MASTER IN INTEGRATED STEAM EDUCATION

CONTINUOUS EVALUATION

To successfully pass the MASTED programme, students will have to pass the three training modules of the master's degree (subjects, Final Master Project and internships) that are assessed following a system of continuous evaluation. The following are the main aspects of the evaluation procedure:

• Exams and assessments will be held at the end of each semester.
• The evaluation of the subjects taught by invited scholars will be carried out at the end of each subject.
• The evaluation methods are diverse (reports, research papers, presentations, oral and/or written exams…), defined in the curricular description of each subject at the beginning of the semester.
• Assessment methods, just like teaching methods, will be adapted for students with special needs, to enable them to achieve the expected competences. See section Evaluation of students with special needs for more details.
• For each subject, students will be periodically asked for information about the organization and distribution of contents with the aim of evaluating the quality and efficiency of learning.
• In the case of online subjects, several tools will be used to ensure:
  • The identity of the students during the performance of the evaluation tests.
  • The impossibility of using electronic tools to copy or share information that calls into question the individual and legal authorship of the evaluation test.
• Students have a maximum of two calls for each subject. The evaluation in the second call will be understood as a procedure for recovering the continuous evaluation developed during the first call.
• Before starting a new semester, the student will have to successfully pass the exams with at least 90% of the ECTS passed. At the end of the first year, the student must have successfully passed the total credits of the semester (60 ECTS) to be allowed to start the second year.
• If the student fails the second call, he must repeat this subject. The Evaluation and Quality Criteria Committee of MASTED will decide whether the student can retake the subject, depending on the options of mobility itineraries, the reasons of the fail and any other information that may help to take the decision. In any case, if the student is a scholarship holder, stop payment of his scholarship will be placed.

INTERNSHIPS

• Internships are an essential part of the MASTED programme and constitute by themselves an assessable module in the student's academic path.
• The internships will be co-tutored by one MASTED teacher and one professional from the associated center where the student performs the internships.  
• The evaluation of the internships will be carried out based on the following criteria:

FINAL MASTER PROJECT

• The Final Master Project constitutes by itself an assessable module in the academic path of the student. Its subject matter will be decided by the Master Content Monitoring Committee considering the following: the preferences and profile described by the student in its application; the content of its internships or laboratory subjects, and the well-founded proposal submitted by the student in the middle of the third semester.
• The students, under the supervision of the assigned director(s) and co-director(s), will develop and publicly present an original work to an Evaluation Committee that demonstrates the competences and learning outcomes acquired in the master's degree.
• The Final Master Project must be submitted by the student in the first half of February of the second academic year and presented in the second half of the same month. The presentation will take place in a public act (face-to-face or virtual, depending on the circumstances), convened at least three calendar days in advance. The presentation will not exceed 15 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer session of 30 minutes maximum. 
• The evaluation criteria of the Final Master Project will be adjusted according to the following parameters:

FINAL ASSESSMENT

• The MASTED programme will be considered as successfully completed when all semesters have been passed. Each partner institution will use its local grading system, as well as the ECTS grading scale, to provide greater transparency and facilitate academic recognition of the study periods undertaken at each partner institution. The equivalence of grades between ECTS and the local grading system is shown in the Grading System below.
• At the end of each academic year, the Evaluation and Quality Criteria Committee will review the performance of each student and advise them on the continuation of the programme in accordance with the regulations of each university. Low-achieving students will not be allowed to continue their studies.
• None of the evaluations by themselves carried out in the development of the Master’s degree will represent more than 40% of the student's overall final grade. Likewise, in the process of continuous evaluation, all subjects have different evaluation methods that allow the distribution of the weight in the final grade and avoid that a single form of evaluation has a weight greater than 40%. The maximum percentages per evaluation system shall be as follows:

• The educational path and academic record of each student will be reviewed by a Commission with external evaluators who will develop a scale of merits. The qualification of the student's academic record, according to the modules described above, will result a 60% of the final grade, while the remaining 40% will come from a merit evaluation.

EVALUATION OF MERITS

1. An Evaluation Commission of three people will be formed to analyze both the student's academic record and her/his academic path during the development of the master’s degree. From the evaluation of this Commission, a scale of merits will be obtained for the Master's degree.
2. The Merit Evaluation Commission shall be composed of:
   • An academic representative from the HKR entity.
   • An academic representative from an Associated Partner.
   • A representative from the Steering Committee.
3. The merits to be assessed will be the following:
   • Academic record: 60%
   • Publications and presentations in conferences related to the master's degree: 20%
   • Social commitment: 10%
   • Participation in representative bodies of MASTED: 10%
4. The student will deliver a report with the supporting documents of the merits set out in the point above.

GRADING SYSTEM

Each partner will use its own grading system and a grade point average (GPA), as well as a statistical distribution by subject, which will be specified together with the qualification according to the ECTS system in the biannual certificates of results issued by each one.

The grade point average (GPA) refers to the average grades obtained by the student throughout his academic path in MASTED, being also the measure used to summarize the academic performance.

The conversion table between the partners’ national grades and the ECTS system is as follows:

The grade point average is the sum of the credits passed, multiplying each by the number of grade points obtained on the corresponding national scale and then dividing by the total number of credits. With the help of the conversion table, the final score will be expressed on the ECTS scale.

EVALUATION OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The evaluation systems covered in the teaching guide will be adapted in accordance with the recommendations of the Ethics, Equity and Inclusion Committee of MASTED to the specific needs of students with functional diversity or specific needs of educational support, guaranteeing their rights and fostering their inclusion in MASTED programme, without any decrease in the required academic level. The Consortium shall ensure the accessibility of tools and formats, in particular websites and e-learning resources.

The review of grades must also be adapted, being the Coordinator of each subject, under the supervision of the Ethics, Equity and Inclusion Committee, responsible for conducting the required methodological adaptations and, where appropriate, carrying-out specific exams according to every student’s needs.