Diploma Exam

Registration and regulations

Register for the Diploma semester

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.

Read more about semester registration here

Diploma program/project description

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 the program one week after the start of the Diploma semester.

Language

The Diploma project must be submitted and presented in a Scandinavian language or English.

Supervisor

External supervision

AHO offers financial support for up to 10 hours of supervision per student for academically relevant expertise that is not employed or affiliated with AHO. External supervisors will be compensated at a rate of NOK 350 per hour.

If you decide to have an external supervisor, they have to fill out the following form after they have completed the mission: Ekstern veiledning // External supervision. After the supervisor has filled out the form, they will receive a digital contract they need to sign.

Number of attempts

You have three attempts to do the diploma.

Withdrawal

Adapted studies and closed review

Adapted studies:

The general regulations for adapted studies also applies to the Diploma students.

Closed review:

The Diploma presentations at AHO are always open to the public, and the audience can hear both the candidates' presentation and the examiners' feedback. The Diploma is the AHO students' final master's examination ref. Forskrift om krav til mastergrad § 6, and is thus subject to this requirement for publicity.

You can apply for closed presentation (form) if you can document the need for this, due to special circumstances.

Deferred submission/presentation due to illness

An extended deadline is granted only as an exception, primarily in cases of documented illness during the last six weeks before the submission deadline. The course of the disease must have lasted for at least three consecutive days. Long-term illness may provide grounds for a deadline extension. 

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

Deferred submission only applies to illness over 3 days or more and you must apply to deferred submission, with a doctor's note, no later than 7 days after the illness occurred.

You can be granted up to 7 days deferred submission of digital material and model for the diploma project. In the case of deferred submission beyond this, or if you are granted a deferred presentation, your project will be censored with the next semester's students. 

A diploma thesis cannot normally exceed two semesters.

If you are granted a new deferred deadline on the basis of documentation, you can still deliver by the ordinary submission deadline. 

Apply for deferred submission/presentation with necessary documentation.

The documentation/doctor's note must contain the from-and-to-date of the illness and the percentage grading of work ability.

Confidential project

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 confidentially.

Contact the Study administration if this applies to your Diploma project, by sending an email to your study adviser.

Theoretical project

The school allows theoretical projects.

Read more about submission requirements for theoretical diploma projects

Submission of diploma project

See submission information for your program here:

• Submission for International Master of Landscape Architecture
• Submission for Master in Design
• Submission for Master of Architecture

See the deadlines for submitting digital files in the Diploma calendar.

Help from others

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.

Exception for Master of design students:

Diploma students in Master of Design have the opportunity to set aside or buy smaller parts of the work, if this is necessary to convey the project as a whole. However, it must not represent a significant part of the project or be part of what the student will be assessed on. Nor should it go beyond what you can expect the student to be able to do themselves. If such help has been received, this must be clearly stated in the report and presentation.

Grading

You will be assessed based on the submitted material, communicated through presentation and exhibited project.

Grading

The Diploma project is graded using the grading scale: Pass/Fail. The results are published in Studentweb. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the result.

Written feedback

The examiners write a written explanation of the result for each student, and this will be sent to you when it is available.

Appeal

If you fail on your diploma exam, you have the right to appeal the result.

Read more about how to appeal a grade or formal errors

If you wish to retake the diploma exam, you must prepare a new project description, which must be approved before the start of the semester.

Contact your student advisor for more information

You have three attempts to pass the diploma exam.

Publishing Agreement and ADORA

AHO reserves the right to use the Diploma project on AHO.no and for marketing purposes.

AHO is obliged to archive all passed diplomas and uses the institutional archive NVA for this purpose.

Printed editions of Diploma projects are registered in the library's collection and loaned out.

Read more about the Publishing Agreement

What does the exam consist of?

Diploma Title Registration

The final title of your project must be registered in Studentweb by the end of December 1st for Autumn and May 1st for Spring. You are responsible for proofreading the title yourself. You can register the title of the project both in Norwegian and English, if you only have a Norwegian title or just an English title, we ask you to insert it twice (then it appears on both Norwegian and English transcripts.)

