Master's Thesis
The Master’s Final Thesis (TFM) concludes the academic process of learning made during the two academic years of the Master. This is a significant moment of the studies, that allows the student to sum up the knowledge and competencies acquired and verify its interrelationships. Is the occasion to try out his autonomy , as a planner showing the capability to choose the issue, most adequate location and the technical instruments needed for its development. Moreover, it lets to demonstrate self-sufficiency in respect of his capability of research and deepening about some specific areas.
In this sense, and with the purpose of being considered as a determining element in the academic curriculum of the student, the TFM consist of an on-site teaching load of 90 hours in a semester (equivalent to 6 hours per week) where the student will be guided by the teaching staff that will exert as a tutor leading and advising him in the development of the project until obtaining sufficient maturity, so it can be defended before a university Examination Panel. The sessions will be carried out from a practical workshop and continuous corrections that permit a personalized follow-up.
The documentation that must prepare and present before the Examination Panel and submit online is the following:
- For the defense before the university Examination Panel:
- Full development of the project:(minimum documentation)
- Cover: title, full name of the student, assigned tutor
- Two pages of text with the global explanation of the project
- General floor plan
- Zoom project floor plan
- Study of the proposal in its temporal evolution
- Phases plan
Before the defense in front of the Examination Panel and in the dates indicated in this regard, the student must attach in the virtual campus (Atenea-TFE), the information described below: (the members of the board and the director will have access to it):
- Document in pdf format of the Report described before.
- Document in ppt format or similar of the presentation before the tribunal.
The School secretary will publish the deadline up to which the student has to upload that information in his/her virtual campus so the examination panel can get access to this information before the project defense. The student will submit online which will be permanent kept. Only students who have formalized the submission online of the final report within the established time frame for it, will be included in the certificate of the Defense of TFM.
The Juries who will evaluate the defense of the TFM are comprised of a minimum of three members of the PDI. At least, one of them will correspond with one of the teachers that have given the teaching in the workshop of the subject. These will be designated by the Academic Commission of the Master and ratified by the School management. As an exception, a fourth external member could be assigned.
The student needs to have passed all the ECTS from the first course in order to enroll the TFM. In this case, the student will be able to attend the workshop of the subject but will be an essential requirement for the presentation and defense of the project to have passed all the credits of the degree. If the student doesn't fulfill this condition on the scheduled date of his/her enrolled defense will not be included on the certificate and cannot be evaluated. In this case, the student must enrol again in the TFM.
If the student meets the conditions for the presentation of the TFM but finally he/she does not appear in the defense of the TFM he/she can access to an extraordinary announcement foreseen under the Academic Regulations of the Degree and Master’s studies - Normativa Acadèmica dels Estudis de Grau i Màster - of the UPC, upon payment of the required fees specified on the above mentioned regulations. This announcement cannot exceed the date 31stof October for TFM that are defended in the second semester, as is the case of the Master's Degree in Landscape. If the student does not pass or he/she does not appear on this extraordinary defence of the TFM, the student will have to enrol again in the next period that the TFM is offered.
The student has the right to request a review of the grade earned in the TFM. In this case, the student must submit a reasoned request to the School director within a maximum period of 7 days counting from the date of the publication of the assessment certificate of the TFM. The review is always performed on the work deposited in Atenea-TFE. The Director, or his/her delegate, will announce an extraordinary panel of examiners for the revision where the President of the affected Jury will attend. The Jury will give the student the option of explaining his/her project. The resolution will be communicated to the student in a maximum period of 7 days from the revision date.
The TFM's have to be published in open access deposit of academic Works UPC, prior authorization of the author, provided that this does not affect the possible confidentiality and/or industrial property associated with the work.
The online deposit has been implemented in the academic year 2019-20. Check the updated information on the documentation deposit in the section Master's Final Thesis > Deposit and defense
MENTION OF EXCELLENCE TFE-ETSAB
In order to give visibility to the best TFE work developed at the School, each academic year the center's management will agree on a commission or tribunal of academic and/or professional prestige to award these mentions of quality, which will be included in a separate section within the UPCommons digital repository.
The commissions or tribunals may meet once a year to evaluate these mentions based on all the TFE works qualified with a minimum grade of 9, or those works that, having a lower valuation, their tribunal or tutor considers that they should exceptionally be taken into consideration.
The composition of the committees and/or tribunals will be discretionary each year and may be composed of both PDI staff of the UPC, as well as academics and professionals of recognized prestige outside the UPC-ETSAB.
The works proposed for the Mention of Excellence may eventually be presented in public and before a tribunal, thus becoming an academic act of prestige for the School, linked to the academic beginning of the course (October and November).