1
l
1
määruscouncil of tallinn university of technology
decree
Tallinn / 18 November2008 no.5
Regulations of completion of studies at Tallinn University of Technology
The Decree shall come into force in accordance with the Statutes of Tallinn University of Technology § 7 section 1 point 9.
Chapter 1GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 1. Objective
This decree shall provide the conditions and rules for completion of bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and civil engineering studies (hereinafter: engineering studies) and applied higher education studies and defence of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses.
§ 2. Academic degrees awarded at TUT
(1)Academic degrees shall include bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, whereas the doctoral degree shall also be a scientific degree.
(2)TUT shall award the following bachelor’s degrees:
1)Bachelor of Science in Engineering; BSc;
2)Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences; BSc;
3)Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences; BA.
(3)TTÜ shall award the following master’s degrees:
1)Master of Science in Engineering; MSc;
2)Master of Science in Natural Sciences; MSc;
3)Master of Arts in Social Sciences; MA;
4)Master of Arts in Education; MA;
5)Master of Arts in Law; MA
6)Master of Business Administration; MBA.
(4)The title of the master’s degree may be supplemented in brackets the title of the curriculum or the major (specialization) in the nominative case (in Estonian).
(5)The doctoral degree awarded at TUT shall be titled Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviation – PhD, supplemented by the title of the curriculum or the major (specialization) in brackets.
§ 3. Awarding an academic degree and formation of a defence committee
(1)The committee for theses defence or the board for final examinations shall adopt a decision concerning awarding of an academic degree.
(2)Defence committees and graduation examination boards shall be formed by the council of the faculty/university, by assigning the curriculum/curriculawithin the competence of the committee under which the graduation theses shallbe defended. The council of the faculty/university may delegate rights declared in the present paragraph to thedean of the faculty or the director of the teaching institution.
§ 4. Prerequisites for permission to graduation theses defence and to graduation examinations
(1)A prerequisite for permission to graduation theses defence and to graduation examinations shall be fulfilment of all the curricular conditions for graduation required to be completed prior to graduation theses defence or graduation examinations.
(2)Fulfilment of the prerequisite for graduation thesis defence or the graduation examination shall be verified at the dean’s office/teaching institution. Within the named procedure:
1)upon a student’s request and permission of the chair of the curricular committee, appropriate subjects can be transferred from one module to another to ensure fulfilment of the curriculum;
2) upon a student’s request, passed subjects from the free study module or optional subjects from other modules can be transferred to ?external curricular subjects. Examination grades of external curricular subjects shall not be taken into account when calculating an average grade, neither will the said be entered on the diploma supplement. Upon a student’s request, a certificate of the said passes may be issued.
(3)An additional prerequisite for graduation thesis defence or the graduation examination for non-state-commissioned students shall be payment of the tuition fee.
§ 5. Organization of graduation thesis defence
(1)As a rule, the chair of the thesis defence committee shall be responsible for runningthe graduation thesis defence, if necessary (a) responsible person(s) will be appointed to organize theses defence in the department/centre/institution.
(2)Regular defences of bachelor’s, master’s and engineering graduation theses shall be held until deadlines (during the periods of defence) twice yearly, as indicated in the academic calendar. If required, thesis defence can be arranged outside the said periods during the academic year.
(3)Defences of doctoral theses shall be held according to coordinated time schedules.
§ 6. Implementation of the study information system
Preparation of graduation documents and schedules of graduation thesis defence or graduation examination, as a rule, shall be made available through the study information system.
Chapter 2
BACHELOR’S STUDIES
§ 7. Bachelor’s thesis, supervisor, defence committee, and examination board
(1)Rules of bachelor’s thesis format and requirements set forth shall be provided by the council of the faculty/teaching institution upon recommendation of the curricular committee. Bachelors’ theses shall be prepared, as a rule, in the language of instruction. Theses written in a foreign language must contain a summary in Estonian, except for graduation theses written by foreign students pursuing an international degree curriculum.
