Diploma Thesis

All students are required to complete a Diploma Thesis, which includes a substantial amount of work and a final written report on a well–defined project related to the scientific subjects of the ECE School. The diploma thesis is completed under the supervision of an (acting or emeritus or retired) professor of the School and monitored by a three-member thesis committee that comprises the supervisor plus two professors of the School. On a case-by-case basis, if the subject of the work requires it, up to one of the three committee members can be a Laboratory Teaching Staff member of the ECE School or an external scientist (indicatively, professor or designated assistant professor or designated lecturer or researcher of a recognized academic or research institution in Greece or abroad or industry executive), as long as he holds a Doctorate Degree. The thesis title, supervisor, and committee are assigned by the Assembly, upon an application by the student, provided that the proposed supervising professor has agreed. The thesis is usually assigned during the last two semesters studies (9th and 10th).

Thesis Assignment

For the Diploma Thesis assignment, the Assembly of the School has established a three-member Diploma Thesis Assignment Committee, which has the control and responsibility for uniform distribution of Diploma Theses among the professors of the School. The Committee comprises faculty members from different scientific areas and has a two-year term. At present, as decided by the 8th/22-06-2023 meeting of the Dean's Office of the School, the Committee consists of Prof. K. Gyftakis, A. Dollas, and G. Chalkiadakis and its term ends on June 22, 2025.

The Committee mainly focuses on the cases of students that are unable to identify a Diploma Thesis topic in direct consultation with professors of the School. Moreover, after the approval of the thesis title and supervisor by the Assembly, the Committee will regularly update the data base of the (instant and aggregate) thesis supervision load of the faculty members, in an effort to attain uniform distribution of Diploma Theses among the professors of the School.

Diploma Theses topics that are mutually agreed upon by the students and professors do not require approval by the Committee; the applications are submitted throughout the academic year. That is, the student who agrees on a Diploma Thesis with a professor submits an application for Diploma Thesis title, supervisor, and three-member committee approval by the Assembly.

For students who a) have not been assigned a Diploma Thesis topic and b) on August 25 of the academic year owe a maximum of five (5) courses for the completion of the study program, the following procedure applies.

1. Students who wish to be assigned a Diploma Thesis topic must send, between Aug. 25 and Sept. 15, to the Committee a request for Diploma Thesis assignment.
2. The Committee takes into account the total number of applications and the Diploma Theses load of professors and asks professors (who have room to supervise) to determine a certain number of proposed topics. Instead of a specific topic, the professor may provide a broader scientific area and the topic may be specified along the way. The list of subjects or scientific areas is communicated to students at the end of the September examination period (early October).
3. A period of one month is provided (specifically, Oct. 15 - Nov. 15) during which interested students are invited to contact the professors who have proposed topics to discuss and be informed about the requirements of each topic. If during the discussions there is an agreement between the student and the professor, then the student submits an application to the Assembly for Diploma Thesis title, supervisor, and three-member committee assignment.
4. For students who have not decided on a topic in the above period, a period of 2 weeks (specifically, Nov. 15 - Nov. 30) is provided during which they send to the Committee a list of 3 preferred topics from the available proposed ones and their transcript.
5. At the end of November the Committee examines the preferences of the students and their performance in the courses and assigns them to the professors in the best possible way. Then, the student submits an application to the Assembly for Diploma Thesis title, supervisor, and three-member committee assignment. For students who were not assigned a topic from their preferences as well as for students who did not submit a list of preferred topics, the Diploma Thesis topic will be assigned based on their academic performance, the courses in which they have the highest grades, and the availability of professors, provided that they owe a maximum of one (1) compulsory and a maximum of two (2) electives compulsory courses for the completion of the study program.

Thesis Completion

Following its completion, the Diploma Thesis is presented to open audience and is graded by the three-member Diploma Thesis committee. The presentation of a Diploma Thesis can be done anytime throughout the academic year. In all cases, the Diploma Thesis presentation must take place within twenty (20) days from the end of an examination period, to receive a diploma degree in the graduation that follows that examination period. The exact date, time, and place of the presentation and the examination are determined in cooperation with the members of the three-member Diploma Thesis committee that grades the work and are publicly announced together with the title and summary of the work to all members of the Technical University of Crete.

The presentation and examination of the thesis is allowed only after completion of the student's obligations regarding the courses of the study program that are required to obtain a diploma and only after at least five (5) months from the thesis assignment by the Assembly.

If the duration of a Diplomatic Thesis exceeds one year, then, unless there is written notification to the Committee that the student and the supervisor agree on its extension, a specific date is set for its presentation and examination within one month. The student must present what he has done up to that day and is graded accordingly. For Diploma Theses that have been assigned by the Assembly before July 7, 2023, the one-year period starts from July 7, 2023.

Thesis Grade

Each diploma thesis is graded in the 0-10 scale by taking the average of the grades given by the three committee members to each of the following three criteria with the corresponding percentages: quality of technical content (50%), quality of written report (30%), and quality of oral presentation (20%).

In case of collaborative work among two or more students, which is allowed only following the approval of the School’s General Assembly, each student is graded separately for his/her contribution to the diploma thesis and his/her oral presentation.