Information on Diploma Thesis and Defense

Areas of potential diploma thesis topics as well as proposals of specific topics for students in the programs: Data Science,  Computer Science and Information Systems, are available on the MS Teams platform:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3abSrcHNr-77uUK4GvD3GGR4RbzpyS2esFbypwSzwA2qg1%40thread.tacv2/Og%25C3%25B3lny?groupId=be63c016-2d2c-45ec-a702-63e56efca83f&tenantId=3b50229c-cd78-4588-9bcf-97b7629e2f0f

As a rule engineering theses are prepared in 2- or 3- person teams, while Master’s theses are prepared individually. Exceptions to this rule are described in the document: Diploma thesis preparation and diploma examination procedures.

There are two possible ways of choosing the diploma thesis topic:

1. A student or a team of students chooses the diploma thesis supervisor out of the academic teachers holding at least the PhD degree (teaching at our faculty, other WUT faculty or other university) and together with the chosen supervisor decides about the topic of the engineering or Master’s thesis which will be prepared. The supervisor prepares and submits by email a formal description of the diploma thesis topic to the dean’s office. Some potential diploma thesis supervisors from our faculty and the descriptions of their areas of interest are presented at the websites given above.

2. A student or a team of students chooses a diploma thesis topic already prepared by a potential supervisor and offered at a website given above. In such a case a student or a team of students contacts the supervisor, establishes in details the mutual cooperation and then the supervisor informs the dean’s office by email that a particular topic from the e.mini list has been taken. To make sure the information reaches the dean’s office the student is also asked to send an email about that to the dean’s office.

Engineering thesis topic description form

Master’s thesis topic description form

Revised 09 January 2023

A student who has completed all the courses included in the study programme and his/her thesis supervisor has qualified the thesis for defense, should submit the thesis for defense no later than:

At the request of a student , the dean may extend the deadline for the submission of the diploma thesis, but this shall not exceed a period of 3 months. An application for 3-month study extension should be submitted to the dean’s office by the thesis submission deadline. The dean can approve only applications of students who completed all the courses within the study programme.

Application-for-extension-of-thesis-submission-deadline

Revised 16 January 2023

1. Layout of the diploma thesis:

   • title page (please, do not change the types and sizes of fonts!)
     Bachelor’s thesis title page template
     Master’s thesis title page template
     

In case of an engineering thesis the inscription ‘consultation’ and the name and surname below refer to the scientific tutor, who is required when the thesis supervisor does not hold the PhD degree (only MSc degree). In case the thesis supervisor has got the PhD degree or higher, please remove the inscription ‘consultation’ and the name and surname below.

The name of the field of study on the title page should be compliant with a students’ registration in USOS, so in case of students registered in USOS for the study programme with the previous name ‘Computer Science’ and the name of the field of study on the title page should be ‘Computer Science’.

1. • an abstract in English including the thesis title and keywords (4 -6 expressions), the abstract should be one-page long with single line spacing and font size: 12;

   • an abstract in Polish including the thesis title in Polish and keywords (4 -6 expressions), the abstract should be one-page long with single line spacing and font size: 12;

   • optionally – an abstract in a foreign language including the thesis title and keywords (4 -6 expressions) – in case a student applies for issuing his/her diploma in a language other than English or Polish, the abstract should be one-page long with single line spacing and font size: 12.

• Table of contents

• in a diploma thesis which is a team project: Descritpion of the work division in the team, including the scope of each co-author’s contribution to the practical part (Team Programming Project) and the descriptive part of the diploma thesis

• Chapters of the thesis

• References

• List of symbols and abbreviations

• List of figures

• List of tables

• List of appendices

• Appendices

2. Editing rules

It is recommended to follow the rules of editing diploma theses listed below.

*in theses with a large number of mathematical formulae and calculations, it is possible to use serif typefaces (e.g. Times New Roman)

Diploma thesis in LaTeX (template)

Revised 2 February 2022

Attention: You do not submit a hard copy of the diploma thesis to the dean’s office.

The prerequisite for submitting diploma thesis for defense is completion of all courses according to the study programme (including the obligatory professional placement during the undergraduate studies) and having scored the required number of ECTS credit points. A student should also check if all his/her grades in the USOS system are correct.

