Assignment of thesis title and degree exams

The final exam of the Master's Degree Programs, including the Single-Cycle Master's Degree Program, consists of a discussion and evaluation of a written dissertation (thesis) in Italian and/or in a foreign language. The preparation of the thesis work must be coherent with the educational objectives of the Degree Program and must be carried out within a subject for which the student has taken the exam or has obtained recognition/validation, with the exception of additional courses and pass-or-fail exams.

The thesis must reflect the critical, linguistic and scientific maturity corresponding to the specific cultural and professional figures of each Master's Degree Program and must be elaborated in an original way by the student with the guidance of a Supervisor.

The Supervisor who, together with the Co-Supervisor, guarantees the student's thesis work, must be the holder of the subject chosen or in any case competent in the matter. The Supervisor must have a contract with the University at the time of the request and be a Professor in the subject chosen for the thesis. The Co-Supervisor is designated by the Dean of the School or his/her delegate, based on the discipline and topic chosen by the student.

For students participating to Double Degrees, QTEM, Structured Partnerships and International Exchange Programs, or in case of thesis requested in a course taken abroad and registered in the student's career with its original denomination - even if not offered at Luiss, as long as it is coherent with the educational objectives of the Master's Degree Program - it will be necessary to verify the feasibility respectively with the International Development Office (international@luiss.it) in the first case, or with the Student Office (segreteria@luiss.it) in the second case.

An academic year has three degree sessions: Summer (normally July), Autumn (normally October/November) and Extraordinary (normally March/April).

Degree sessions A.Y. 2023-2024

Calendar of administrative deadlines

To comply with the deadlines published and the norms of the University regarding plagiarism, students planning to take their degree exam and graduate must:

• fill in the thesis title assignment form three months prior to the degree session in which they intend to graduate;
• register for the degree session by filling in the degree exam request and paying the degree fee through the Web Self Service;
• complete the exams;
• upload the thesis.

Fill in the thesis title assignment form three months before the degree exam

• After having pinpointed and liaised with the Supervisor, candidates will have to fill in the thesis title assignment form through the Web Self Service under Degree Examination by the deadline set in the calendar of administrative deadlines.
• Subsequently, the Supervisor, through their own Web Self Service account and within a period of time following the deadline for submission of the application form, will have to approve/reject the proposed thesis title.
• The status of the thesis title assignment application can be checked on the Web Self Service under Degree Examination. The Supervisor’s approval marks the formal start of writing of the thesis, and the status of the thesis title assignment application will change from "Filled in on line" to "Assigned"; in the event that the application is rejected, the student will receive a communication to that effect at their University email account.
• After the Dean of the School or his/her delegate appoints a Co-Supervisor, the status of thesis title assignment application will change to "Approved" and the name of the designated Co-Supervisor will be displayed in the Web Self Service.

In addition to the designated Supervisor, the Dean of the School or his/her delegate will appoint a Co-Supervisor based on the thesis topic, whose name will be listed on the Web Self Service. The Co-Supervisor, along with the Supervisor, will help the student prepare the work, will vouch for the work and will be present when the student discusses the thesis during their defense. Considering the academic importance of the Co-Supervisor, all students are asked to get in touch with their designated Professor when they begin drafting their thesis and to continually update them as their work progresses.

The thesis title assignment form specifies the first session in which the student can take their degree exam and graduate and therefore should not be filled in again if the degree exam is being postponed to a subsequent session (unless there is a change to the thesis subject or the Supervisor). Registration for a specific degree exam session, however, requires the submission of the degree exam request form and the payment of the degree fee; if the thesis title assignment form is submitted without the degree exam request form, it is not necessary to submit an additional form postponing the degree exam.

Students enrolled in a Master's Degree Program are invited to read carefully the Guidance document for writing your Master Thesis.

Register for the degree exam

1. Go to the Degree Examination section of the personal Web Self Service page and fill out the degree exam request within the scheduled deadline available on the calendar of administrative deadlines.
2. Pay the degree fee that will be available on the Web Self Service only after the degree exam request has been submitted.
3. Only students enrolled prior to the A.Y. 2015/2016 will have to return their badge and academic record booklet (or libretto universitario) via mail to Luiss Guido Carli - Student Office - Viale Romania, 32 - 00197 Rome.
4. Check with the Career Service the status of the internship, if this has not been registered in the academic record booklet yet. For further information, please check this link.

Take note: after filling out the request, it will no longer be possible to change the data therein, except for the title of the thesis, which can be changed at the moment of the thesis upload. 

The degree exam request will be considered effective once the payment of the degree fee is marked with a green light. The status of the request can be checked on the Web Self Service under Degree Examination>Status>Submitted in Student Office.

If the payment of the degree fee has not been made, or the badge and the academic record booklet have not been submitted to the Student Office (this last one only applies to students enrolled prior to the A.Y. 2015/2016), students will be excluded from the degree exam session.

Thesis upload

1. Go to the Degree Examination section of the personal Web Self Service page. To find out the scheduled deadline, refer to the calendar of administrative deadlines.
2. Read carefully what is set out there on stylistic guidelines for the final paper and the provisions concerning the Authorization to online publication of the thesis in Luiss archives and select one of the three options (for further information see LuissThesis).
3. Upload the definitive file of the thesis. It will be approved/not approved by the Supervisor and Co-Supervisor through their Web Self Service after the deadline has passed and in a timeframe that will be notified to the Professors by the Student Office. It is not necessary to submit any documentation to the Student Office.

For margins, line spacing and font to use, please follow the instructions of your Supervisor and the stylistic guidelines for the thesis.

Please note that only a single PDF file under 15 MB will be accepted. We strongly suggest to check the file format and its readability and compatibility with Windows prior to the upload.

The digital copy of the thesis will be kept in the digital archive of this University in compliance with the security measures provided by the Code regarding the protection of personal data and will be available, for administrative and scientific reasons when permitted, only by authorized persons, according to the same rules for consultation. The Student Office will do spot checks to verify the file. The thesis file can be uploaded only once during the process timeframe and will be considered as definitive. 

A failure to upload the thesis by the required deadline and the Supervisor's and Co-Supervisor's unapproval will lead to exclusion from the degree exam session.

For further information, please write from your Luiss account at the following addresses:

• administrative/technical questions: segreteria@luiss.it
• authorization to online consultation of final paper: eprints@luiss.it

To postpone the degree exam (which can only be done via Web Self Service) or if the Supervisor has not approved the thesis and for all other useful information, please refer to those pages.

Other information:

• Stylistic guidelines for the thesis

      In order to reduce the waste of ink and paper, please read carefully and follow the Guidelines for sustainable printing of theses and papers.

• Criteria for awarding degree grades and grade bonus points