METHODOLOGY

1. Degree Final Project (TFG) development process, TFG mode without internship

1.1. Organisational structure and responsibilities

1.1.1. Supervising tutor

The supervising tutor will be a member of staff at the host institution with a minimum qualification of a PhD. There may also be a co-tutor, who must hold at least a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. The role of the supervising tutor(s) and/or co-tutor(s) will be to design and supervise the project. They will also monitor the student’s attendance and must issue an assessment of the work carried out by the student and the learning achieved, among other criteria.

1.1.2. Academic tutor

The academic tutor will be responsible for monitoring the students following the guidelines indicated in the corresponding section. They may take part in correcting the TFG report.

1.1.3. Coordination

The coordination of the TFG mode without internship will be made up of teaching staff from the Department of Chemistry, UAB.

1.1.4. TFG assessment committee

The TFG assessment committee will be responsible for assessing the written report and the oral presentation of the students. The assessment committees will be appointed by the coordination of the mode and will be composed of two members chosen from among the teaching staff of the Department.

1.2. Enrolment

Students of the Chemistry Degree without internship:

Students will enrol according to the schedules established for the academic year in which they wish to carry out and defend the TFG. Students may enrol in one of two groups, 1 and 2. Enrolment in group 1 means that the subject will be carried out and assessed entirely during the first semester (February session). Enrolment in group 2 means assessment at the end of the second semester (July session). In the case of group 2, the TFG work may be developed either over the full academic year or only during the second semester.

There will be two rounds for requesting and assigning projects: in July of the previous academic year (1st assignment round) and in September, immediately before the start of the academic year (2nd reassignment round for students who had not requested a project or who had not been assigned one in July). Eventually, there will be a 3rd reassignment round in the second semester.

Students of the Double Degree in Physics and Chemistry without internship:

For students in the double degree, enrolment applies only to groups 72 (July session) and 73 (September session). The assignment and reassignment rounds are the same.

1.3. Proposal and assignment of the TFG

Project proposals: The project offers for carrying out the TFG will come through two channels:

General Offer: This will include all projects proposed by the Department of Chemistry, other Departments and UAB scientific and technical services, and external research centres (e.g. ICMAB, ICN2, CNM, IBB, ALBA, ICTA). Before the start of each academic year, the TFG coordination will ask teaching staff who may act as tutors to submit topic proposals for the projects. These proposals must indicate: tutor name, project title, and the typologies to which it could belong (see section 3; more than one typology may be specified), as well as the preferred semester for carrying it out. The teaching staff submitting proposals will act as tutors of the projects.

Open Offer: Open projects are reserved only for implementation in centres different from those participating in the General Offer. Within the established periods, students may propose TFG projects to the course coordination, in a reasoned and justified manner. These projects must be different from those in the General Offer. In any case, the coordination team will assess and manage these proposals.

Dissemination of proposals: The TFG coordination will publish the project proposals received in the designated virtual space for the subject or, failing that, in the virtual space of the Chemistry degree.

Project requests: Students will request projects through a form accessed via a link in the degree virtual space. In this form, up to 7 prioritised preferences from the list of offered projects must be indicated.

Project assignment: The TFG coordination will assign the projects requested in the General Offer to students, taking into account their academic records (Barem 34) and order of preference. The assignment results will be made public through the virtual space. Students without an assigned project in the first round will be assigned one in the second or third reassignment round.

Safety seminar: All students must attend a theoretical safety course taught by UAB (Àrea de Prevenció i Assistència). Students carrying out the TFG (experimental or computational) in the Department of Chemistry must also complete the practical fire-extinguishing course. Students carrying out experimental TFGs at other external research centres must complete the activities scheduled by the host centre that are offered to them. During the theoretical safety course, students must complete a test assessing the associated risk and safety competences in a chemical laboratory, which must be passed in order to present the TFG.

Timetables: The deadlines for the process will be published in the virtual space of the subject (or of the degree, if applicable) or on the TFE platform.

1.4. Carrying out and monitoring the TFG

Each TFG tutor will set a date for an initial joint meeting with their tutored students, during which the monitoring schedule will be defined.

This monitoring will generate evidence that must be produced by the students and the tutors, following the guidelines set by the TFG coordination and available on the TFE platform (tfe.uab.cat).

All projects will be compiled in a report with a maximum length of 30 pages and may be written in Catalan, Spanish or English using the corresponding template available on TFE. All reports must include a summary of up to one page, prepared in Catalan, Spanish and English. Experimental reports must also include, as an annex, the safety issues described in the template. Reports for bibliographic or outreach projects may follow a different template from the one above, which will in any case be published on the TFE platform.

Students may not disseminate the TFG on their own and will sign a confidentiality agreement approved by the Faculty of Science.

1.5. Submission of written reports

Before the day of the oral defence, on dates that will be made public sufficiently in advance, students must submit their respective written reports in PDF format through the TFE platform.

