The master thesis requirements

Methodological Recommendations

in writing and defending the final qualification papers (master thesis)

for the MiBA - Master of International Business Administration Programme

Saint-Petersburg

According to the Statement of the final state attestation of the higher education institutions graduates in the Russian Federation, approved by the order of the Ministry of education of Russia on 25.03.2003 № 1155 and state educational standards of higher professional education the defense of the final qualification paper (master thesis) is the main obligatorily accepted type of the final attestation of the master programmes graduates.

The defense of the final qualification paper (master thesis) is held during the State attestation commission (SAC) session. The results of the final qualification paper (master thesis) defense are the base for the decision of the State attestation commission to award the graduate the corresponding qualification (master degree) and state diploma.

The master thesis requirements

The master thesis is the final qualification paper, written by the master student on his own under

the supervision of the 1^st scientific supervisor at the end of the studies of the professional educational Master programme.

The master thesis should contain scientific results suggested for the defense, be characterized by the inner unity, prove the ability of the author to reveal and formulate the timely problems, to compose research program utilizing modern research methods and instruments, to search, critically assess and process scientific information and to use the result to solve the concrete problems. The final qualification paper (master thesis) should show the ability of the author to state the material briefly, logically and grounded. It should contain a clear problem statement, grounding for its importance, the research programme formulation, literature review on the topic, research hypothesis formulation, choice of the models and their analysis methods, description and interpretation of the gained results, as well as the outcomes and recommendations related to the practical using of the results.

The master thesis should be deeper in the sense of the theoretical examination of the topic compared to the Bachelor thesis and has to have the scientific orientation compared to the Specialist thesis. Together with that the Master thesis can’t be called the scientific work in the full meaning. Master is the academic degree – and not scientific one, which reflects first of all the educational level of the university graduate and proves his deeper fundamental training, which is necessary for the future professional activity, as well as for the scientific and pedagogical ones.