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Master’s degree final project

The Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, which establishes the organisation of university education and the procedure for quality assurance, indicates that studies leading to obtaining a Master’s degree shall conclude with the development and defence of a Master’s Final Project (MFP). It shall have between 6 and 30 credits, in accordance with the relevant study programme.

Concept

Master’s degree final projects involve the preparation of a report or written paper, under the supervision of a tutor, in which students reveal the knowledge and skills acquired in the course of their studies.

These projects must be completed autonomously and personally by students.

Projects must be in accordance with that stipulated in the qualification official explanatory report. Each master’s degree Academic Coordinating Committee may establish specific guidelines and set evaluation criteria to attempt to homogenise the formulation and evaluation of master’s degree final projects.

Types

Final projects might take one of the following forms:

a) Academic papers of literature review and research, or experimental work.
b) Papers combined with work experience in companies or institutions, including the possibility of doing external internships.
c) Equivalent work performed as a result of a stay at another Spanish or foreign university.
d) Other types of work not included in the preceding options, as specified in the official qualification programme.

In all cases, projects must consist of a written paper or report accompanied by any other relevant documents, where appropriate.

Registration

Registration for the master’s degree final project must be made during the ordinary registration period, according to the dates established in the academic course calendar.

Registration for the master’s degree final project gives students the right to two official examination sessions per academic year.

Public registration fees for lessons with “no teaching provided" do not apply here, even if the studies are in process of extinction.

Tutoring

Master’s degree final projects will be supervised by at least one tutor who will monitor the work of students.

Only holders of a doctoral qualification can supervise final projects, unless otherwise authorised by the Postgraduate Studies Committee.

If the master’s degree final project is carried out in an institution, organisation or company other than the University of Valencia, an external co-tutor must be appointed. He or she shall have to work together with the academic tutor in defining the content of the final project and its development universities who holds a doctoral qualification

Tutoring of projects will be included as part of the lecturer’s course plan (POD) and shall be recognised in the terms established in university normative provisions. If tutoring is shared between more than one lecturer, recognition shall be distributed between them.

Each Coordinating Committee shall determine whether students in mobility programmes can complete their final project in the host university. In any case, the work project requires approval by the Academic Coordinating Committee, and will be assigned a tutor from the University of Valencia.

Allocation of work and tutor

The subject of the project is to be determined by agreement between the student and his or her tutor. At all events, the Academic Coordinating Committee shall organise and guarantee the allocation of a subject and a tutor to all students registered

Submission and format of projects

In the final stage of their study programme, students must submit their master’s degree final project to the through THE ELECTRONIC OFFICE.

Prior to its public defence, the tutor must forward a report on the final project to the chairperson of the evaluating committee.

Positively evaluated papers will become part of the University of Valencia bibliographical corpus and, to this end, will be included in the UV digital repository as a result of university academic output, whilst safeguarding copyrights and subject to the students’ prior consent. To this effect, a procedure shall be made available for submitting projects to the repositori by electronic means.

Defence and evaluation

Students must defend their master’s degree final project before the relevant evaluating committee under those conditions established by the master’s degree Academic Coordinating Committee.

Defence must be held in the course of the academic year for which the student registered.

Master’s degree final projects have two examination sessions per academic year and can be defended in several periods.

The grades awarded to all projects defended in each period will be collected by the school secretary in a joint record, which must be completed within 5 days after the end of each period. These periods will be established by the Academic Coordinating Committeein agreement with the dates established by the Postgraduate Studies Administrative Calendar, passed by the Governing Council every academic course.

Evaluating committee

Each evaluating committee shall be made up of three members to be appointed by agreement of the corresponding Academic Coordinating Committee from among department lecturers teaching in the master’s studies, except for the Master degrees for which the Postgraduate Studies Committee has specifically provided justification. 

These members must be holders of a doctoral qualification, unless expressly authorised and justified by the Postgraduate Studies Committee.

In no case can the tutor of a master’s degree final project be part of the committee that evaluates the tutored student’s work.

For each master’s degree final project that has been defended, the evaluating committee will issue a certificate which will show the day and time when the event has taken place, the grade achieved and whether it has been proposed for a distinction. This document will be forwarded to the centre in custody of records and attached to the student's academic record.

Grading

Grades given to final projects may be contested in accordance with the regulations in force in the University of Valencia regarding the contesting of grades.

Distinctions shall be allocated among those students who have been proposed for this grade by each evaluating committee. Thus, after all final projects have been defended, distinctions will be allocated at a meeting held by the Academic Coordinating Committee.

The allocation of distinctions can only be made after the latest presentation scheduled takes place in each examination period.

Legislative regulations