All study programs at the Faculty of Physics are completed with a final thesis. Final thesis – a student's independent written work that meets the requirements of university studies, showing the student's ability to apply the knowledge acquired during studies, choose scientific literature and use it (present, analyse, interpret, etc.), apply research methods, independently solve tasks conclusions (mandatory) and recommendations (preferred), as well as demonstrating the ability to write the study accurately and clearly in the correct language. The final work must correspond to the student's field of study.
Choice of the topic of the final thesis
Final theses are performed in one of the departments of the Faculty of Physics (Institutes of the Faculty of Physics or Laser Research Center), in another faculty of Vilnius University or research institution. At the beginning of the last semester, students can choose the topic of the final thesis from the suggested topics on the Faculty page (see below) and coordinate it with the supervisor or independently coordinate another topic with the supervisor. Students can suggest their own topic and agree upon it with the particular supervisor. The student must coordinate the thesis topic with the supervisor within 10 calendar days from the beginning of the semester (Students of Light Engineering study program choose the thesis topic in the fall semester by September 15, and students of other programs in the spring semester by February 19). After agreeing on the topic, the supervisor must inform the administrator of his / her department that the topic proposed by him/her has already been chosen, and indicate the name, surname and study program of the student.
Topics offered for Light Engineering bachelor students in the Autumn semester of the academic year 2024/2025:
- Institute of Chemical Physics
- Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology
- Laser Research Center
- Institute of Applied Electrodynamics and Telecommunication
- Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics
If the student wants to do the thesis in a scientific group outside the Faculty of Physics, the student must agree with the possible thesis supervisor about the completion of the thesis. After that, the subject of the thesis and the place of performance must be coordinated with the chairman of the study program committee, fill out the registration form and send it to the chairman of the study program committee. After receiving the approval from the Chair of the SPC, if the practice is outside the Vilnius University, the student has to fill in and agree on the signing of the tripartite agreement.
In order for students to do professional practice outside Vilnius University, a three-party agreement has to be signed. In this case, contact Dean's office via e-mail . The three-party agreement form can be found here.
Preparation of the final thesis
The final thesis must be prepared honestly and independently, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Copyright and Related Rights, the Code of Academic Ethics of Vilnius University, the procedure for preparation, defence and accumulation of Vilnius University the Faculty of Physics students' written works and other legal acts.
The final thesis must be prepared in the correct English language. The final work must have a title page, content, introduction, in which the aim of the thesis is formulated, main text, conclusions, list of bibliographic references (literature), and summary.
The title page of the final thesis must be prepared in accordance with the provided example (see below) in English. The volume of the thesis must be at least 20 pages and must not exceed 80 pages.
The final thesis and its design must meet the requirements for scientific work: the problem under consideration and the chosen and justified method of its solution must be presented, the existing (published in the literature) results on this topic must be discussed, the research methodology and equipment used must be described, the results obtained and analysed must be described and conclusions (should be concise, recommended 3-5 conclusions). The purpose of the work must be formulated in the introduction (“The purpose of this thesis ...”).
Defence of the final thesis in the Department commission
Final thesis defences for students in the LE programme will take place on 9-10 January.The thesis must be submitted to the Department by 10 a.m. on 6 January. The thesis must be uploaded to VU IS by 13 January.
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Department |
Date, time and place of the final thesis defence for Bachelor students at the Faculty department (responsible person, phone, e-mail) |
Date, time and place of the final thesis defence for Masters students at the Faculty department (responsible person, phone, e-mail) |
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Institute of Chemical Physics Saulėtekio al. 3, NFTMC |
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Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology (Saulėtekio al. 3, NFTMC) |
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Laser Research Center (Saulėtekio al. 10) |
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Institute of Applied Electrodynamics and Telecommunication (Saulėtekio al. 3, NFTMC) |
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Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy (Saulėtekio al 3, NFTMC) |
The student has to make sure whether his/her supervisor will participate in the final thesis defence at the Faculty department commission. If the supervisor will not be able to attend defence at the Faculty department, the supervisor has to send his/her evaluation of the student's final thesis to the student itself. In the evaluation, the supervisor has to indicate whether he/she allows the defence of the student's final thesis. The student has to submit this evaluation alongside his/her final thesis.
The student has to prepare a short (up to 10 min length) presentation of his/her final thesis.
During the defence in the department commission, the student has to make a presentation of his/her work and answer the questions as well as comments regarding the work and its presentation. The final thesis supervisor has to give his/her opinion on the final thesis and indicate whether the work can be defended in the final thesis defence commission. If the supervisor can not attend the defence, his/her evaluation is presented by the chair of the department commission or other members. If other people got acquainted with the work, they can also give their opinion on the final thesis.
If the supervisor and Faculty department commission allows for the defence of the final thesis, the department appoints a reviewer for the thesis. The final thesis can be reviewed by the employees of other departments or institutions, representatives of social partners.
At the end of the final thesis consideration in the department commission, students are informed whether are permitted to submit their work for the defence or whether work should be defended after minor corrections. Administrator of the department commission (or other assigned person) prepares protocol with commissions decision in which student name and surname, supervisor name and surname as well as reviewer name and surname are indicated. Also, it is recorded in the protocol whether the student is permitted for the final thesis defence. The protocol is submitted to the administrator of the Faculty of Physics using e-mail .