(2)Bachelor’s theses shall be supervised, as a rule, by experienced staff or a doctoral student (hereinafter: supervisor) of a TUT department, centre or institution. A supervisor must have at least a master’s degree or an equivalent qualification. To select a supervisor, a student shall be recommended an academic advisor appointed by the curricular committee or another staff member appointed by the curricular committee.
(3)If required, a graduation thesis may have two supervisors, provided that one of them is from TUT. If the supervisor from TUT is from another faculty/teaching institution or one of the supervisors is external, approval of the academic advisor of the curricular committee is the requirement.
(4)Bachelor’s thesis defence committees and bachelor’s graduation examination boards shall be formed, as a rule, for a single year. The committees and the boards shall be composed of at least two members with at least a master’s degree or an equivalent qualification, whereas at least one member must have the doctoral degree or an equivalent qualification.
(5)Bachelors’theses defence committes may incorporate theses supervisors as members.
§ 8. Permission to defence and submission of graduation thesis to defence
(1)Bachelor’s degree candidates shall submit a declaration of the graduation thesis topic by the date in the academic calendar, indicating the topic in Estonian and English and the name of the supervisor. The topic of the graduation thesis shall be approved by the supervisor.
(2)Provided the prerequisites for permission to the graduation thesis defence stated in paragraph 4 of the present regulations are fulfilled, a directive providingthe student who had declared the topic of the thesis a permission to graduation thesis defence shall be prepared at the dean’s office/teaching institution.
(3)The student issued the permission to defence shall be required to submit his/her final version of the graduation thesis by the date established to the chair of the defence committee or to a person responsible for the defence.
(4)The chair of the defence committee shall have the right to reject a thesis defence if the thesis does not conform to the requirements set forth in § 7 section 1.
(5)The chair of the defence committee shall arrange defence of all graduation theses conforming to requirements and submitted by deadline at the latest by the date provided in the academic calendar.
§ 9. Bachelor’s thesis defence
(1)Rules of bachelor’s theses defence shall be established by the chair of the defence committee. If required, relevant regulations may be established in the faculty/teaching institution.
(2)Bachelor’s theses and theses defence shall be assessed according to the TUT grading scale. All positive grades imply a successful defence.
(3)Re-defence of a bachelor’s thesis defence shall be applicable if graded “0“ on conditions provided by the chair of the thesis defence committee.
§ 10. Bachelor’s examination
(1)Bachelor’s examination shall be declared as a rule at the beginning of the term within the study plan. Dean/director of a teaching institution, as an exception, shall have the right to grant permission for declaration of bachelor’s examination at some other time during the academic year.
(2) The declaration shall be valid during three successive terms and within defence periods established.
(3)The examination board shall make available dates and places of bachelor’s examinations and shall open registration to the bachelor’s examination at the latest 10 days prior to the start of the examination. Registration shall finish five days before the bachelor’s examination.
(4)A directive concerning permission to the bachelor’s examination shallbeissued by the dean’s office/teaching institution for those students registered and who have fulfilled the prerequisites for the examination.
(5)The procedure for the bachelor’s examination shall be established by the chair of the examination board.
(6)Re-registration to the next bachelor’s examinations shall be applicable during the validity of the declaration if a student was graded “0“ or did not turn up.
(7)Bachelor’s examinations are to be finished by the date indicated in the academic calendar.
Chapter 3
MASTER’S AND ENGINEERING STUDIES
§ 11. Master’s thesis and engineering graduation thesisand supervision
(1)Master’s and engineering graduation thesis shall be independent research, development or application-oriented creation that contains an analysis of a problem in a relevant field, statement of a task and a solution.
(2)Requirements of the master’s thesis and engineering graduation thesis and rules of a thesis format shall be provided in the guidelines established by the council of faculty/teaching institution upon recommendation of the curricular committee. As a rule, master’s and engineering graduation thesis shall be composed in the language of instruction. Theses written in a foreign language shall contain a summary in Estonian, except for those composed by foreign students pursuing an international degree curriculum.