Thesis submission procedure:

1. Student should log into the APD (Archive of theses) system at the website: apd.usos.pw.edu.pl, using his/her USOSweb login credentials. In the APD system a student should:

a) enter thesis data:

• an abstract in English and an abstract in Polish

• key words in English and key words in Polish

and read and approve the author’s statement at the bottom of the webpage (in case of a thesis being a team project each of the co-authors approves the statement individually)

b) add files with the thesis:

• a pdf file with the diploma thesis

• a source code of the application which constitutes an integral part of the diploma thesis

and then click on the green button ‘Forward to the approval of the supervisor’ situated at the top of the webpage.

The diploma thesis uploaded in the APD system should be accepted by the supervisor. Then a student can submit documents for defense to the dean’s office.

2. Student should submit to the dean’s office the following documents (all the documents can be sent by email in the form of scans to the email address: dziekanat.wmini@pw.edu.pl):

• an application for admission to the diploma examination, signed by the student
  Application for diploma examination

• the supervisor’s positive opinion qualifying the thesis for defense with names of 2 proposed reviewers, signed by the supervisor
  Supervisor’s positive opinion

• a declaration of the student taking a remote diploma examination, signed by the student after having read the WUT Rector’s Regulation No. 99 /2020 of 29 September 2020
  WUT Rector’s Regulation No. 99-2020
  Declaration on remote defense
  

• a MiNI Faculty graduate questionnaire
  MiNI Faculty graduate questionnaire
  

• an application for the diploma of graduation with the chosen name of the field of study, depending on the registration in the USOS system: Computer Science or Computer Science and Information Systems (refers only to Bachelor’s degree students)
  Name of the field of study on the diploma
  

• • optionally: certificates of social activity at WUT (as a Students’ Union member), certificates of taking part in the work of a student research group etc. (for placing additional information in the diploma supplement)

  • only for Polish citizens: opcjonalnie: oświadczenia o udostępnieniu Dzieła stworzonego w ramach realizacji pracy dyplomowej na zasadach otwartej licencji (w przypadku zgody dyplomanta na takie udostępnienie, w przypadku braku zgody oświadczenia nie składa się
    oświadczenie o udostępnieniu pracy do repozytorium Wydziału MiNI

The obligation to submit a hard copy of the diploma thesis to the dean’s office has been abolished, however, the student should prepare a hard copy of the diploma thesis on supervisor’s or/and reviewer’s request. Therefore, student is obliged to ask the supervisor and the reviewer if they wish to receive a hard copy of the thesis. Free-of-charge covers for diploma theses are available in the dean’s office. They can be collected by a student for private purposes as well.

3. After having uploaded the diploma thesis in the APD system and having submitted the documents for defense to the dean’s office the student should send an email message to the secretary of diploma examinations asking for organizing and setting the date of the defense.

The email message should include the following information:

• name and surname of the student

• name and surname of the supervisor and the reviewer

• optionally: suggestions regarding the possible date of the defense

Secretaries for diploma examinations:

Computer Science and Information Systems

dr inż. Paweł Kotowski – pawel.kotowski@pw.edu.pl

Data Science

dr Elena Konetskaia – elena.konetskaia@pw.edu.pl

4. The student will receive an email notice about the preliminary version of his/her diploma supplement to be checked in the USOSweb system. The student should log into his/her USOSweb account, choose the tab ‘for students’/‘student’s section’ –> ‘Supplements’ and make the following steps:

• sign (electronically) the statement on granting a licence to WUT, If you do NOT sign this statement then the content of your diploma thesis will NOT be included in WUT electronic databases and will NOT be available in the WUT library system

• sign (electronically) the statement on personal data

• define the number of copies of the diploma and diploma supplement to be issued

• check the correctness of the preliminary version of the diploma supplement

according to the detailed instructions given below and also in the ‘Supplements’ section in USOSweb.

Instructions for checking diploma supplement etc.

5. The student should pay for the ordered copies of diploma and diploma supplement. The amount of the due fee depends on the order made by the student. If the fee amount is other than 0.00 PLN it is displayed at the student’s account in USOSweb in the tab ‘for students’/‘student’s section’ –> ‘Settlements’/’Accounting’. The due fee should be paid by a bank transfer to the student’s individual bank account number given in the ‘Settlements’/’Accounting’ section. There is no need to send a bank transfer confirmation regarding the diploma fee payment to the dean’s office – within a few days the payment should be booked automatically at the student’s account in USOSweb. Please just check it.

