MSC SOIL, WATER, ENERGY RESOURCES AND AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT

Postgraduate thesis

Programme

Regulation for the Preparation of the Master’s Diploma Thesis

According to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Senate decision 78656/23.06.2023 “Approval of Regulation of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Graduate Studies (Government’s Gazette 4084/Β-23.06.2023):

For the preparation of the Master’s Diploma Thesis (M.D.Th.), the Programme Committee, following the student’s application — submitted on specified dates and including the proposed thesis title, proposed supervisor, and a summary of the proposed topic — appoints the supervisor and establishes a Three-Member Examination Committee for the approval of the thesis, one member of which is the supervisor.

The right to supervise master’s theses is granted to teaching staff categories as defined in Article 83 of Law 4957/2022, namely:

  • Members of the Teaching and Research Staff (D.E.P.), Special Educational Personnel (E.E.P.), Laboratory Teaching Staff (E.DI.P.), and Special Technical Laboratory Staff (E.T.E.P.) of the Department or of other Departments of the same or another Higher Education Institution (H.E.I.) or Higher Military Educational Institution (A.S.E.I.), with additional employment beyond their statutory duties, provided the I.P.P.S. charges tuition fees;
  • Emeritus Professors or retired faculty members of the same or other H.E.I.;
  • Collaborating Professors;
  • Contract Lecturers;
  • Visiting Professors or Visiting Researchers;
  • Researchers and Special Scientific Personnel of research and technological institutions as defined in Article 13A of Law 4310/2014 (Government Gazette A’ 258), or other research centres and institutes in Greece or abroad.

The members of the Three-Member Examination Committee must have the same or a related scientific specialization as that of the field of study of the Graduate Studies Program.

The preparation of the M.D.Th. is governed by the Code of Academic Ethics of A.U.Th.
Every creator or co-creator of an intellectual work has the right to be acknowledged as such and to enjoy both the moral and economic rights deriving from the work.
By exception, when the intellectual creation constitutes the final output of a funded research project commissioned by an external entity, the creator’s economic rights may be limited in accordance with the contract terms of the research project, while the moral rights remain with the creator(s), subject only to the necessary contractual limitations required for the use or commercial exploitation of the work.

The presentation of the M.D.Th. requires a positive recommendation by the Three-Member Examination Committee. If the defence is held publicly, a specific date and venue are determined by the Committee.

Following the defence, a report is drawn up, stating the individual grade assigned by each member, the average grade, and any remarks or comments. After approval by the Committee, the thesis is uploaded on the Programme’s website. If the thesis is not approved, the postgraduate student may resubmit it after incorporating the Committee’s remarks and improvements within a time frame determined by the Committee. If the revised version is again rejected, the student loses the right to obtain the Master’s Diploma.

In exceptional cases, if an objective impediment or serious reason exists, the replacement of the supervisor or a member of the Committee, as well as a change of the thesis topic, may be approved by decision of the Programme Committee, and approval my the assembly of the Department.

The defence of the Master’s Diploma Thesis takes place before the Three-Member Examination Committee, on a date and at a venue determined by that Committee. Upon approval, the thesis is uploaded on the official website of the corresponding School.

The Master’s Thesis is written with specific specifications (they are posted on the website) in Greek or English. The postgraduate student is obliged to implement, with the consent of the Supervising Professor, the corrections proposed by the Three-Member Examining Committee. The specifications concern the way of writing the Master’s Thesis, its area, the font, its general formatting and everything else related to its structure.

The final grade of the Program is calculated based on the weighted average of each Program course and the dissertation. The weighting is made based on the credit units (ECTS) of each course and the dissertation and is calculated, with an accuracy of second decimal place as follows:

Final Grade = (course 1 grade x course ECTS + course 2 grade x course 2 ECTS+ …. + dissertation grade x dissertation ECTS)/Total number of ECTS.

 

Article 28. Plagiarism 

When submitting any postgraduate assignment, postgraduate students are required to indicate whether they have used the work and opinions of others. Copying is considered serious academic misconduct. Plagiarism is defined as copying someone else’s work, as well as using someone else’s work – published or unpublished – without proper reference to it. Citing any documentary material, even from the candidate’s own studies, without proper reference, may constitute grounds for a decision by the SIC of the JPSP to expel the candidate.

In the aforementioned cases – and after reasoned proposal of the supervising professor – the Program may decide to expel the candidate. Any misconduct or violation of academic ethics is referred to the Coordinating Committee (SC), which is to examine, and provide a proposal in order to address the problem. Offences of copying or plagiarism and, in general, any violation of the provisions on intellectual property by a postgraduate student during writing assignments or preparing a postgraduate thesis are also considered offences.

