Diploma thesis

You sign up for Diploma in Studentweb within the deadline for ordinary course registration. If you miss the deadline, you might have to wait one semester to start the diploma semester. 
In order to embark on your Diploma project, you must have achieved the following credits, in which Pre-diploma of 6 credits must be included.

• Master of Architecture – 300 credits 
• Master of Design (5 years) – 270 credits
• Master of Design (2 years) - 90 credits
• International Master of Landscape Architecture –  90 credits 

If you pass the Pre-diploma course, your program/project description is automatically approved. If you fail the diploma semester, you must submit a new program/project description. The supervisor and Head of institute must approve the new program.
Design students submit project description one week after semester start.  

You may write your diploma program/project description and diploma project in Norwegian or in English.

You are assigned a supervisor from the body of teachers and it is your responsibility to inform your supervisor about your diploma program/project description. You cannot claim a specific teacher. You may have one or more co-supervisors. A change of supervisor must be approved by the Head of Institute.

AHO will give an economic grant for up to 10 hours per student for obtaining relevant academic expertise from outside of AHO.  You make the necessary arrangements yourself and a short term contact must be signed. When the assignment is over you hand in a timesheet and the contract to the Academic Services. Attach a copy of passport for international supervisors.

If you want to withdraw from the diploma without using one of your three attempts you need to withdraw by December 1st (Fall semester) and May 1st (Spring semester). Give written notice to the Academic Services. If you withdraw after the deadline, it will count as an exam attempt.
 
If you withdraw, you must write a new program/project description.

If you fall ill during the diploma semester, you may be granted deferred submission / presentation of your diploma project. Upon delayed submission / presentation you will be censored along with the next semester's students. Even if you are granted a new postponed deadline due to documented illness, you may choose submit at the ordinary deadline. A diploma project cannot exceed two semesters.

In case of illness in a group project, all members will get the deferral.

Deferred submission applies only to illness for more than 3 days and you must submit a doctor’s note to the Academic Services no later than 7 days after the illness occured. The doctor’s note must contain from-and-to-date of the illness and percentage grading of work ability.

A closed review can under very specific circumstances be granted by application, if the project contains sensitive data and/or is a collaboration with a company and therefore needs to be treated confidential.

The school allows theoretical projects.

The diploma thesis is an independent project. It is not possible to let others do the work for you, either as a service or as paid work.

Exceptions for design.

You must prepare a digital presentation of your project. This presentation is part of the assessment and must be submitted before the reviews start.
You will present the project in an open review with external examiners and audience present within a given timeframe: Single project 20 minutes, group projects 30 minutes. You present first, then the examiners will ask questions and give their comments.  

• Accepted file formats: Pdf., mp3, mp4.
• Maximum file size is 900 MB. 
• Zip-files are not allowed.
• The files must be named correctly:
  • Diploma Report_Ola_Hansen.pdf/Abstract_Ola_Hansen.pdf 
• For plotting, you can only use paper purchased in the reception at AHO.

You are assessed on the submitted material, conveyed through presentation and exhibited project.

Grade

The grading scale is: «Pass/Fail». The result is published in Studentweb. 

Written evaluation

The examiners will write a written evaluation shortly after the reviews. The evaluations will be sent to the students digitally.

See "Examiner's guide" for details.

You mount the project yourself on an assigned spot and within a given timeframe. During the reviews the audience may view the projects, but the public exhibition will open after the reviews and assessment are finished.

If you need screens, computers or other technical devices in the exhibition, you must notify the IT-department well ahead.

In case of fail, the student will be invited to an informal meeting with the Head of Institute, student advisor and supervisor present.
 
You must write a new program/project description in order to start again. You have three attempts on the diploma exam.

The semester closes with a diploma ceremony where diplomas are handed out.

AHO reserves the right to use the diploma projects on aho.no for marketing purposes. AHO is obliged to archive all passed diplomas and uses the institutional archive ADORA for this purpose. All projects are made public, unless the thesis is confidential or the student has not consented to publication. These projects are archived in ADORA, but are not made public. Printed diplomas are registered in the library's collection and lent out.