Student web is limited in formatting of text. If you have a main title and subtitle, you need to use dash: Park – a place to have a rest.

See the how to-guide for registering the title

Digital files

See submission information for your program here:

• Submission for International Master of Landscape Architecture
• Submission for Master in Design
• Submission for Master of Architecture

See the deadlines for submitting digital files in the Diploma calendar.

Exhibition

You will mount the Diploma project yourself in the designated place for a specified time before the examiners assess the exhibition. After the reviews, the exhibition becomes part of AHO WORKS DIPLOMA and is open to the public.

If your project consists of one or more models, they must be submitted within the deadline for model submission, and will be kept safe until you mount your exhibition on the given date. All the parts of your model must be marked with a label with your name and telephone number on it during storage. 

You confirm your submission by signing the submission list provided by the Academic Services.

Application for borrowing technical and electronic equipment

Would you like to borrow technical equipment for your exhibition? Apply for equipment loans at the service desk.

If you have technical questions, contact IT at the Service Desk.

Presentation and Review

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:

Presentation time:

After you have presented, the examiners give their feedback and ask questions.

Diploma Ceremony

Practical information

Submission of model

If your project consists of one or more models, they must be delivered within the deadline. The models will be stored safely until you mount your exhibition on the given date.

See the deadline for submitting physical models and the date for mounting the exhibition in the Diploma calendar.

Submission of digital files

See submission information for your program here:

• Submission for International Master of Landscape Architecture
• Submission for Master in Design
• Submission for Master of Architecture

See the deadlines for submitting digital files in the Diploma calendar.

Mounting of the exhibition

See the date for installation of the exhibition in the Diploma calendar.

See more information and details about your exhibition space, exam exhibition and AHO WORKS.

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.

Technical presentation test

Everyone gets the opportunity to book an appointment for a technical test ahead of the exam week. The technical test is primarily to check that the font, resolution and your images are the way you want to present them on the screen.

Booking for technical test

Booking is done in Moodle. The registration form opens at the beginning of January for Autumn classes and in mid-May for spring classes, and you will be notified in your AHO email when the form opens.

Info about technical test:

• Available timec for technical test: 10 minutes
• Valid presentation file formats: PDF, Powerpoint and Keynote
• File name: Your name, presentation date, version (if you upload multiple versions).

If you have used specific fonts in your presentation file, they must also be uploaded.
Valid font formats: TTF, TTC and OTF.

If you have problems downloading the font from your computer, contact IT at Servicedesk.

Please upload your presentation in BOX the day before the technical test.

Mac is used during exam presentations.
Projector resolution in A1 and A2: 1920 x 1080

Presentation files for Diploma Review

The final presentation file must be sent to IT through Box by 6:00 pm the day before you are to have your presentation and review.

Submission folders for presentation files:

• Design (box)
• Landscape architecture (box)
• Architecture (box)

Streaming and recording

The Diploma presentations at AHO are always open to the public, and the audience can hear both the candidates' presentations and the examiners' feedback. The Diploma is the AHO students' final master's examination ref. Forskrift om krav til mastergrad § 6, and is thus subject to this requirement for publicity.

All presentations will be recorded and streamed. Exceptions for streaming only apply to students with adapted studies or to confidential projects that are exempt from the public. Exceptions must be agreed in advance with your student advisor.

Use of model during presentation

If you have models that will be part of the presentation, practical information will be given in advance.

Roles

Many people are involved in the Diploma examination.

Candidate

You are the exam candidate. You will present your Diploma project and answer questions from the examiners.

Examiners

The examiners will assess your project, and they are the ones you talk to during your presentation. The examination teams consists of external experts. The number of examiners may vary from semester to semester, and if there are particularly many students in your class, there may be several examination teams. In any case, you will present and be assessed by one of the examination teams. The Institute allocates candidates to the examination teams.

One of the examiners on the team acts as your main examiner during your presentation, but all the examiners assess all the projects together.

Moderator

The moderator is the person who introduces the examiners and the candidates, and keeps track of time. At the Diploma reviews at AHO, this role is usually filled by someone from the Institute, for example the Head of Institute or an academic employee.

Presentation Time