institution) of a certain number of educational credits (equal to N_ricon), the supervisor will assign N_abroad a value equal to N_ricon, up to a maximum of 21 educational credits, for a project lasting at least six months.

Ultime modifiche: martedì, 18 luglio 2023, 16:15