Practice School and Thesis: A Guide

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a basic guide and starting point for understanding the intricacies of PS and TS. The information given here is collated from various sources, which, to the best of our knowledge, is correct. Despite our best efforts, our sources may be outdated, especially in an online semester. Students are advised to inspect the latest documents provided by the Practice School Division (PSD) for comprehensive information and to contact the PSD (psd@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in) for any clarification.

INTRODUCTION:

Practice School is an industry exposure program seeking to link work experience with university instruction. It is split into two parts—Practice School-I (PS-I) and Practice School-II (PS-II). PS-I is usually an eight-week long program, generally conducted in the summer after the second year. It is graded for 5 units. PS-II is five-and-a-half months long and can be opted for in either of the semesters in the final year. Dual degree students can choose to opt for a dual PS, which means they can do a PS in each semester of the year. PS-II is graded for 20 units.

The thesis (TS) is an alternative to PS for undergraduate students. It entails working at a research organisation, university, or a company with a Research and Development (R&D) centre. It takes place over one semester in the final year for single degree students and over one or both semesters in the fifth year for dual degree students.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND ALLOTMENT CRITERIA:

PRACTICE SCHOOL-I (PS-I):

When the application process begins, the Institute announces the list of stations. This list contains details of the projects offered in those stations with the specific discipline that is eligible for the project. Students have to submit their preference order for the stations and information about their accommodation status at the various locations in a Student Preference Form. These preferences can be updated as per their wish before the deadline which is usually a couple of weeks before the comprehensive exams.

The allotment of a student to a project or station depends primarily on CGPA and discipline eligibility, keeping in mind preferences, availability of accommodation, and the organisation’s requirements.

PRACTICE SCHOOL-II (PS-II):

The list of stations and faculties is announced to students beforehand. Each organisation releases a ‘Problem Bank’ containing the list of assignments and projects with the required skills and knowledge, the number of students required, and the facilities and perks provided by the organisation, such as the stipend.

To be eligible for PS-II, students must fulfil the following criteria:

Students need to have completed all their named courses, which consist of the Core Discipline Courses (CDCs) and the General Institute Requirements (GIRs)* of their programme.
Students must have completed their PS-I in order to be eligible for PS-II..
Dual degree students who wish to opt for PS for both semesters need to have completed all their course requirements, including PS-I, to graduate on time.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The first step in the application process is to fill the semester preference form.
Semester allotment is done separately for each discipline to keep the distribution of students equal in both semesters. However, depending on student preferences, it can skew towards one semester.
The allotment criteria is based on the student’s preference and their CGPA.

WHAT IS THE PS ‘TAG’?

A PS ‘tag’ represents the student’s degree specialisation.
Single degree students have their degree as their tag
Dual degree students can choose either one of their degrees for their tag, and during their PS they will be grouped accordingly with their single degree counterparts.

If a dual degree student attempting to do a double semester PS cannot be accommodated in both semesters, they will get to choose a semester and one of their two degrees as their PS tag. They will have to do a thesis for the other degree in another semester.

COMPANY ALLOTMENT

Once the semester has been allotted, the station preference form is released. Usually, students get one week to fill this form.
The primary criteria of station allotment is CGPA, but there are other organisation-specific constraints, such as the number of seats, discipline, elective requirements, and offshoot scores.
In cases where offshoot score is an eligibility criterion, CGPA is the allotment criterion unless the company specifies certain courses to be mandatory or wants the maximum offshoot score.

THESIS (TS):

All students eligible for PS can opt for a thesis instead. To do this, they need to fill a transfer form that will be approved by the committee consisting of the Dean of PSD, and the Associate Deans of PSD, AUGSD, and SWD for the respective campus.

SUPERVISORS

Students doing an on-campus thesis need only one thesis supervisor but may have a co-supervisor as well.
Students doing an off-campus thesis, on the other hand, must have an on-campus supervisor as well as an off-campus thesis supervisor.

THE FORMS

Students opting for a thesis need to fill a total of four forms, two from the Practice School Division (PSD) and two from the Academic Research Division (ARD).
The PSD is responsible for transferring a student from the default PS option to TS. For this, they will send two forms, Form A and Form B.
The student has to fill Form A and their primary supervisor (the off-campus supervisor for an off-campus thesis) must fill Form B. These are the PS to TS transfer forms.
These forms require the thesis supervisor’s details, summary of the student’s work, information about funding, and why the thesis cannot be done on campus (in case of an off-campus thesis). They also require the signature of and an undertaking by the thesis supervisor.

To apply, students must follow these steps:

Discuss the thesis topic with the primary supervisor and fill in those details in the transfer form.
Students who are applying for a second-semester thesis and have not identified a topic will get a one-week window later in the year to decide it. Those applying for a first semester thesis have to specify their topic in the form at the time of application.
Get the required signature from the primary supervisor and the required consent—signature with recommendations—from the respective Head of Department.
Upload the form, filled with all these details, before the deadline.