1.6. Oral presentation of the TFG

The Coordination of the Chemistry Degree will set the dates for the oral defence of the TFGs, which will be made public through the TFE platform. Specifically, three different periods of oral defences will be scheduled in the calendar: February, July and September sessions. In the February session, all oral presentations corresponding to students enrolled in group 1 of the subject must take place. Students in groups 2 and 72 will defend their work in the July session, and those in group 73 in the September session. These students must agree on this decision with their tutors and communicate it to the TFG coordination. A deadline will be established for requesting group changes. After that date, no group changes will be accepted.

For each oral defence period, the schedule of each student’s presentation will be prepared by the TFG coordination and published in the virtual space. The oral presentation will be made with the help of computer support and will last a maximum of 15 minutes. The committee assessing the presentations will be made up of two professors. Following the oral presentation, the committee will conduct a question period lasting a maximum of 25 minutes.

2. Degree Final Project (TFG) development process, TFG mode Internship

2.1. Organisational structure and responsibilities

2.1.1. Company tutor

The company tutor will be a member of the company’s staff with a minimum qualification of a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Their function will be to design and supervise the project. They will also monitor the student’s attendance and must issue an assessment of the work carried out by the student and the learning achieved, among other criteria.

2.1.2. Academic tutor

The academic tutor will be one of the marking professors or a coordinating professor of the internship subject. This tutor will be responsible for monitoring the students following the guidelines indicated in the corresponding section. In addition, the academic tutor will take part in the assessment of the TFGs.

2.1.3. Coordination

The coordination of the TFG mode via internship is made up of the teaching staff responsible for coordinating the internship subject.

2.1.4. TFG assessment committee

The TFG assessment committee will be responsible for assessing each student’s written report and oral presentation. The assessment committees will be appointed by the coordination of the mode and will be composed of two members chosen from among the teaching staff of the internship subject, one of whom will be part of the coordination team for the mode.

2.2. Enrolment

For TFGs by Chemistry Degree students via internship, enrolment applies only to groups 11 (February defence), 12 (July defence) and 13 (September defence).

For TFGs by Double Degree in Physics and Chemistry students, groups 172 (July defence) and 173 (September defence).

Enrolment is in person and will be completed once the student has been accepted by a company and always before starting the project. Normally, the student will enrol simultaneously in the TFG and in the internship subject, although they may first enrol in the internship and later, during its completion, enrol in the TFG. The student may defend their work in any of the February, July or September sessions of the academic year in which they enrolled. The submission deadlines for reports and the defence dates will be similar to those of the rest of the TFGs and will be announced in the Moodle classroom sufficiently in advance.

The TFG enrolment will remain open throughout the academic year. However, there will only be two rounds for requesting and assigning companies, which will coincide with those for internships. The first period is in October/November, with the placements starting in the second academic semester. The second period is in March/April, with the placements potentially starting in summer (beginning of July) or in the first semester of the following academic year.

2.3. Request and assignment of the TFG

The assignment and request mechanism is the same as for the internship subject.

2.4. Carrying out and monitoring the TFG

Since this TFG mode is linked to the completion of the internship, during the mandatory meeting between the student and their UAB tutor to discuss the internship, the student will inform them that they will be doing TFG+internship. The student will also be required to have a new meeting with their UAB tutor during the writing of the report, in which they will discuss the draft document. The company tutor will monitor the student according to what was agreed in the agreement.

The TFG report will have a limited length, indicated in the template found in the Moodle space for the subject, and may be written in Catalan, Spanish or English using the corresponding template. All reports must include a summary of up to one page in each of the three languages: Catalan, Spanish and English.

2.5. Submission of written reports

Before the day of the oral defence, on dates that will be made public sufficiently in advance, the student must submit a copy of the report to the task enabled in the Moodle of the subject “Pràctiques Externes (PE) and TFG via PE”.

2.6. Oral presentation of the TFG

The Coordination will set the dates for the oral defence of the TFGs, which will be made public before the enrolment period of each academic year. Specifically, three different periods of oral defences will be scheduled in the calendar: February, July and September sessions. For each oral defence period, the schedule of each student’s presentation will be prepared by the Coordination and published in the Moodle classroom in advance. In the oral presentation, which will be held behind closed doors, the student must use computer support and will have a maximum duration of 15 minutes. The Committee that assesses the presentations will be made up of two members of the teaching staff of the internship subject. Following the oral presentation, the committee will hold a question period.

3. Research Project Module (MTR)

The module is compulsory for all students, regardless of the TFG modality they undertake.

The module consists of 9 class hours: 1 one-hour session and 4 two-hour sessions.

