Master’s Thesis in Medical Biotechnology need to be based on experimental biotechnological activities developed over a period of at least one year.
Students may carry out their thesis activities at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, at other Departments of “Federico II” University or even at public or private research institutions operating in the biotechnology sector; all the thesis activities are subject to the approval of the Thesis and Internship Commission of the Master Degree Course in Medical Biotechnology.
A Master thesis SUPERVISOR (RELATORE) is a professor or a researcher in the public or private sector who scientifically oversees the thesis activity. Supervisors are also responsible for the thesis content.
All university professors and researchers, or equivalent figures from public or private sector organisations or corporations, may serve as SUPERVISOR, with the exception of unstructured people.
If the Thesis Supervisor is not a professor of the Master Degree in Medical Biotechnology or does not work in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, the presence of an INTERNAL SUPERVISOR (RELATORE INTERNO) is mandatory. The internal supervisor must be a professor of the Master Course or, alternatively, a Professor of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology assigned by the Thesis and Internship Commission of the Master Degree Course in Medical Biotechnology.
In order to select a topic and methodology that are as close to their cultural and professional interests as possible, students are invited to speak directly with university professors.
The academic who agrees to be the thesis supervisor must fill out and sign the “Modulo assegnazione Tesi” (Thesis Assignment Form, which can be downloaded from the Forms page). The same applies to the internal supervisor, if any. Then, a member of the Thesis and Internship Commission (Professor Silvia Parisi or Professor Rosa Marina Melillo) signs the form. Students must submit the completed and signed form to Ms. Angela Canzio (angela.canzio@unina.it) at the I floor of CESTEV.
The thesis activity officially begins when student submits their application to Thesis and Internship Commission of the Master Degree Course in Medical Biotechnology.
As mentioned above, Master thesis cannot last less than one year. Excluding very special cases individually evaluated by the Thesis and Internship Committee, shorter periods do not entitle the student to acquire the CFUs attributed to the thesis activity – students who do not have the required CFUs can’t participate to graduation sessions.
How to prepare the Master thesis.
The Master thesis in Medical Biotechnology include writing a paper and creating a multimedia presentation that describes the student's experimental activity. If students take part in a complex activity carried out by a team of researchers, they should specify and clearly describe their role within their dissertation and in their multimedia presentation.
In order to make the writing of the thesis paper easier, students can download the dissertation guidelines and the standard cover page in the Form section of this website.
The Master thesis must be submitted to the Student Secretariat (Segreteria Studenti, CESTEV, Via Tommaso De Amicis n. 95) on CD-ROM between the 25th day of the month before the graduation session and the 5th day of the session’s month, together with a copy of the cover page signed by the thesis supervisor. In order to have the Diploma Supplement, please write the English title of the thesis on the cover page.
Students have to send via email a thesis copy in pdf 15 days before the graduation's date to the Commission for Thesis and Internship's delegate, Professor Silvia Parisi (silvia.parisi@unina.it).
In order to receive honors, students must clearly state in their email their request to have a co-examiner (controrelatore). The request can be done if the base grade, with extra points and without approximation, is greater than or equal to 104 (see Determination of graduation score below).
Thesis Discussion and Graduation Committee
The Master thesis discussion consists in a multimedia presentation about the conceptual and experimental premises and the results obtained within the framework of the thesis project. As long as the candidate's work in the thesis project is clearly and explicitly described, the results of the entire research group may be presented.
The candidate's presentation should last no more than 15 minutes (schedule for 12-13 minutes) to allow the committee to make questions and comments; for this reason, the number of slides should be limited.
The presentation has to be divided into three parts:
1) A clear introduction to the scientific problem and the state of knowledge on the thesis subject, followed by the specific goal of the work;
2) Presentation and comments on the individual results;
3) An overview of the results, an indication of what can be inferred from them, and possible future directions for the work.
Supervisors who are professors or researcher of the Degree Course or members of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology are always included as members of the Degree Committee. Supervisors who are professors or researcher of other University’s Departments or members of public research structures are invited to attend the Degree session, but may only be members of the Committee if they are confirmed professors or researchers of the Federico II University. Internal supervisors are always members of the Commission.
Determination of Graduation Score
The Examination Committee for the Final Degree decides the graduation score by analysing the student's curriculum and the results of the exams they took during their career. The Committee defines the final mark according the following criteria and the grade is expressed on a 110-point scale.
Calculation of the basic mark:
The base grade, expressed on a 110-point scale, is the result of the weighted average of the exams multiplied by 11 and divided by 3. The calculation of the
weighted average does not include the educational activities for which the relative CFUs are assigned without a mark.
For students who already hold another master's or specialist degree, or who have enrolled in the master's program with the validation of their previous degree program exams, the base grade includes all validated exams.
The basic mark is not rounded to the nearest full number; instead, it is expressed to three decimal places.
Committee assigns to students who completes the Master's degree by the extraordinary session of the second year the following additional points; these points will increase the basic mark expressed on a 110-point scale (before rounding):
- 1 point if the weighted average, expressed on a 30-point scale, is greater than or equal to 27.000 (without rounding)
- 1 point if the exams of the I semester of the I year have all been passed within the I semester (i.e. by the February session of the I semester of the I year);
- 1 point if the exams of the II semester of the I year have all been passed within the II semester (i.e. within the July session of the II semester of the I year);
- 2 points if all the exams of the I year have been passed by the September session of the I year.
Please note that the points assigned in b) and c) cases do not add up to points d): in other words, students cannot have more than 2 additional points for the first-year exams.
The following extra points are assigned to all students, increasing the basic mark expressed on a 110-point scale (before rounding):
- 1 point for previous career: if the Bachelor's degree final mark is 106/110 or higher.
- 1 point if the student has participated in international exchange programmes during the Master's degree course, passing at least one exam, or has been selected for a postgraduate Erasmus programme
As mentioned before, students could request a counterpart for the award of a possible honours degree if their basic mark, including any additional points and without approximation, is greater than or equal to 104.
Determination of the Final Degree Examination grade:
The Examination Committee for the Final Degree assigns a score for the evaluation of the student's final exam, which can range from 0 to 7.
The seven points are arranged as below:
- Supervisor's evaluation of the thesis work: 3 points
(commitment, performance, critical capacity, work autonomy, participation in internships, co-authorship of conference communications and/or papers etc.)
- Commission evaluation: 4 points
(quality of the presentation, mastery of the subject, communication skills, ability to answer the committee's questions and to discuss the technical and scientific issues connected with the project)
Determination of the Final Degree Score:
The Degree score, expressed on a 110-point scale, is the result of the addition between the basic grade and the Final Exam grade and rounding up or down to the nearest whole number (e.g. 88.500 is rounded up to 89 while 88.499 is rounded up to 88).
For the award of honours (laude), the positive opinion of the Supervisor, the Co-examiner and the unanimous vote of the Committee are required.
At the proclamation time, the President will make a career distinction for students who have been awarded honours and have a weighted average for CFUs greater than or equal to 29.000 (without approximation and without any contribution of additional points).
Thesis and Internship Committee:
· Prof.ssa Rosa Marina Melillo (Presidente)
· Prof.ssa Silvia Parisi