Master's Final Project

Phase 1: Choice of topic and supervisor

Regarding the choice of topic, each student shall have to produce a proposal enabling preliminary individual and joint deliberation concerning the student's initial research aim. Students shall have to contact to a member of the Master's or Department's faculty to supervise their Master's Final Project. The chosen supervisor should be notified by MFP Moodle using the supervisor notification form not later than the second week of the semester. Otherwise, the Committee may allocate a supervisor based on students' interests. If need be, students have the option of applying to the Master in Software and Systems' Academic Policy Committee for a change of supervisor. For this purpose, students shall submit the change of supervisor application form. Students shall have a choice of topics for their Master's Final Project proposed by Master's faculty. Alternatively, students with a special interest in any particular topic shall, subject to approval from their supervisor, be able to put forward their own

Master's Final Projects shall be supervised by doctors (UPM academic staff), from Master's programme or Department of Computer Languages and Systems and Software Engineering faculty members, specialized in different software and systems fields. The supervisor's mission shall focus on putting students into contact with the right people, providing guidance on required information, giving advice on the project, appraising the progress of the research and its contents, coming up with ideas for consideration, revising documentation written by students, etc.

Exceptionally, a MFP may be co-supervised by two doctors. For this purpose, students shall submit the co-supervision application form to the Master in Software and Systems' Academic Policy Committee justifying co-supervision. Co-supervisors shall be doctors but not necessarily Master in Software and Systems or Department of Computer Languages and Systems and Software Engineering faculty members.

The document requesting topics and supervisors should be delivered by MFP Moodle inPDF not later than the established deadline. Title or supervisors changes should be requested by email to the MFP coordinator using the title change form or the supervisor change form.

Phase 2: Completion of Master's Final Project

The completion of the Master's Final Project is the culmination of the teaching/learning process, as it draws on different academic programme contents for the purpose of research. Additionally, the completion of the Master's Final Project shall be supported by participation in Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos Research Groups, visits to other groups or institutions, attendance of seminars and congresses, active participation in congresses, etc.

The Master's Final Project shall consist of a written dissertation (with a minimum of 20,000 words, not including indices, references and appendices) completed by the Master's degree candidate. It is recommended using the report template in Word format or the report template in LaTeX format, as well as the format recommendations. Students shall have to demonstrate that they have developed skills for formulating, evaluating and managing an applied research project in the software and systems field, have the ability to conduct an in-depth critical study and appraisal of the state of the art in some innovative topic of interest in this field, including a personal contribution to the topic, or the ability to conduct substantial research with academic integrity within the chosen field of specialization.

The Master's Final Project shall have to be written in Spanish or English. In any case, all projects shall include a summary in Spanish and an abstract in English.

Written dissertation shall be uploaded to MFP Moodle in PDF format one week before to the dates defined for MFP defence.

Additionally to written dissertation, the supervisor's authorization for Master's Final Project presentation form shall be uploaded to MFP Moodle.

Phase 3: Defence of Master's Final Project

Students shall be entitled to defend their Master's Final Project in the dates defined for each semester. These concrete dates can also be found in MFP Moodle.

Students shall defend their Master's Final Project individually in a public oral hearing before a board appointed by the Master's Academic Policy Committee. The board shall be composed of three members: two Master in Software and Systems faculty members, plus the student's supervisor. If the MFP has a supervisor and co-supervisor, only the supervisor (and never both supervisors) shall sit on the board.

Students shall bring to the defence the respective Agreement for Electronic Editing and Publishing Or, failing this, the confidentiality agreement form.

The public defence should last no more than one hour, although it may, exceptionally, be extended by the board, if needed. The Master's Final Project defence protocol shall be composed of the following steps:

1. Meeting of the board: the board shall meet formally behind closed doors at the time scheduled for the Master's Final Project defence. At least two of the three board members shall be present at this meeting.
2. Oral presentation (approximately 25 minutes): students shall deliver an oral public presentation of their Master's Final Project, relying for this purpose on presentation slides put together following their supervisor's instructions. The presentation shall focus mainly on the research conducted by the student and its main contributions.
3. Practical demonstration (optional, approximately 5 minutes): students shall be entitled to give a brief practical demonstration of any system or software that they have developed, if they so wish.
4. Board questions: each board member shall be able to raise any questions, queries, clarifications or objections that they like, to which the student shall have to give proper and convincing responses.
5. Deliberation: at the end of the defence, the board shall retire to deliberate and make a decision on the grade. The board should assess the Master's degree-related knowledge and skills demonstrated by the student, the originality of the research conducted, the clarity and precision of the Master's Final Project report, the quality of the presentation and, if applicable, the demonstration, and the answers to questions raised by the board. Additionally, it shall have to check that the student has achieved the learning outcomes stipulated for the MFP. Then, after signing the minutes of the thesis defence, the board’s chairperson shall publicly announce the grade awarded to the student (the board may unanimously recommend conferral of an honours distinction).
6. At the end of the defence, the board secretary shall submit a copy and the original of the examination board minutes to the Master's administrative office and the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos's Registry, respectively. If put forward for an honours distinction, a committee shall decide, at the end of semester, which MFPs are to receive this distinction.