All undergraduate students must submit and pass a BA dissertation to complete the requirements of their degree otherwise they will not be able to graduate.

As part of their BA degree in International Relations and Area Studies, students are required to submit a dissertation of 12,000-14,000 words (including footnotes and references, but excluding appendices) on a topic of their choice, developed in consultation with a supervisor. The dissertation represents the culmination of undergraduate studies and it needs to be based on student's own work and analysis of various sources. The aim of the dissertation is to show that at the end of their degree, students have the capacity to think and work independently.

The dissertation should meet all required standards as indicated in the Guidelines.

Final Undergraduate Examination consists of two parts: dissertation defence (two questions), and one question related to the studied specialization.

The final grade on the diploma includes the following elements:

• the evaluation of the dissertation, which is 3/8 of the final mark,
• the evaluation of the defence of dissertation (final undergraduate examination), which is 1/8 of the final mark,
• weighted average of all grade earned during the whole course of studies, which is 1/2 of the final grade on the diploma.