Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Final Master's Degree Project
Other languages of instruction: Catalan
Teaching staff
Coordinator: Dra. MANRESA MATAS, Alba - amanresa@uic.es
Attention hours: please contact with the coordinator. (amanresa@uic.es).Introduction
The purpose of the Master's Thesis (TFM) is to prove that the student has acquired the knowledge taught during the master program. As established by Royal Decree 1393/2007, the Master program concludes with the elaboration and oral defense of the TFM. This thesis is compulsory in order to be awarded the Master's degree.
The credits of the TFM give an approximate idea of the student's workload. The TFM is a compulsory subject with 12 ECTS credits, representing 120 hours of effective dedication (1 ECTS = 10 hours). The TFM is conducted during the second semester.
Pre-course requirements
Being enrolled in all the other subjects included in the master program.
Objectives
It is expected that through the TFM the student acquires a global vision of a company and/or of its production systems. The aim is not only to understand the concepts learned during the master, but to apply them to real situations and analyze their viability, implementation, and impact. This work has, therefore, an integrating character since the student should demonstrate both soft/hard skills.
The thesis will be supervised by a professor, who will assess and give advice during the elaboration of the dissertation. The final work will be orally presented in front of a committee and evaluated following the guidelines described in the assessment section.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- CB7 - Que los estudiantes sepan aplicar los conocimientos adquiridos y su capacidad de resolución de problemas en entornos nuevos o poco conocidos dentro de contextos más amplios (o multidisciplinares) relacionados con su área de estudio.
- CB9 - Que los estudiantes sepan comunicar sus conclusiones y los conocimientos y razones últimas que las sustentan a públicos especializados y no especializados de un modo claro y sin ambigüedades.
- CE10 - Analizar una problemática, proponiendo una solución y determinando su viabilidad, implantación e impacto en el área de la dirección de empresas y/o sistemas de producción.
- CE11 - Convencer a un tribunal universitario de la solidez de un proyecto integral de organización de la producción bajo el enfoque de la dirección y organización de empresas.
- CG3 - Capacidad para generar nuevas ideas y evaluar de forma crítica las alternativas en presencia de múltiples criterios y actores.
- CT3 - Uso solvente de los recursos de información y capacidad de análisis y síntesis de la misma.
- CT6 - Entrepreneurship and innovation skills
Learning outcomes of the subject
The learning outcomes can be summarized in the following three points:
- The student will compile the basic information to carry out the work.
- The student must formalise some hypotheses, design a research methodology and obtain some conclusions.
- The student will publicly defend his thesis in front of a specialized committee.
Syllabus
The topic of the thesis might be chosen based on:
- student's preference for a specific area related with Business Management and/or Production Systems.
- the work/projects conducted during the internship period.
- a research project in which the professors of the master program participate in.
In relation to the final TFM document, you must meet the following requirements:
- There is a template that should be used. It is available in Moodle.
- Language: multilingual option, depending on the agreement between the student and the director.
- Extension of the work: environment 75-100 pages, bibliography, tables and figures included (without including the Appendix).
- The table of contents should be numbered and included at the beginning of the document.
- The diagrams, graphs, tables etc. must be numbered. A table of contents for figures/tables is also recommended.
- All pages must be numbered.
- Any bibliography or webography that is used should be detailed in the reference section. The references consist of the sources used in the elaboration of the work and should be conveniently cited in the text. The appendix (if necessary) should incorporate those materials that complement the explanations of the work and provide a better understanding. You should only include those that are relevant and that cannot be cited in the body of the document because if so, they would distort the logic and the reading of the document.
- reference should follow the APA style (http://www.apastyle.org/). It is recommended, not to refer to generic references to web pages, and instead, cite specific documents.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
Training sessions
During the development of the TFM there will be two training sessions:
- How to write a master thesis
- Information sources and bibliographic searches
Mentoring session with the supervisor, based on a regular basis according to a schedule previously agreed between the student and the professor
Autonomous work of the student
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
The evaluation committee will be proposed by the TFM coordinator. The committee will consist of professors from the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. The final grade will be based on the following points:
- Written work: The written document will be evaluated according to the following criteria: presentation and structure, clarity and relevance of the contents, originality and innovative character, practical research, coherence, viability, integration of competencies and content worked on in the title, character reflexive and internal argumentation, handling of specialized bibliography, linguistic correction, adequacy of conclusions.
- Presentation and defense: The estimated time for the defense is 20-25 minutes.
The rubric used to grade the TFM is available on the Moodle of the subject. The final grade will be communicated after the oral defense.
In the case of not passing the defense, the committee will indicate the weaknesses and the modifications needed.
Bibliography and resources
Amat, O., & Rocafort, A. (2018). Cómo investigar - Trabajo Fin de Grado, Tesis de Máster, Tesis Doctoral y otros proyectos de investigación. Barcelona: PROFIT EDITORIAL.
Saunders, M. N., & Lewis, P. (2012). Doing research in business & management: An essential guide to planning your project. Pearson.