In case the supervisor decides that the Thesis was prepared inappropriately and may not be defended and the Department commission agrees, or if he/she refuses to accept the final thesis because it was prepared without his participation, the student shall have the right to apply to the Final thesis defence commission with a request to be permitted to defend the final thesis. The request and the final thesis are to be submitted by the student to the Faculty of Physics administrator via e-mail no later than 2 working days after the student was informed about the decision of his supervisor not to permit the defence or the refusal to accept the Thesis. Upon having considered the student's arguments, the Final thesis defence commission decides whether the student shall be permitted to defend his/her final thesis.
Uploading the final thesis to the VUSIS and Warranty confirmation
After receiving confirmation from the Department commission and supervisor that the final thesis can be defended, within one working day student shall upload the electronic versions of his/her final thesis and enter their metadata on VUSIS by using the access granted to them.
After receiving confirmation from the Department commission and supervisor that the final thesis can be defended with small corrections, without any wait student shall make necessary corrections, within two working days period will upload the electronic versions of his/her final thesis and enter their metadata on VUSIS by using the access granted to them.
Student must confirm that his/her final thesis was prepared independently, in good faith and in accordance with the requirements of Regulations for the Preparation, Defence and Storage of Research Papers of Students Studying at Vilnius University by filling out an electronic Warranty at VUSIS.
Report of plagiarism check and permission to defend the final thesis
After an electronic document is uploaded onto VUSIS, the supervisor of the final thesis performs a computer check for the independence of the final thesis via ESAS. After the check, a report of the computer check for the independence of the thesis is formed specifying the percentage of coincidence between the electronic document of the final thesis and other electronic documents. Notes are provided upon detection of coincidences.
The supervisor must get acquainted with a report of the computer check for the independence of the final thesis before deciding whether to allow or not for a student to defend their final thesis.
The supervisor confirms his/her decision to allow or not for a defence of the student's final thesis by doing it in eTeacher environment. Instructions for supervisors can be found here.
If the supervisor is unable to get acquainted with a report of the computer check for the independence of the thesis provided by ESAS, the supervisor must ask for a vice-dean for studies to provide him with an opportunity to do so via e-mail or phone (8 5) 236 6002. In this case after getting acquainted with check results of ESAS, the supervisor by e-mail has to inform the vice-dean for studies on his/her decision to allow or not for a defence of the student's final thesis. Vice-dean, after receiving this information, appropriately marks it in the electronic system.
When the fact of plagiarism is determined, the thesis cannot be defended, assessed or published, and the student will receive a penalty according to the procedures established in the Study Regulations and/or other legal acts of the University.
Review of the final thesis
After the student received permission to submit his/her work for the defence, the student has to send his/her work to the reviewer appointed by the department. The final thesis is sent to the reviewer no later than 5 days before the defence of the final thesis.
The reviewer has to prepare a written review of the final thesis and whether it meets the requirements for the final thesis. The reviewer sends its review to the student no later than 24 hours until the beginning of the final thesis defence. The review is written in the free format (the final thesis evaluation table for the supervisors can be used). In the review, the reviewer has to provide an evaluation of the final thesis on a 10 point scale. The review has to be sent using e-mail as a separate document in .pdf format.
Submission of the final thesis for the defense
The academic supervisor of the final thesis must evaluate the thesis by completing The Final thesis evaluation table (see below). The supervisor submits the completed assessment table to the student by e-mail no later than 2 workdays before the defence at the Defense Commission. The supervisor’s evaluation table must be e-mailed to the student as a separate document as the pdf document attached to the e-mail.
The student must send an e-mail to the Faculty of Physics administrator at least 1 workday before the public defence of the final thesis and must submit the evaluation table of the supervisor (1 document) and the reviewer's feedback (1 document) by e-mail. These documents are sent as an attachment to the e-mail.
The study administrator uploads the student's final thesis from VUSIS (Vilnius University Study Information System) as well as the supervisor's evaluation table and the reviewer’s feedback to the files section to the MS Teams team created for public defence in the private channel for defence commission members only so that the commission members can get acquainted with the final thesis.
Final thesis evaluation table EN (Final thesis evaluation table LT)
Defence of the final thesis
Bachelor theses defense for LE students will take place on 21-22 January in Faculty of Physics (Saulėtekio av., III bld.)
The final thesis defence at the Faculty of Physics is open, and anyone can attend it unless the defence is deemed closed to the public.
The final thesis is defended in the final thesis defence commissions which are approved under the order of the Rector. Usually, defence of the final thesis is organised during the first week of June. Students of the Light Engineering study programme defend their thesis in the middle of January.
Only students who finished all of the study programme requirements, submitted their final thesis in the due time and have sent an evaluation of the supervisor as well as a review can defend their final thesis.
Students have to register for the defence of the final thesis no later than 5 days until the start of the Faculty final thesis defences.
During the defence of the final thesis, the student has to make a short presentation of his/her final thesis (up to 10 min). In the presentation, the student has to indicate the goal, task, shortly describe the research object, results, methods used, also present the main conclusions, and argument them, suggestions can also be presented. During the defence, student has to answer questions raised by the commission members or other people who participate in the public defence of the final thesis.
After the student presentation of the final thesis and questions, the supervisor and reviewer present their opinion on the work. If the supervisor and/or reviewer can not attend the defence, the chair of the final thesis defence commission reads out accordingly supervisor evaluation and/or review of the reviewer. Afterwards, the student is given chance to respond to the remarks of the reviewer and answer questions raised by the reviewer.
After all of the students made their presentations, the final thesis defence commission has a closed meeting where final grades are decided. After the closed meeting, the commission declares the final thesis grades to the students.