Final examination

Admission to the final examination

Approaching the end of the third year, the Doctoral Programme Secretariat asks the Supervisors to formulate and send a detailed opinion on the candidate's performance during the Doctorate, including the status and quality of the draft thesis and the research work carried on so far.

At the same time, Doctoral Candidates are asked to send the updated Doctoral record and the abstract of their theses.

An internal examination is planned before the end of the 3^rd year to access the final examination phase for the graduation. By then Students must have obtained 30 credits (type A + type B) and their thesis work must be reasonably close to conclusion.

During the examination Students are requested to illustrate in a public presentation the content of their thesis in front of an internal examination Board composed of at least two members appointed by the Doctoral Programme Committee.

The presentation should include the following points:

Introduction: describe the problem.
Statement of the problem: provide literature basis for understanding the current state of the problem.
Materials and methods: define methodologies used, explain the data collection and analysis, discuss any limitations.
Results: illustrate all the most significant findings of the research.
Conclusions: outline how the findings will affect the problem and present an original and innovative approach; suggest further developments of the research line.

The Doctoral Programme Committee deliberates the admission of the Students to the final examination phase based on the Supervisors' evaluations, the documents provided by the Students and the assessment of the internal examination Board.

In case of positive results, the Doctoral Programme Committee appoints two or more evaluators (hereinafter also referred to as referees). Referees are chosen among professors and researchers at Italian or foreign institutions, with high profile, not belonging to the University or to other institutions contributing to the Doctoral Programme.

The referees have the task of expressing a written analytical judgment on the thesis and to propose the admission to public defence or in alternative the postponement for a period not exceeding six months, if major revisions are needed.

Doctoral candidates are allowed to attend the University facilities for completing all activities related to the thesis until the public defence.