By default, dual degree students are allotted a PS for one degree and a TS for the other.

For example, if a student is A4B2, by default, they may take PS for A4 and TS for B2 or vice versa.

However, if they wish to do a thesis in both semesters, they need to fill the transfer form. The transfer form needs to be processed through the department corresponding to the students’ Second Degree (generally the students’ BE), and the procedure is similar to a normal PS to TS transfer.

The ARD also releases the details of the thesis course including the deadline dates and the important forms that need to be filled in the duration of the thesis. Students can adjust the start and end dates of their theses as long as they meet these deadlines.

A few weeks after the deadline for form submission, students and thesis supervisors will receive an email confirming their registration for the thesis. The students then need to visit the ARD to confirm their details.

CALCULATION OF OFFSHOOT SCORES:

For organisations that have course requirements, an offshoot score is calculated for these courses. It is the sum of the grades obtained in each course. Only on-campus courses are considered for the offshoot.

Grade	Points
A	10
A-	9
B	8
B-	7
C	6
C-	5
D	4
E	2
NC	No Points

A currently registered course is awarded 5 points irrespective of grade. For example, for a PS in 4-1, a course in 3-2 is given 5 points.

OPENING A NEW PS STATION:

PS-1:

Students interested in opening a new station must submit a form containing the details of the station to the PSD.

For every new PS station, one student who helped open it can get preferential allotment, but only if it is functioning before said student’s PS registration and can take in students for projects.

A new PS-I station needs to meet the following requirements:

There should be seats for at least 10 students.
If the station is at a remote location, accommodation must be provided.
Technical mentors from the organisation should be available.
Other conditions set by the PSD, such as the tenure of business, the domain of work, and physical infrastructure must be met.

PS-II:

The procedure for the setting up of a PS-II station begins with a proposal sent in by the station to the Associate Dean of Planning and Development, PSD, along with their requirements from students. A team of faculty members discuss the proposal and, if it is found suitable, proceed to make the requirements available to the students. Requirements with respect to the number of seats and accommodation for opening a PS-I station are applicable for PS-II as well. However, the participating organisation is invariably expected to support students in the form of a monthly stipend. No student gets preferential allotment for opening a station.

METHODOLOGY AND ASSESSMENT:

PS-I:

The first part of PS-I is an orientation that can take up to four weeks. This involves visiting plants and interacting with executives to facilitate observation and discussion. Projects, usually involving the collection, organisation, and analysis of data/information, are assigned to students to promote learning.
Components of evaluation include diary, quiz, group discussion and presentation, group learning, and communication skills.

PS-II:

PS-II begins with a brief orientation to familiarise students with the organisation as well as the problems that need to be addressed. After this, the students are directly assigned to problems and encouraged to work independently to solve them. These are usually multidisciplinary problems. Students always have access to technical guidance from an expert along with general guidance from faculty members.

At regular intervals, students are required to defend their work through oral and written presentations.

TS:

The following evaluative components are used to assess theses:

Viva-I
Mid-semester written report
Mid-semester presentation
Viva-II
Final thesis
Final viva voce

The evaluation will also recognise the day-to-day work involvement and punctuality of the student. In various components, multiple parameters such as work progress and achievements, technical and professional competence, and documentation and expression, are taken into account. The acquisition of skills such as initiative and originality, punctuality and reliability, and self-reliance, is also taken into account for grading.

THE EPC’S OPINION: SOME ADVICE FOR THESIS

The following is some advice collected from reliable sources: blogs, seniors, and social media, on planning for a thesis. Please be aware that unlike the preceding article, everything that follows is a subjective opinion.

The most important thing students applying for TS should do is start working on it early. Ideally, one should start planning roughly three to four months before the end of the semester before your thesis. Do not apply too soon, however, otherwise organisations might ask you to try again later.
Choose the professors you wish to work under with great care: a good thesis can be a great learning experience, as well as an invaluable asset to your CV. It is vital to ensure that the subjects you will be working on genuinely interest you, and contact people who have expertise in fields you see yourself pursuing in the future.
Look into what the professor or researcher has worked on recently (their published papers and conferences, for example), and if you’d like to explore that field. Alternatively, look at how their research ties in with what you would like to work on. When contacting them, talk about the parts of their work that caught your interest.
When writing an email to a professor or a researcher, work hard on it. Try to not be formulaic or use a template. Replicated templates and low-effort emails are easy to catch and will definitely hurt your chances. Personalise each email to the professor you are writing it to. Talk about your skills and interests and how you could collaborate with them.
Be patient. Professors get several emails a day and it is very likely that you will not get an immediate response. You might have to wait days or even weeks. Do not be afraid to send multiple follow-ups or reminder emails.

*General Institute Requirements (GIRs) are the introductory “common courses” taught mostly in the first year, such as Mathematics-1, General Chemistry, etc.