Final Thesis

The seminar takes place at the beginning of each semester for all students who plan to defend their graduation thesis in the same semester. Students who want to start preparing their graduation thesis earlier than in the last semester are also welcome to participate. At the seminar, the graduation thesis coordinator and program manager will introduce the conditions for the preparation and defense of graduation thesis, the deadlines and the process related to defense. The thesis seminar introduces students to the principles of the Moodle thesis course and students receive a key to register for the course.

In the bachelor's study, the topic of the graduation thesis and the supervisor, including the co-supervisor, are approved at the latest upon defense of the graduation thesis plan defense. If necessary, the student will be advised by the program manager and/or the graduation thesis coordinator on the choice of the topic and supervisor.

The thesis can have up to two supervisors – a principal supervisor and a co-supervisor. A supervisor is selected from among the academic staff of the university or from outside the university, depending on the topic of the thesis. A supervisor must have at least a master’s degree or equivalent qualification; or higher education and at least 5 years of work experience in the supervised field. If the principal supervisor is from outside the university, the topic of the thesis together with the name of the supervisor must be approved by the programme manager. The student and the supervisor agree on a schedule for the preparation of the graduation thesis. Requirements for the supervisor can be found in the “Guidelines for preparing and defending graduation theses for IAAB, IADB, IVSB study programmes”.
 

By choosing the topic of the graduation thesis and compiling the plan, the student finds a problem to solve, for example, during an internship, in connection with his/her work, hobby, etc. If the problem is found, then:

• the student provides a description of the problem, preferably in two to three sentences;
• describes in his/her own words how to solve the problem;
• finds the result to be achieved (scope) and describes it;
• finds different solutions to the problem;
• chooses the best solution in his/her opinion and implements it;
• tests the solution;
• describes what has improved as a result;
• describes what to do next.
   

The student uploads the plan to the Moodle course page by the specified date and defends it before the committee at the appointed time. The committee makes its own recommendations, which the student takes into account when preparing the graduation thesis. The committee has the right not to approve the plan if significant deficiencies appear and to require the student to supplement the plan in accordance with the recommendations received from the committee. The student submits the plan approved by the committee and signed by himself/herself and the supervisor by the specified date to the Moodle course page.

When compiling the graduation thesis, the student follows:

• the timetable agreed with the supervisor;
• Author Guidelines and Formatting Requirements for Thesis Preparation of the School of Information Technology;
• the deadlines established in the academic calendar of the university and study programmes, incl submission of the work for preliminary defense, time of the preliminary defense, submission of the application for the defense of the final thesis in the study information system ÕIS, submission of the work for final defense in Moodle, final defense period and its schedule.

The thesis is prepared in English, the title page of the thesis is prepared both in Estonian and English. 
 

At the college, the preliminary defense of the final theses takes place two to four weeks before the final defense. The work submitted for preliminary defense must in principle be completed (preferably 90%). The student uploads the work to the Moodle course page by the specified deadline. For the preliminary defense, the student has prepared a defense speech and slides, on the basis of which he/she will present his/her work for 7-10 minutes. The preliminary defense committee makes its own recommendations and decides whether or not to allow the work to be defended. If the committee does not allow the work to be defended, the defense will be postponed to the next semester. The student must complete his / her work according to the recommendations received from the committee.

Students who have been admitted to the defense of the thesis by the preliminary defense committee shall submit an application for defense in ÕIS, which has the original language of the thesis, the title in English and in Estonian and the name of the supervisor(s). The application for defense is approved by the main supervisor at ÕIS, proving that the work is ready for defense. The dean's office will then approve the application for defense if the preconditions for admission to the defense of the thesis are met. The chairman of the defense committee has the right not to allow the thesis to be defended if the thesis does not meet the requirements prescribed for the thesis.

The student uploads the graduation thesis to the Moodle course page by the deadline set by the college after the approval of the defense application. If there is a restriction on access to the graduation thesis, the student submits only a short summary of the graduation thesis. The defense takes place on the basis of the schedule prepared by the college and the procedure established by the dean within the deadline indicated in the academic calendar.

Theses are checked through a plagiarism detection system before the defense. If there is plagiarism in the graduation thesis, the chairman of the defense committee has the right not to allow the student to defend.

All theses will be reviewed by the reviewers. According to the topic of the graduation thesis, the reviewer is appointed from among the academic staff of the university or a specialist who has the required level of education on the topic. The reviewer is appointed by the preliminary defense committee. The written review submitted by the reviewer will be uploaded to the Moodle course page. It is recommended that the reviewer participates in the defense of the graduation thesis.

