13.1 In order to graduate from EBS and obtain the respective graduation document, students must fulfil all of the graduation requirements of the respective curriculum, incl. complete the prescribed courses (with a GPA of at least 2.00), write and defend a final thesis or pass a final exam. The requirements and the defence of Doctoral theses are regulated by the Procedure for Passing the Doctoral Programme and Defending the Doctoral Thesis.
13.2 Students who have completed their studies (in full or for the most part) choose a topic and a supervisor for their final thesis based on their major and personal interest. The supervisor of the final thesis should generally be a faculty member, a researcher or a doctoral student of EBS. At the student’s and/or the supervisor’s request, the final thesis may also have a co-supervisor, who does not have to be a faculty member of EBS.
13.3 Upon starting their final thesis, students must submit a declaration of the final thesis project to the Office of Academic Affairs. Students must declare the final examination in the MyEBS. The declaration of the final thesis project must be submitted and the final examination declared by the deadline specified in the academic calendar. The declaration of the final thesis project is coordinated with the supervisor of the thesis and approved by the Head of the Department responsible.
13.4 Final theses are defended and final examinations conducted once a semester at the time specified in the academic calendar (generally on the last weeks of the semester).
13.5 The defence and examination lists for a semester are prepared on the basis of final thesis and final examination declarations, and tuition fee invoices are issued to the students included therein.
13.6 The requirements for the final theses and the procedure for writing and defending them is set forth in the Manual for Compiling and Defending Final Theses, which is approved by the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs. The requirements for and the organisation of the Bachelor’s final examination is set forth in the Final Examination Instructions, which are approved by the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs.
13.7 Final theses are to be defended in public before defence committees formed for this purpose. The final examination is conducted by the examination committee. The defence committee may declare a final thesis confidential on the basis of an application submitted. This decision will not change the defence procedure. Defence and examination committees are formed by the decree of the Rector of EBS, which is prepared on the basis of a precept issued by the Office of Academic Affairs.
13.8 The Bachelor’s final examination consists of two parts – a written examination (75% of the final grade) and an oral exam (25% of the final grade). The final grade is formed by adding up the results of the written examination and the oral examination.
13.9 The Master’s final examination consists of four parts that are assessed separately.
13.10 Upon graduating, the results of studies are taken into account regardless of when they were obtained.
13.11 In Master’s studies the defence is preceded by a preliminary defence. Preliminary defence dates are fixed in the academic calendar (generally up to three weeks before the defence). In the case of Bachelor’s studies, the defence procedure is described in the Writing and assessing EBS bachelor’s thesis guideline.
13.12 Students who have completed all courses set forth in the curriculum, whose GPA is at least 2.00 and who have the supervisor’s permission are allowed to attend a preliminary defence. Students who do not meet the above requirements are deleted from the defence list and they can declare their final thesis again in the following semesters.
13.13 Students who have passed the preliminary defence (received the decision “allowed to the defence” or “allowed to the defence conditionally”) from the preliminary defence committee are allowed to attend the defence. Students who received a negative assessment (the preliminary defence committee decision “not allowed to the defence”) are deleted from the defence list. They can declare the same final thesis or a thesis with a new topic in the following semesters.
13.14 Students who received a positive assessment during the preliminary defence submit an electronic version of their final thesis to the Office of Academic Affairs by the deadline announced beforehand.
13.15 Graduating students can dispute questions related to the defence procedure or the organisation of the final examination within two working days of the publication of the results of the defence or the final examination by submitting an appeal to the Rector of EBS, who resolves it within one week.
13.16 A final thesis is considered defended or a degree studies final examination passed if the student receives at least a “D”. Students are allowed to attend graduation and graduation documents are awarded by the decree of the Rector of EBS.
13.17 Positive grades for a final thesis or final examination cannot be improved.
13.18 If a student fails the defence or the final examination for the second time, they are removed from the matriculation register due to failure to make academic progress. Re-matriculation takes place on the basis of the applicant’s justified application pursuant to clause 2.7 of these regulations.
13.19 A diploma with honours (cum laude) is awarded to a student who:
- completed the Bachelor’s or Master’s curriculum in full
- received an “A” for their final thesis or final examination or all parts of the final examination
- has a weighted GPA of 4.60 or higher, taking into account all of the grades to be listed in the academic transcript
13.20 Graduation documents are prepared by the Office of Academic Affairs and these are generally handed out at an official EBS graduation ceremony.
13.21 Students who have completed their studies but failed to declare their final thesis or final examination are issued an academic transcript to certify their studies at EBS, specifying the volumes of completed courses and the respective grades, and removed from the matriculation register. In order to be reinstated as a student and defend their final thesis or register for a final examination, the student must submit a respective application and the declaration of the final thesis or declare the final examination.
13.22 Students who wish to graduate with a double diploma on the basis of an agreement between institutes of higher education have the right to apply for the transfer of a final thesis defended or a final examination taken at a partner university to EBS. To this end, students must submit the respective application to the Office of Academic Affairs, the defended final thesis with a summary in Estonian or English (if the thesis is not written in Estonian or English and does not contain it) and documented proof of the positive defence result or the positive examination result. The decision on the recognition of the final thesis or final examination and the grade is made by the Head of the Office of Academic Affairs, involving the Head of the Department that corresponds to the topic of the thesis.