At the end of the Master studies, each student must write a thesis. This activity amounts overall to 48 CFU and, on average, it requires several months of work.
The master thesis ususally consists either of a theoretical or experimental research programme, or of an activity envisaged within an internship either at a private or public company or at a research center. The latter option can also be part of the LM+ programme.
The thesis can also be a survey which is not based on original research. In all cases it is important that the thesis is written in the style and in the form of a scientific text.
If the document is written in English, the title must be provided in both languages (Italian/English) and the document must include an abstract in both Italian and English (UNIPV Teaching Regulations, art. 38 clause 6 and online instructions)
Additional information can be found on the syllabus.
The supervisor of the Bachelor dissertation can be anyone in the following list
- Permanent Staff Members of the Univeristy of Pavia;
- Fixed Time Professors at the University of Pavia;
- Researchers working for public or private research institutes with which the University has signed an agreement according to the art. 27 of the D.P.R. 382/1980;
- "Cultori della materia" in any of the scientific disciplines FIS/*, nominated by the Department of Physics.
If the supervisor chosen by the student is not affiliated either to the Department of Physics or to Teaching Board of the School in Physical Sciences and Technologies or to one of the research institutes, with which the University has signed an agreement and whose research activities take place within the Department of Physics, then an internal cosupervisor has to be nominated.
Each candidate must apply to the final exam taking into account the deadlines of each session and following the instructions which can be found on the personal webpage on ESSE3.
For each candidate the evaluation committee must apply the rules which were valid on the year of enrollment. These can be found on the syllabus of that year. Observe that the present rules have been first introduced in the academic year 2016/2017.
English Translation of an extract from the current regulation (valid from the academic year 2016/2017)
The committee, having heard the opinion of the thesis supervisor and after a thorough discussion, assigns the final grade according to the following criteria:
- The average between all grades of all exams takes with the exception of the so-called supernumerary ones. The grade is expressed in hundreths and it is approximated to the closest integer. The outcome is the starting grade.
- The starting grade is incremented as follows:
- 1 extra point if the students has passed at least 4 exams cum laude,
- 3 extra points if the master thesis is defended within the 31st of October of the second year of the master studies, 2 extra points if it is defended within the 31st of January of the next year, 1 point if within the 30th of April of the next year,
- For all students who have opted for the LM+ curriculum and who have passed all exams within the 30th of September of the second year of studies, the time range indicated in the previous item is increased of x months if the student has participated to an internship for 6+x months.
- 1 extra point if the students has passed at least 4 exams cum laude,
- The grade is increased additionally up to 12 points which are assigned by each committee member using a specific card. The decision is taken in absence of the thesis supervisor. The additional points are assigned as follows:
- up to 6 points for the thesis following the evaluation of the thesis supervisor;
- up to 3 points for the originality and the accuracy of the work as well as for the clarity in the contents.
- up to 3 points to the presentation of the thesis and for the subsequent discussion.
- The average between the points assigned by each committee member is approximated to the closes integer. The final grade is therefore obtained summing all points as previously discussed, the maximum being 110/110.
- An open voting can assign cum laude if it is an unanimous decision and if a) the final grade is 110/110; b) the students has passed at least 3 exams cum laude.