Assignment of thesis title and degree exams

The final exam of four-year degree courses 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 graduate’s course and must be carried out within a subject for which the student has taken the exam or obtained recognition/validation, except for open courses and courses which requires eligibility.

The thesis must reflect the critical, linguistic and scientific maturity corresponding to the specific cultural and professional figures of each Master’s Degree 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 holder of the course chosen or in any case competent in the matter. The Supervisor must have a contract with Luiss 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 School or his delegate based on the discipline and topic chosen by the student.

In case of thesis assignment for students participating to Double Degree, QTEM, Structured Partnerships and International Exchange Programs, or in case of thesis request in a course taught abroad and registered in the student’s career with its original denomination, as long as it is coherent with the educational objectives of the study course, even if not offered at Luiss, 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 Secretariat (segreteria@luiss.it ) in the second case.

An academic year has the 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 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 take the exam;
• register for the degree session by filling in the degree exam request and paying the degree fee through the Web Self Service;
• complete the examinations (to find out the scheduled deadline for taking all official examinations, please refer to the calendar);
• upload the Thesis.

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

• candidates who intend to graduate will have to, after having pinpointed and liaised with the supervisor, fill in the thesis title assignment form through the web self-service platform (under "degree examination") by the deadline set in the "calendar of administrative deadlines" published on the University’s website;
• 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 to be assigned a thesis title, will have to approve/reject the proposed thesis title;
• the status of the thesis title assignment application can be checked through the web self-service platform (under "degree examination"): the supervisor’s approval of the proposed title 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 degree program director 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 platform.

In addition to the designated supervisor, the dean of the department will appoint a co-supervisor based on the thesis topic, whose name will be listed on the Web Self Service. This 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 theses 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 receipt evidencing 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. 

Register for the degree exam

1. Go to the Degree exam 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 available on Web Self Service only after having submitted the degree exam request. 
3. Only students who have been enrolled in the a.y. 2015/2016 will have to return their Badge and academic record booklet (booklet containing all their official exam grades, or libretto universitario in Italian). The documents canbe sent by mail to Luiss Guido Carli – Student Office – Via Parenzo 11 - 00198 Rome.
4. Check with the Career Service office the status of the internship in the academic, if not already recognized, in the electronic academic record booklet. For further information consult the following link

Take note please: 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 up to the upload. 

The degree exam request will be considered effective only after the payment of the degree fee has been visible on web self service page.

The status can be checked through the Web Self Service under the heading Degree Exam>status> “Submitted in Student Office”.

The missed payment of the degree fee or the missed submission to the Student Office of the badge and completed academic record booklet  will lead to exclusion from the degree exam session.

Thesis Upload

1. Go to the Degree exam 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 the Luiss archive 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 professors (supervisor and co-supervisor) on Web Self Service in accordance with the timeframe that will be after the deadlines and notified to them. 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: only single file in PDF format lower 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 upload must be done only once in the process period and it will be considered as the definitive file. The Student Office will do spot checks to verify the file.

A failure to upload the thesis by the required deadline and the not approval by one or both professors will lead to exclusion from the degree exam session.

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.

For further information, please write (only from a Luiss account) at the following addresses:

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

Please note the importance of  the Luiss institutional email address as support and information tool.

To postpone the degree exam (which can only be done using the Web Self Service) or in case of not approval 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