Declaration of thesis for students of 1st and 2nd study level

Owned by Ülle Laur
Last updated: 22 August 2023

ÕIS Guide.

Basis: Academic Policies, entry into force: 01.08.2023, https://oigusaktid.taltech.ee/en/academic-policies/

1. Declaring the graduation thesis in the study plan

1.1. The student declares the graduation thesis in the study plan by the deadline indicated in the academic calendar.

1.2. The data entered in the declaration of graduation thesis contains the initial title of the thesis in Estonian and English, the language of the thesis, the principal supervisor. If a student does not have a thesis topic and a supervisor when declaring a thesis, the student shall submit the individual study plan without the abovementioned data.

1.3. The study information system (ÕIS) adds applicable ECTS credits of the thesis declaration.

1.4. If the planned supervisor is not listed in ÕIS, the student can enter the name of the supervisor as free text and the programme director needs to approve it. After the programme director’s approval, the office of academic affairs enters the principal supervisor into ÕIS. If the lecturer chosen by the student as the principal supervisor is listed in ÕIS but is from outside the student’s School or the university, the programme director needs to approve the selection of the principal supervisor.

1.5. The principal supervisor can agree to or decline supervision in ÕIS.

1.6. The principal supervisor can confirm/reject his supervision in ÕIS. If the supervisor rejects the tutoring (tutoring has not been agreed upon), the student will receive a notification to that effect and must find a new principal supervisor and carry the ÕIS. If supervision of graduation thesis is not accepted or not rejected that means accepting the coaching.

1.7. After submitting the study plan, the student can specify the initial title of the thesis and the principal supervisor in ÕIS.

1.8. The graduation thesis declaration is valid for the semester of submission. In the following semester, the student can submit a new thesis declaration. There are no restrictions on the number of times a thesis declaration can be submitted.

1.9. If a fee is required for the graduation thesis in accordance with the fee rates established by the university, the thesis invoice will be issued after the thesis declaration has been submitted.

2. Submitting a defence application

2.1. The student can submit the defence application after the declaration of graduation thesis has been submitted. The defence application uses data from the declaration.

2.2. If the student has not submitted the declaration of graduation thesis but wants to defend the graduation thesis, the dean may allow a graduation thesis to be declared at another time during an academic year as an exception. In this case, the dean's office adds the graduation thesis to the declaration in OIS.

3. Declaring the graduation thesis and submitting the defence application during academic leave.

3.1. The declaration of graduation thesis cannot be submitted during academic leave.

3.2. The defence application cannot be submitted during academic leave.

3.3. If academic leave is granted, the defence application submitted in the corresponding semester will be cancelled. Upon cancellation, the comment "reason: academic leave" should be entered.

4. Changes in the creation of the defence committee

4.1. When the defence committee is created in ÕIS, study programmes and major fields of study are selected from the ÕIS registry. As a result, ÕIS automatically displays  valid thesis declarations, or potential graduates.

4.2. If several defence committees are created for one study programme and major field of study, it is possible to distinguish the committees s with an additional marking. ÕIS does not distinguish which committee the declaration belongs to, i.e., all valid declarations connected to the committee are displayed.

5. Actions with thesis declaration in ÕIS

5.1. The following ÕIS roles can viewing and/or change the declaration of graduation thesis:

  • a student submitting a declaration for graduation thesis.

  • a lecturer as the principal supervisor in the thesis declaration.

  • user in the "institute’s" role in the teaching institute in ÕIS.

  • the student's programme director.

  • the dean's office of the student's School.

  • student data managers of the office of academic affairs.

5.2. The student submits a declaration of the graduation thesis in the study plan and a defence application to be allowed to defend the thesis. 

5.3. The principal supervisor can confirm/reject his supervision in ÕIS. If the supervisor rejects the tutoring (tutoring has not been agreed upon), the student will receive a notification to that effect and must find a new principal supervisor and carry the ÕIS. If supervision of graduation thesis is not accepted or not rejected that means accepting the coaching.

The principal supervisor has to approve/reject the defence application submitted by the student. In the defence application, the main supervisor confirms the correct title and eligibility of the thesis to be defended. The title of the thesis entered in the ÕIS defence application is entered in the academic record and Digikogu after the defence.

5.4. In the role of the institute, the employee sees thesis declarations where the principal supervisor is at his/her institute. The employee of the institute can approve or reject the supervision on behalf of the principal supervisor.

5.5. The programme director sees the graduation thesis declarations of his study program and confirms the principal supervisor on the declaration, if the principal supervisor is not a faculty member. If the programme director rejects the supervision (supervision has not been agreed upon), the student will receive a notification to that effect and must find a new main supervisor and submit the ÕIS.

5.6. As an exception, the dean may allow a graduation thesis/ to be declared at another time during an academic year. In this case, the dean's office adds the thesis statement to the student's study plan.

5.7. The thesis defence committee (ÕIS user with the right of the institute or dean's office) can see thesis declarations related to the defence committee.