The sessions include a first part in which theoretical content is presented and a second part devoted to practical application

In case of doubt or discrepancy between the guidelines in different languages, the instructional guide in the Catalan language shall prevail.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

TFG ASSESSMENT:

1) TFG without Internship

The final grade will consist of the following components:

Supervisor: They will assess the work performed and the competencies acquired based on the monitoring carried out. As a result, all supervisors will have to write only one evaluation report on the student, which must be submitted to the TFG coordination via the TFE tool. This report must include a progress grade that will count for 35% of the final course grade. The supervisor will use an evaluation rubric to establish a unified reference framework that allows for transparent assessment.

Evaluation Committee (panel): Based on the evaluation of the written reports and oral defenses, the evaluation committees will judge the acquired transversal competencies, the content, approach, development, and degree of difficulty of the work performed, and the quality of the presentation and defense. As a result, each committee will prepare an evaluation report following the guidelines of a rubric prepared by the TFG Coordination. This report must include a grade for the written thesis and a grade for the oral defense, which will each account for 15% and 40%, respectively, of the final course grade.

This part contributes 90% of the final grade.

2) TFG Modality with Internship

The final grade will consist of the following components:

Company Tutor: Will issue a report/evaluation based on the student's performance, with a grade equivalent to 35% of the final course grade.

Evaluation Committee (panel): Through the written report and oral presentation, the Committee will assess the acquired transversal competencies, the content, approach, development, and level of difficulty of the work performed, as well as the quality of the presentation and defense of the work in response to the Committee's questions. As a result of this evaluation, the Commission will prepare an evaluation report following the guidelines of a rubric prepared by the Coordinator. This report must include a grade for the written thesis (15% of the final course grade) and a grade for the presentation and oral defense (40% of the final course grade).

This component accounts for 90% of the final grade.

3) Research Methods Module

A system of continuous assessment is used, which takes into account the following mandatory components:

Attendance (20%): Unauthorized absences will be penalized by 1 point.

Practicals (40%): Non-compliance (non-submission, incompleteness, and/or late submission) will be penalized by 1 point.

Exam (40%): Will be held during the final session. It includes multiple-choice and/or short-answer questions on the theoretical and practical content covered during the course.

Re-evaluation: Students who, having met the requirements for continuous assessment, do not achieve the minimum required grade (4 points) may opt for a re-evaluation. This will consist of a single exam. The grade obtained on this exam will constitute the final module grade and cannot exceed 4 points.

This part contributes 10% of the final grade.

4) Final Course Grade

A minimum grade of 4 out of 10 is required for all graded components to calculate the weighted average (grades from the supervisor/mentor or company tutor, the evaluation committee (panel), and the research work methodology module). If any of the grades is lower than 4, the course will receive a final grade of 4.0 out of 10 and will be considered “Failed.”

Based on the above grades, the Coordinator will calculate the final course grade and make it public on the virtual platform (Moodle). Additionally, a number of students from the highest-scoring will be selected to award honors. In case of doubt, individual interviews will be conducted with the candidates for this grade.

Students who do not complete the evidence from the monitoring process will not be able to submit the final project and will be graded as “Not Graded.” Students who complete these requirements but do not submit the written thesis by the established deadline, do not give the oral defense, or receive a deficient result will be given a grade of 0 and a “Fail” grade. Additionally, cases of plagiarism in the thesis will also result in a fail for the TFG (see the Plagiarism section below). In any of these cases, this will require re-enrollment and completing and/or restarting the TFG development process in the following academic year.

According to the UAB Academic Regulations (Art. 261, section 1) regarding retake exam: The evaluation process must always include retake exams, with the exception of external internships, final projects, and courses that, due to their predominantly practical nature, do not allow for it.

5) Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The content of the report must be original and the result of the student’s personal effort. Students must sign a declaration of integrity at the first stage (Evidencia 0), thereby declaring themselves the sole author of their final thesis. The use of AI is permitted for text proofreading, searching, and formatting bibliographic references.

Therefore, in this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted as an integral part of the project’s development, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution by the student in terms of analysis and personal reflection. Students must clearly identify which parts were generated using this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and the final result of the project. Failure to disclose the use of AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a penalty on the assignment grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

6) Plagiarism

Plagiarism (http://www.plagiarism.org/) is considered to be:

• presenting another's work as your own
• using the words or ideas of other authors without proper acknowledgment (i.e., without citing)
• failing to use quotation marks in a direct quote
• giving incorrect information about the true source of a citation
• paraphrasing a source without citing it
• abusive paraphrasing, even if the source is cited.

For efficient academic tracking of work, the traceability of the data and referenced sources must be verified.

The commission of any academic misconduct (academic fraud, plagiarism, or improper use of AI, unless such use is expressly permitted in the course syllabus), which could lead to a significant change in the grade, will result in a grade of 0 for that assessment. If the course syllabus requires a minimum score on this assessment to pass the course, or if multiple irregularities occur in the assessments for the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0. In addition, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against any student who commits any of these irregularities.

In case of doubt or discrepancy between the guidelines in different languages, the instructional guide in the Catalan language shall prevail.