(3)Master’s or engineering theses shall be supervised by experienced staff or a doctoral student of a TUT department, centre or institution. Selection of a superviser is advised by the curricular academic adviser.
(4)If required, two supervisors may be appointed, of whom one shall be from TUT. If a supervisor from TUT is from another TUT faculty/college or one of the supervisors is from outside TUT, approval from the curricular academic advisor shall be the requirement.
(5)Asupervisor of a master’s and engineering thesis is required to have at least a master’s degree or an equivalent degree.
§ 12. Defence committee
(1)As a rule, master’s and engineering theses defence committees shall be formed for one year. Formation of a single defence committee is also allowed.
(2)A defence commmittee shall be composed of at least three members who are to have at least a master’s degree or an equivalent qualification, whereas at least two members including the chair, are to have a doctoral degree or an equivalent qualification
(3)At least one member of the defence committee is to be from outside the department/centre/institution where the thesis submitted was prepared.
(4)Members of defence committees may also be reviewers and supervisors of the thesis.
§ 13. Permission to defence and submission of the thesis to defence
(1)A master’s and engineering graduate candidate who wishes to defend his or her graduation thesis shall apply for defence by the date indicated in the academic calendar. If the thesis conforms to the requirements set forth in § 11 section 2, the supervisor shall approve of the application for defence.
(2)If the prerequisites for permission to thesis defence provided in paragraph 4 of these regulations are fulfilled, the dean/director of a teaching institution shall issue a permission to defence, by endorsing the application for defence.
(3)The candidate entitled to defence shall submit the final version of the graduation thesis to the chair of the defence committee or staff responsible for defence by the date indicated.
(4)The chair of the defence committese shall approve the time schedule of the submitted theses.
(5)Scheduled dates and places of open sessions of the defence committee and the names of the candidates permitted to defence shall be announced publicly at least three workdays before the defence.
§ 14. Reviewing
(1)All the master’s and engineering theses shall be subject to reviewing.
(2)Theses reviewing shall be handled by the chair of the defence committee or staff responsible for the defence.
(3)As a rule, engineering and master’s thesis shall be assigned one reviewer. A reviewer is required to have a master’s degree or an equivalent qualification.
§ 15. Defence
(1)To hold a defence, the following is required to be submitted to the defence committee:
1)graduation thesis;
2)an application for defence endorsed by the dean, as a rule, a printout from the study information system;
3)a review, if the reviewer does not participate in the defence committee session;
4)supervisor’s opinion, if the supervisor does not participate in the defence committeee session.
(2)A candidate may present additional materials to the defence committee.
(3)As a rule, a graduation thesis defence shall be held at a session open to public. Holding a closed (with registered participants) session shall be approved by the chair of the defence committee, if not provided otherwise in the contract signed with TUT.
(4)A graduation thesis defence shall be held if the following are present:
1)graduate candidate;
2)at least two members of the defence committee who have a doctoral degree, including the chair.
(5)Main stages of the defence procedure shall be:
1)introduction of the documents presented for defence;
2)presentation of the candidate;
3)hearing of the review and answering the reviewer’s questions;
4)answering the questions of the defence committee members;
5)general discussion (questions and opinions may be expressed by all attendees);
6)hearing of the supervisor’s opinion;
7)adoption of the decision and preparation of the minutes of the defence session.
(6)Working language shall be determined by the chair of the defence committee, as a rule, being the language of the thesis.
(7)Master’s and engineering theses and the defence shall be subject to assessment according to the TUT grading scale. All positive grades imply a successful defence and awarding the master’s degree.
(8)Re-defence of a master’s or engineering thesis shall be allowed in cases of grade ”0” on conditions specified by the chair of the defence committee. The candidate shall be announced his or her grade for defence at the end of the session.
(9)Master’s and engineering theses shall be stored in the relevant department (centre, institution) at least during five years if not decided otherwise at the defence committee session.