For the defense, the student prepares a defense speech, the main points of which are presented on slides at a rate of about 1 slide per minute. The length of the presentation is 7-10 minutes, during which the student presents the purpose of his / her thesis, the main results of the problem he / she solved in the thesis, clearly states what he / she has done and, if possible, makes recommendations for further research / problem-solving.
After the presentation of the thesis by the student, a review is heard and the student answers the reviewer's questions. The general discussion then takes place and the supervisor's opinion is heard.

The graduation thesis and its defense will be evaluated by the defense committee on the basis of an evaluation matrix and will take into account the following criteria:

• highlighting the actuality of the topic;
• setting the goal and problem of the graduation thesis and coherence;
• timeliness of sources used;
• justification for the choice of methodology;
• correctness of the analysis;
• applicability of results;
• thesis formatting;
• student presentation skills;
• overview of the presentation and mastery of the topic covered in the thesis.

The grade obtained in the defense of the graduation thesis shall be entered in the ÕIS no later than on the next working day after the defense. If the student does not receive a positive grade in the defense, he/she can re-defend the graduation thesis under the condition determined by the defense committee (supplementing the existing graduation thesis or submitting a new graduation thesis).

The graduation thesis defended for a positive grade, including the multimedia files that are part of the graduation thesis, will be published through the library's digital collection. In the case of a thesis with restricted access, only a brief summary of the thesis will be published during the period of validity of the restriction.
 

The graduation thesis can also be defended as an external student. An external student is subject to the same conditions for graduating as a student, including the defense of a thesis plan, passing a preliminary defense for a positive result.

A person who has fulfilled the conditions for starting studies (required previous level of education), who has completed all subjects of the study program (except internships), who is allowed to defend a thesis by the preliminary defense committee and who does not have tuition fees, submits a signed defense application to the dean's office. If the preconditions for admission to the defense of the graduation thesis are met, a contract will be concluded with the applicant.
 

The student is the author of the graduation thesis, who chooses the topic based on his/her interests and possibilities and coordinates it with the supervisor. The process of compiling and defending a graduation thesis takes place in a bachelor's degree during one semester and can be conditionally divided into three stages: choosing a topic and a supervisor, including defending a graduation thesis, preparing a graduation thesis, cooperating with a supervisor and defending a graduation thesis.

Choosing the topic and a supervisor, including the defense of the thesis plan, during which the student:

• Participates in a seminar introducing the process of compiling and defending a graduation thesis;
• If necessary, contacts the program manager or the thesis coordinator for help in finding the thesis topic and supervisor;
• Coordinates the topic of the planned graduation thesis with the supervisor;
• Prepares a thesis plan in accordance with the requirements established by the study program and submits it for defense (in Moodle environment);
• Participates in the defense of the thesis plan and complements the plan with the recommendations received from the commission.

Preparation of the graduation thesis, cooperation with the supervisor, during which the student:

• Plans a schedule for the preparation of the graduation thesis and coordinates it with the supervisor;
• Submits parts of the graduation thesis to the supervisor for review and comment according to the agreed schedule;
• Seeks feedback and suggestions from the supervisor and takes them into account during the preparation of the thesis;
• Complies with the requirements established by the School of Information Technology and the curriculum when compiling and formalizing the graduation thesis, including reference requirements;
• If necessary, submits an application for restriction and/or closed protection of access to the graduation thesis.

Preliminary defense and defense of the graduation thesis, during which the student:

• Submits work to the Moodle course page according to the established schedule and conditions;
• Participates in the preliminary defense and presents its work to the preliminary defense committee;
• If necessary, the graduation thesis will be supplemented on the basis of recommendations received from the pre-defense committee;
• After successfully passing the preliminary defense, submits an application for defense to ÕIS by the deadline indicated in the academic calendar,
• Submits a digitally signed graduation thesis in pdf format by the deadline specified on the Moodle course page;
• With the author's declaration and non-exclusive license for publication included in the graduation thesis, the student confirms the compliance of the graduation thesis with academic requirements and authorizes the graduation thesis to be made available to the public (except for restricted graduation theses) and used as a data source in the plagiarism detection system;
• Reads the review before defending the graduation thesis;
• Observes the deadlines related to the preparation and defense of the graduation thesis;
• Participates in the defense according to the defense schedule and follows the defense procedure;
• In justified cases, the result of the defense shall be challenged within three working days of the notification of the decision to challenge the results of the assessment of the learning outcomes obtained in the defense of the graduation thesis or the defense procedure.
   

