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Undergraduate students of the University of Southern Mindanao now have the option to work on their thesis as a group comprising of two or three members, with the consent of all group members and the approval of their adviser. This policy was approved by the recently concluded Board of Regents meeting held on August 5, 2025.
Last year, certain programs in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT) were allowed to work on group capstone projects. This year, the policy has been expanded to allow collaborative undergraduate theses across all colleges and units. The rationale is to enable advisers to offer more focused guidance and to allow students to pursue more comprehensive projects than would be feasible individually.
The Vice President for Research, Development, & Extension (RDE) Dr. Debbie Marie B. Verzosa believes that the new policy will benefit both faculty and students as it provides an approach that allows more time for advisers to provide guidance to students, thereby improving theses quality and productivity. “This policy is not meant to lower the standards of undergraduate thesis but aims to streamline thesis processes and provide students more rigorous guidance. It also allows students to work on theses with greater scope and less cost, however grades will still be individual,” she added.
The guidelines and templates were created by Romiel John Basan and Jhon Dave Llanto of the College of Business, Development Economics, and Management (CBDEM), and were endorsed by the University Research Development and Extension Committee (URDEC) and the Administrative Council prior to presentation to the Board of Regents. The guidelines emphasize the importance of substantial contribution of each individual to the thesis before, during, and after the defense.
This policy takes effect in the first semester of AY 2025–2026 and applies to research proposal courses such as UT1, Thesis A, and related units.
Further guidelines will be announced soon on official social media pages and website.