 

 

Regulation of mobility

The Senate of the A.U.Th. at its meeting number 2980/20 & 21-2-2019 decided to approve the adoption of good practices for the proper implementation of the ERASMUS+ program, which apply proportionally to all A.U.T.H. study cycles, in accordance with the current Legislation and the Regulation of the respective Graduate Studies Program. Additionally, since then the procedures are updated and specialized according to the directions of the State Scholarship Foundation and are published respectively by the Department of European and Educational Programs on its website https://eurep.auth.gr/el/students/studies. The above Decision of the Senate of A.U.Th. reads as follows:

Α) Outgoing Students

The following is intended to ensure the right of mobile practicum students to automatic and full recognition of their period of study at a partner institution, subject to the successful completion of their academic obligations.

  1. When completing the Learning Agreement for Studies (Learning Agreement for Studies), which takes place before the start of the move, the respective ECTS Coordinator, as the designated representative of the relevant School/Department based on Ministerial Decision no. Φ.821/2318T/89676/Z1, to ensure that the workload of the transferee at the Reception Institution, through the declaration of the corresponding academic obligations in the relevant table of the above form (let it be Table A), will amount to 30 ECTS for one academic semester. For reasons of flexibility and given the heterogeneity of the study programs, a deviation from the upper norm (whether positive or negative) is allowed for the number of credit units of one (1) single course in the case of an academic quarter or semester and two (2) courses in the case of commuting for one academic year.
  2. At the same stage, i.e. when completing the Learning Agreement, the ECTS Coordinator should ensure full recognition of the aforementioned workload by recording in the corresponding table of the Learning Agreement (let it be Table B) the credits and courses/academic obligations from which he will be freed upon the successful completion of those mentioned in Table A. The framework of this procedure must have the consent of the Assembly or corresponding competent body of the relevant School/Department, through a relevant decision (which could be taken once). This decision is recorded in the Application-Declaration form that the mobile students submit to the Department of European Programs.
  3. The aforementioned recognition should be divided into three categories:

Ι. Compulsory courses: based on the study program of the relevant School/Department of A.U.Th. and on the condition that most of the content of the course offered at the Host Institution matches the course of the relevant Department.

Recognition: Courses that outgoing students have successfully completed abroad will be recognized with the title they have in the relevant School/Department.

It is recommended: that the teacher’s signed consent is required before completing the Learning Agreement.

ΙΙ. Elective courses (major or non-major): based on the study program of the relevant School, to which the condition of matching the content does not apply, but for which their inclusion in the academic subject treated by the Faculty, School or should be ensured /Director of the School.

Recognition: The courses that outgoing students have successfully completed abroad will be recognized either with the title they have at the Host Institution or with the course title of the relevant School, as long as there is a content correspondence between the courses from the 2 institutions. For information, it is noted that the electronic computerization program of the Secretariats supports the recognition and inclusion of EPC courses (Exchange Program Courses) in the Curriculum of each School. These courses may be declared in the learning agreement either with its title, in the case of a corresponding course in the study program of the relevant School, or without its title but as an “elective course” (major or not).

It is recommended: the introduction into the study programs of a sufficient number of elective courses (major or non-major) that are included in the subject of the School. The inclusion of such courses offers flexibility to the Schools regarding the recognition of the courses and enriches the study programs with courses that may not be taught in the School (e.g. due to the absence of relevant faculty members), but are relevant to the relevant study program.

ΙΙΙ. Courses of free choice, in which the condition of matching the content does not apply nor the inclusion in the academic subject treated by the School or the Departments of the School.

Recognition: Courses in this category that outgoing students have successfully completed abroad will be recognized with the title they hold at the Host Institution. It is clarified that the maximum number of ECTS of freely chosen courses declared in the learning agreement before the move must be the same as the number of ECTS of freely chosen courses allowed by the study program concerned. In addition, these courses will be able to be declared in the learning agreement without their title as “course of free choice”.