The supervisor of the graduation thesis is an academic employee or a recognized specialist in his/her field, who gives recommendations to the student regarding the task setting, structure, theoretical framework, methodology and selection of relevant literature. The supervisor checks the compliance of the graduation thesis with the substantive and formal requirements of the graduation thesis established by the faculty. Supervision of the graduation thesis takes place in bachelor's studies as a rule during one semester.

Supervisor:

• Provides feedback and recommendations for the thesis plan/task set prepared by the student, including the aim, structure, theoretical framework and methodology of the planned thesis;
• After the approval of the student's thesis plan, the non-university supervisor concludes a contract or an annex to the contract with the university;
• Reads the completed text or parts of it and draws attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the completed work;
• Gives the student his / her own assessment of the suitability and readiness of the graduation thesis for defense;
• Approves the application for defense submitted in ÕIS;
• Presents in writing the supervisor's opinion for submission to the defense committee;
• Informs the program leader and the student in writing about the termination of further supervision if the student has not complied with the deadlines agreed with the supervisor or other deadlines for writing the graduation thesis;
• Preferably participates in the defense of the graduation thesis.
   

Reviewer of the graduation thesis is an academic employee appointed by the preliminary defense committee or a recognized specialist in his / her field, who assesses whether the graduation thesis corresponds to the topic, is relevant, logical and justified, meets the requirements, assesses what the author's contribution is and whether the thesis is in accordance to the requirements established for the graduation thesis, which are provided in the documents for the Guidelines for preparing and defending graduation theses in IAAB, IADB, IVSB study programmes and the Author guidelines
and formatting requirements for thesis preparation.

Reviewer:

• Gets acquainted with the thesis;
• Compiles a review in the form of the IT College and forwards it digitally signed to the coordinator of the graduation thesis by the required deadline;
• Preferably participates in the defense of the graduation thesis.

The graduation thesis defense committee consists of academic members and recognized experts in their field from outside the university. The defense committee examines the graduation theses and assesses their compliance with the requirements for the graduation thesis set out in the Guidelines for preparing and defending graduation theses for IAAB, IADB, IVSB study programmes.

Defense committee:

• Gets acquainted with the graduation theses submitted for defense on the Moodle course page;
• Signs a confidentiality agreement, if applicable;
• Asks the student defending the thesis questions related to the graduation thesis, participates in the discussion;
• Evaluates theses according to the evaluation matrix valid in the IT college;
• Sets the conditions for the defense of the graduate who defends the graduation thesis with a negative result.
   

• Decides not to allow the defense of the graduation thesis if the thesis does not meet the requirements, incl. decides with the program manager if there is any plagiarism in the graduation thesis;
• Informs the Head of the Academic Affairs of the Dean’s Office of the School of Information Technologies of the violation of academic practice (plagiarism);
• Organizes the work of the defense committee;
• Carries out the defense procedure following the main stages of the defense procedure set out in TalTech's study organization rules;
• Signs the defense protocol;
• Responds to any disputes submitted by the graduate regarding the graduation thesis defense procedure or questions related to the evaluation result within three working days.
   

• Defines the stages, terms and conditions of the graduation thesis defense process;
• Advises students on choosing a thesis topic;
• Advises the student in finding a supervisor and in case of problems related to supervising;
• Participates in the defense of the thesis plan and approves the protocol of the defense;
• Approves non-university supervisors and topics for the theses;
• Participates in the preliminary and final defense of graduation theses;
• Ensures plagiarism control for all graduation theses defended in the curriculum.
   

• Ensures that graduation deadlines are available to students on the IT College website and the Moodle course page;
• Conducts a seminar on graduation thesis deadlines, process, preparation and defense at the beginning of the semester;
• Advises the student in finding the topic and the supervisor of the graduation thesis;
• Compiles the committee for the defense of thesis plan, the committees for the preliminary defense and thesis defense;
• Organizes the defense of the thesis plan and preliminary defense of graduation theses;
• Coordinates the review of graduation theses, including forwarding the graduation thesis and review form to reviewers;
• Organizes the defense of graduation theses;
• Informs the members of the defense committee about the terms, conditions and requirements related to the defense of the graduation thesis;
• Compiles a graduation thesis list of students who have met the prerequisites for entering the defense.

Thesis Coordinator is Toomas Lepikult.