The RD1393/2007, 29 October, modified by the RD861/2010, 2 July, by which regulates official university studies in Spain, states that the master's degree studies will be completed with the development and defence of a master's degree final project (TFM), which will be worth between 6 and 30 credits, depending on what the corresponding curriculum establishes.
Concept
The master's degree final projects will consist of making a previous report or project under the supervision of a supervisor in which the knowledge and skills acquired by the student throughout the degree are shown.
These projects will be an autonomous and personal task for the student.
The projects must be made according to what is established in the verification report of the qualification.
The Academic Coordinating Committees of each master's degree can establish specific guidelines and determine the assessment criteria to try to standardise de development and assessment of the master's degree final projects. In this case, the Academic Coordinating Committees must send a copy of these guidelines to the Postgraduate Studies Committee, in order to ensure that their content is compliant with these regulations.
Modalities
The modalities within the master's degree final projects can be done are what follow:
a) Academic works of bibliographical review and research, or experimental.
b) Works coordinated with work placements in companies or institutions.
c) Equivalent works made as a result of a stay in other university, Spanish or foreign.
d) Other works not included in the modalities aforementioned, according to what is specified in the verified curriculum.
In any case they will be embodied in a written report or project that will be submitted together with the material deemed necessary, in its case.
Enrolment.
The enrolment for the master's degree final project will be made in the regular period according to what is established in the annual academic calendar.
The enrolment for the master's degree final project will give the students the right to two assessment calls within the academic year.
The enrolment price will be in any case “without teaching”, even if the degree is phasing out.
Supervision
The master's degree final projects will have at least a supervisor to oversee the task of the student.
To supervise the master's degree final projects the status of Doctor will be necessary, except in the cases authorised by the Postgraduate Studies Committee.
If the master's degree final project is done in an institution, organism or company different from the University of Valencia, an external co-supervisor must be appointed. This one must collaborate jointly with the academic supervisor in the definition of the content of the master's degree final project and its development.
In the case of interuniversity master's degrees leading to the completion of a joint degree, any Doctor of the teaching staff from the universities participating in the programme can be appointed as supervisor.
The supervision of the work will be shown in the POD (Teaching Staff Organisation Project) of the professor and will be recognised in the provisions of the university’s regulations. If the supervision is shared among more than one university professor, the recognition will be shared among all of them.
Each Coordinating Committee will establish if the students of the mobility programmes can make the master's degree final project in the host centre. In any case, the project of the work must be approved by the Academic Coordinating Committee, and it will be assigned a supervisor at the University of Valencia.
Project and supervisor appointment
The topic of the project will be establish in joint agreement between the student and the supervisor. In any case, the Academic Coordinating Committee will organise and ensure the appointment of topic and supervisor for every enrolled student.
Submission of the project and format.
In the final stage of the curriculum, the students have to submit their master's degree final projects in the office of the secretary of the centre in which the master's degree is appointed for administration matters.
The projects have to be submitted at least in electronic format.
The supervisor will send to the Chairperson of the Assessment Committee a report on the master's degree final project, previously to the its public defence.
The projects that have been positively assessed will be part of a bibliographical corpus at the University of Valencia and with this purpose, they will be joining the “digital contents repository, Roderic” as a result of the university academic production, contemplating always the copyright and the student’s agreement. For this purpose, a procedure for their electronic submission to the repository will be set up.
Defence and assessment
The student must perform a public defence of the master's degree final project before the pertinent assessment committee in the conditions established by the academic coordinating committee of the master's degree.
The defence will be made within the academic year in which the student is enrolled.
The master's degree final project will count with two calls per academic year and several periods for the defence.
The following defence periods are established for the first call:
From 1 October to 30 November.
From 1 December to 31 January.
From 1 February to 31 March.
From 1 April to 31 May.
From 1 June to 25 July.
A defence period is established for the second call:
From 1 to 25 September.
The marks of every people assessed in each defence period will be gathered in a joint exam record generated by the office of the secretary of the centre and that must be filled before 5 days after the end of each period.
Assessment committee
Each assessment committee will be formed by three members appointed by of the corresponding Academic Coordinating Committee through the agreement between the members of the teaching staff of the departments who teach in the master's degree.
The members will be doctors, except for those degrees in which it is specifically authorised and justified by the Postgraduate Studies Committee.
In any case, the supervisors of the master's degree final projects can be part of the committee in which the project of their students is assessed.
The Committee will issue an exam record for each master's degree final project defence, in which the date and time in which it has been performed, the mark, and whether it has been proposed for an A with honours will be reflected. This document will be sent to the centre in charge of the academic records and will be incorporated to the student’s academic record.
Marks
The mark of the master's degree final project can be appealed according to the marks appealing regulations of the University of Valencia.
A with honours will be assigned among the students proposed for this distinction for each assessment committee. For this purpose, and once the defence of the master's degree final projects has ended, A with honours will be assigned in a meeting of the academic coordinating committee.
The assignation of A with honours can only be made once the presentations of the last date for the defence of each one of the calls end.
Regulations
Regulation on the development of the Master’s Degree Final Projects and award of the special prizes