Additionally, recommended the introduction of a small number of elective courses (e.g. 6-10 ECTS) in the context of upcoming curriculum reforms

  1. In the case of courses of the subject of the relevant School (compulsory or elective) you can see relevant detailed examples of recognition in Appendix I (attached). In the case of courses that do not fall within the subject matter of the relevant School, these are recognized as free choice courses, as mentioned above. For the recognition of the units and from these courses, the alternative combinations proposed in Appendix I are applied. It should be noted that during the selection of the courses and the drawing up of the learning agreement, the transfer students are guided by the ECTS coordinator, as long as they declare courses apart from the academic subject, these should have as many credits as the study program of the relevant School allows the students to accumulate from freely chosen courses. This will, after all, ensure their recognition upon return by the Host Institution. The inclusion of such courses in the curricula will be able to satisfy the need for full recognition of the commuting period (60 credits for an academic year, 30 credits for an academic semester, 20 credits for an academic quarter).
  2. In case of discrepancy regarding the number of credit units between A.U.Th. and Host Institution, the maximum degree of flexibility should be applied, and all possible combinations of recognition should be considered after the student’s return, always within the framework of the regulation of the respective study program. In any case, the margins of guaranteeing the recognition of all the credit units that the student will bring from the Host Institution must be exhausted. In this process, the principle of “fair recognition” provided by the ECTS Guide and which allows a deviation of 1 or 2 units, always to the benefit of the commuter, should be taken into account.
  3. After the return of the mobile students, MANDATORY recognition of all units returned by the mobile students, after a successful examination/evaluation based on the agreed ones. The recognition will follow the signed learning agreement (original or the one that has resulted after changes) which is binding for the School/Department and the A.U.Th.. At the end of their studies, commuters have the possibility to take advantage of the provisions of article 60 of the Regulations of the A.U.Th., in which it is stated that “the student is entitled to be examined in two additional elective courses, the grade of which will replace lower grades in other electives”. Based on this article, the student may, by his own declaration and only at the end of his studies, request 2 elective courses, which may be courses he successfully completed during his studies at the Host Institution, not to be counted towards the final grade of his degree and always on the condition that he completes the necessary ECTS to obtain the degree.
  4. Additional credit units from free choice courses, which exceed those provided by the School/Departments of A.U.Th. credits, most often constitute an incorrect choice of courses in the mobility student’s learning agreement, unless the Host Institution does not offer other course choices to Erasmus students. In this case, the ECTS coordinators have to re-examine the curriculum of the cooperating Institution and, if it does not meet the required conditions for the recognition of courses for undergraduate mobile students, then the possibilities of (a) limiting the bilateral agreement could be considered at the level of second- and third-cycle student mobility (postgraduate and doctoral level, respectively), (b) limiting the bilateral agreement only to the level of faculty mobility, or (c) terminating the bilateral agreement with the specific Institution. After all, the Department of European Educational Programmes of A.U.Th. invites the Schools/Departments to evaluate their bilateral agreements every year, and the issues of course availability to students is a serious evaluation criterion that can determine the readjustment or even the termination of a bilateral agreement.
  5. As a consequence of the previous points, it is recommended that the ECTS Coordinators inform the students about the mobility possibilities through the Erasmus+ program already from the first years of admission to A.U.Th.. The goal of this timely information will be the correct planning of the students in terms of the possible categories of courses to be chosen at the Host Institutions, as well as the required number of credits for the implementation of the move.
  6. The role of the ECTS Coordinator of a School/Department, as defined by the Ministerial Decision no. 821/2318Τ/89676/Ζ1, which is identical with the full recognition of the period of study of the mobile students at the Host Institution. For this reason, it is recommended to avoid the regular change of the ECTS Coordinator for reasons of continuity and more efficient management of student mobility. It is also proposed that the ECTS Coordinator be a member of the study programs committee of the relevant School/Department due to the high degree of interconnection of travel issues with the study programs of the School/Department, as well as a member of the General Assembly of Schools/Departments in order to inform the members of the General Assembly about the Erasmus program issues. It is recalled that these issues now concern a large number of students (at least 600 students per year) who benefit from the knowledge and advisory services of the ECTS Coordinator and are entitled to full recognition of their studies at the Host Institution.

Β) Incoming Students

  1. It is deemed necessary to ensure sufficient knowledge of the language of instruction by incoming migrants, based on the conditions of the bilateral agreement. It is recommended to send a recognized certificate of language proficiency (where required by the Schools/Departments) and provided that this obligation is included in the annex of the bilateral agreement.
  2. Mandatory sending of incoming students’ transcripts to Transcript of Records no later than five weeks after the end of the commuting period. It is recalled that failure to comply with this obligation may be a reason for the termination of cooperation between two Institutions and for this reason the ECTS coordinator, in collaboration with the members of the Schools/Departments’ Secretariat, should take care of the timely sending of the grades of the incoming students.

Article 15. Regulation shall be binding and revision of the study regulation

This regulation becomes binding from the date of its approval by the School Assembly (991/19-07-2024) and revised by the proposal of the Coordinating Committee of the PG.S.P. and approval by the Assembly of the School of Agriculture.