Revised 11 August 2022

Sample topics for defense – Bachelors degree programme

Sample topics for defense – Master’s degree programme (Artificial Intelligence)

Sample topics for defense – Master’s degree programme (Data Science)

Revised 17 March 2023

1. Following a long tradition at our Faculty students are asked (but not obliged) to prepare a poster for the defense. The poster is intended to inform in an attractive way about the results obtained in the diploma thesis. Such a poster can become an advertisement of a project that has been developed.

The Faculty has prepared a repository to which students can upload their posters to make them available on the Faculty’s website. Instructions for uploading posters can be found in the github repository at the link:

https://github.com/mini-pw/mini-posters/blob/main/README.md

The Faculty reserves the right to select posters to be published.

When the defense takes place in the faculty building, the student who has prepared a poster is asked to print it in colour on an A3 size paper sheet and bring it for the diploma examination. After the defense selected posters are displayed on the green wall on the 1st floor in the faculty building.

2. Diploma examination (defense) consists of 2 parts:

• The student presents his/her diploma thesis and its results.

The presentation should not exceed 10 minutes. The student’s oral presentation is usually accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation prepared by the student. The student brings his/her own laptop or borrows one from the Faculty LAB room for the defense time.

• The diploma examination board asks the student three questions. The questions refer to the thesis itself and to the completed study programme.

The diploma examination board determines the grade for the diploma thesis, the grade for the diploma examination, and the final grade and result for the whole course of study in accordance with § 32 section 2 and 3 of the Academic Regulations at Warsaw University of Technology.

The diploma examination board is composed of at least four members: the chairperson of the board, the supervisor of the diploma thesis, the thesis reviewer and an academic teacher representing the field of study of the student taking the examination.

3. After a passed diploma examination the dean’s office issues for the graduate an electronic clearance slip in the USOSweb system. The graduate has to make there (Common section -> Clearance slips) the necessary steps and check the electronic clearance slip status according to the instructions which are given below and in USOSweb too. Electronic clearance slip – instructions
   

4. Graduation documents are prepared within 30 working days. When the documents are ready the graduate receives an email message (to the student email address with the domain @pw.edu.pl) from the WUT Registry Office. In order to collect the graduation diploma the graduate should go to the WUT Registry Office (Main Building, room 114) with his/her ID document (passport, national ID document). In case the graduate authorizes someone else to collect the graduation documents for him/her the authorized person has to present at the Registry Office the particular power of attorney signed by the graduate and the person’s ID document (passport, national ID document).

The power of attorney form is available at:
https://www.ca.pw.edu.pl/Kanclerz/Z-ca-Kanclerza-ds.-Dzialan-Podst/Dzial-Ewidencji-Studentow-Sekretariat-Szkoly/Dokumenty-do-pobrania

Detailed information on the WUT Registry Office opening hours etc. is available at the website:

https://www.ca.pw.edu.pl/Kanclerz/Z-ca-Kanclerza-ds.-Dzialan-Podst/Dzial-Ewidencji-Studentow-Sekretariat-Szkoly/Informacje

Graduation documents can be collected only when the electronic clearance slip is successfully completed, i.e. its state is Active (ambiguous) with a tick next to each question, which means that the student has no obligations towards the university units mentioned in the clearance slip.

5. Apostille and legalization

Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) provides apostille and authentication on documents awarded by Polish higher education institutions. For further information please refer to the website at:

https://nawa.gov.pl/en/apostille-and-legalization

Revised 22 December 2021

A person who was struck off the register of students due to failure to submit a diploma thesis by the set deadline can apply for resumption of study for the defense day when the person’s diploma thesis is finished or about to be finished.

The application for resumption of study may be submitted no later than 5 years after the decision on striking a student off the register of students has become final.

No more than two resumptions of study by the same person shall be allowed and no more than three applications for resumption of study may be submitted.

The person resuming study for the defense day is required to make up for curriculum differences (between the study programme the person completed and the study programme currently offered) if they are specified by the dean on the person’s application for resumption of study.

The person resuming study for the defense is also charged with a fee for consultations with the diploma thesis supervisor:

• 220.00 PLN – Bachelor’s degree programme,

• 390,00 PLN – Master’s degree programme.

Application for resumption of study for the defence day

Revised 22 December 2021