Master's Thesis

Master's Thesis Regulation (MAI120) & (MAI90)

The Master's Thesis is a mandatory subject of the Master in Artificial Intelligence (MAI), which takes a 30 ECTS effort load for the students enrolled in the MAI120 programme.

For the students enrolled in the MAI90 programme the Master's Thesis is also a mandatory subject, which takes 18 ECTS effort load.

The Master's Thesis is an academic exercise, where the student will use the acquired knowledge in previous formation courses of the MAI to solve a research problem or a professional problem in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The student must be able to demonstrate her/his skills in the Artificial Intelligence area to solve complex problems. The Thesis content must let to evaluate the strategies and methodologies used to solve the problem, the creativity of the student, the oral and written communication skills to present the work, and the knowledge of the state of the art related to the problem being solved.

The Thesis could be a research work, or a technological project. Both kind of works should be done under the supervision of one or more Advisor/s. The Advisor must be a Doctor who is teaching in the MAI. In the case that this is not possible then the advisor must be a Doctor or a Graduate person/s outside the MAI. In the later case, it is needed a MAI Professor acting on behalf of the Advisor ("Ponent"), who will ensure the adequation of the the work developed to the work required fro a Master's Thesis.

Both kind of Master's Thesis (research work and technological project) could be done in an universitary environment or in a company environment.
Master's Thesis developed in a company should be planned within the framework of an Educative Cooperation Agreement ("Conveni de Cooperació Educativa") between the University and the company for each student. This kind of agreements regulate the conditions for the student work at the company, such as the salary, the duration of the time to be devoted to the work, etc.

Administrative procedure for the Master's Thesis (MAI 120) & (MAI90)

The steps to finally get a Master's Thesis evaluated by a Committee are:

1. The Master's Thesis theme must be proposed and accepted by the Master Academic Commission. These proposals could be offered by professors or by people from companies without any student assigned to them, or with a student already assigned to them.

The proposals must be done through the intranet. If you don't have access to the intranet, please contact Merce Juan.

2. The inscription of the Master's Thesis. This step requires a previous acceptance of the Master's Thesis proposal. It is a reservation of the Thesis theme for a determined student, and the compromise of the student to do the work under the supervision of the advisor. The student has to deliver to the CS Department Secretariat the Master's Thesis inscription form in the date foreseen in the calendar, properly signed by the student and his/her advisor (or "ponent", a professor acting on behalf of the advisor, see later on).

3. Master's Thesis registration. This step must be done during the term when the student planns to finish the Master's Thesis work. The student must go to the FIB Secretariat in the date foreseen in the calendar to complete the Thesis registration.

4. Master's Thesis advisor presentation authorization and Master Thesis document delivery. When the student has finished the Thesis work, he/she must present the Master's Thesis Advisor Presentation Authorization jointly with the Master's Thesis document. The Master's Thesis document must follow the usual scheme of a scientifical/technological work:

-  Introduction
- Definition of the problem and definition of the goals
- State of the art/Analysis of related works and tools
- Methodology and strategies to solve the problem
- Technical development (requirements, design, implementation)
- Experimental or Theoretical results
- Evaluation of results
- Discussion (goals/results concordance) and conclusions
- Bibliographical and other references
- Annexes

5. The advisor/s of the Thesis must deliver, at least 5 days before the Thesis defence, within a closed envelope addressed to the President of the Evaluation Committee, a report assessing the quality and quantity of the student work, as well as any other relevant observation that should be taken into account during Master's Thesis evaluation by the Committee.

All  Master's Thesis are written and defended in English.