In order to take the final exam, which carries 21 ECTS, the student must have passed all other exams in their study plan (i.e., no less than 99 ECTS).

The final exam consists in the two following steps.

Step 1: Writing a thesis on a topic which is relevant for the MSc, under the supervision of a professor whom the student can choose among the instructors of courses of the MSc. Please notice that the personal page of almost each professor, which can be reached by writing here the professor's name, indicates the professor's (research) interests. This may give insights about the topic of a thesis supervised by the professor.

Jointly, the supervisor and the student determine the thesis' topic, and whether the thesis should consist of a theoretical analysis, or of an empirical analysis, or both. The thesis needs to prove the student's ability to analyze relevant issues using the appropriate methods/tools, in a scientifically rigorous way. Moreover, the thesis needs to include some original contributions. There is not a standard about the time needed to complete the thesis, nor about its lenght, but the supervisor determines when the thesis is ready to be defended.

Specialized software may be useful in writing a thesis. Please find here software which Unifi makes available to its students.

If you want to use LaTeX as a text processor, then please find here information about getting started, and here the page of a users group. You may also consider the online LaTeX editor called Overleaf.

The School of Economics and Management suggests this template for the thesis' cover page.

Step 2: Presenting and defending the thesis in front of a commission of professors of the MSc, which ordinarily includes the thesis’ supervisor. About two weeks before the thesis defence, the list of professors in the commission can be found in this page.

The student's final grade is obtained through the following steps.

• (a) The ECTS-weighted average of the grades earned by the student at all exams they passed is determined, excluding the exams for which the possible grades are just Pass/Fail, and excluding the grade of the thesis.
• (b) The average derived at (a) is multiplied by 11/3.
• (c) To the result derived at (b), the fraction 1/3 is added for each exam with grade 30 cum laude (For an integrated exam, 1/3 is added if and only if the grade is 30 cum laude for each of the modules making up the integrated exam). The result is rounded to its closest integer number, with rounding by excess if the decimal part is 0.5.
• (d) To the result derived at (c), the grade of the thesis (and of its presentation&defense) his added. The grade of the thesis is not greater than 7 and is determined by the commission mentioned at the beginning of Step 2.
• (e) The sum derived at (d) is the final grade for the MSc in Economics and Development, with the following exception. If the sum derived at (d) is at least 110, and the thesis has received a grade of 7, and the commission mentioned at the beginning of Step 2 unanimously agrees, then the final grade is 110 e lode, i.e., 110 with distinction.

Sessions, deadlines, and burocracy There are five sessions per year in which the thesis defence can occur, in the months of February, April, July, October, December; please find here (in the second page) information about the dates.

Please click here for administrative information, including a link to apply to defend your thesis, and here for information on steps and deadlines for upcoming sessions. Please notice that you will not receive your graduation parchment the day of the thesis defence, but you will receive it (2-3 months later) by surface mail at the address you have indicated when applying to defend your thesis.

A page of FAQ (in Italian) for students who are about to graduate is available here.