§ 16. Master’s examination
Rules for declaration of a master’s examination, permission to a master’s examination and taking a master’s examination are provided in§ 10 of the present regulation.
Chapter 4
DOCTORAL STUDIES
§ 17. Supervisor of a doctoral thesis and thesis topic
(1)A doctoral student shall be appointed (a) supervisor(s) by the rector upon matriculation of the doctoral student. The rector may change the thesis supervisor(s) upon recommendation of the dean.(invalid from 16.06.2009 by Decree no.5 of TUT Council)
(2)A doctoral thesis may be supervised by a professor or another person who has a doctoral degree or an equivalent qualification. At least one supervisor is required to be from TUT staff.
(3)The topic and the schedule of the doctoral thesis shall be declared in the activity plan of the doctoral student, whereas the format and rules of composition shall be established by the rector by a relevant instruction.
§ 18. Requirements for doctoral theses
(1)A doctoral thesis shall be independent research work that presents a novel solution of an important problem in the relevant scientific field of the doctoral programme.
(2)A doctoral work shall be:
1)a unified collection of series of publications supplemented by a review article, whereby as a rule, the review article should not exceed 32 pages andthe overall volume of the collection with the publications may be up to 100 pages or;
2)an independent work prepared in the format of a thesis, the volume of which shall be determined by the faculty and that is composed if the scientific publications/articles fail to provide an integral coverage of the problem studied or;
3)a monograph published, providing an integral coverage of the problem.
(3)Main principles of the doctoral thesis are required to be issued in scientific publications if not limited by law or contract. A prerequisite for a research-oriented doctoral thesis as a rule shall be at least three scientific publications.
(4)A scientific or scholarly publication shall be an article published in an international prereviewed scientific journal and a collection with an international editorial board that has an international circulation, as well as prereviewed books (monographs) issued by the publishers listed in the Estonian Research Portal (ETIS).
(5)Allowance is made for scientific articles in press. In such cases an officially confirmed acceptance for publication is required to be supplied.
(6)An equivalent to a scientific publication shall be a patent if decided so by the dean or a decision-making body authorized by him/her.
(7)A doctoral thesis shall be written in Estonian or in English as a rule. Upon the dean’s written decision, a thesis may be written in another language.A thesis shall be composed of the title page, table of contents, introduction, main part, if required, explanations of abbreviations, terms and denotations, a summary in Estonian and English, references and appendices. The format of the thesis shall be established by the rector.
§ 19. Permission to defence
(1)A candidate who wishes to defend a doctoral thesis shall submit the following to the dean of the relevant faculty:
1) an application for defence coordinated by the supervisor;
2) a doctoral thesis prepared for publication;
3) publications issued or copies relevant to the thesis if the doctoral thesis is in the format of a doctoral thesis.
(2)For evaluation and decision-making concerning the thesis, the dean shall have the right to form a decision-making body.
(3)During one month from the submission of a doctoral thesis at the latest, the dean shall take a decision if:
1)the thesis submitted satisfies the requirements for defence;
2) the thesis that fails to conform to the requirements should be returned;
3) improvements or transformations should be introduced.
(4)If the prerequisites for the doctoral thesis defence (all conditions up to doctoral thesis defence concerning completion of studies according to the curriculum are fulfilled, the doctoral thesis conforms to the requirements set forth for defence and the required number of scientific publications is available), the dean shall issue permission to defence, by endorsing the application for defence.
(5)If required, the dean may declare the defence closed for the public(with registered attendees), as a rule upon recommendation of the supervisor. It is required to take into account the conditions of a closed defence session when publicizing the doctoral thesis and signing contracts with the opponents.
(6)The date and place of the doctoral thesis defence shall be announced at least one month before the defence on TUT doctoral study noticeboard and on TUT’s webpage with the link to the summary of the doctoral thesis and reference to availability of the full text. The doctoral thesis shall be published at least two weeks before the defence at TUT Press. Rules for the announcement and distribution of the doctoral thesis shall be established by the rector.