Master's thesis

The final project or master’s thesis assignment is the final proof of the ability of the student to handle more complex problems rather independently within the area of electrical engineering, and to work as a “scientific engineer” on an advanced level. As described above it is important to find a research group for your master’s thesis as soon as possible after the start of your master’s programme. With you mentor/supervisor you can discuss available subjects for your thesis research.

You can only start your master’s thesis work if you have finished your traineeship. If instead of a traineeship, an individual project was part of your master programme then you should have finished this individual project and 45EC of your course programme.

Purpose of the master’s thesis

The final purpose of the master’s thesis is the student shows to have obtained the competences of an Electrical Engineering master. See section 1.1.

Especially during the master project you have to show that you can:

·	interpret a possibly general project proposal and translate it to more concrete research questions.

·	find and study relevant literature, software and hardware tools, and critically assess their merits.

·	work in a systematic way and document your findings as you progress.

·	work in correspondence with the level of the elective courses you have followed.

·	perform original work that has sufficient depth to be relevant to the research in the chair.

·	work independently and goal oriented under the guidance of a supervisor.

·	seek assistance within the research group or elsewhere, if required and beneficial for the project.

·	benefit from the guidance of your supervisor by scheduling regular meetings, provide the supervisor with progress reports and initiate topics that will be discussed.

·	organize your work by making a project plan, executing it, adjusting it when necessary, and handling unexpected developments.

·	write a master’s thesis that motivates your work for a general audience, and communicates the work and its results in a clear, well-structured way to your peers.

·	give a presentation with similar qualities to fellow-students and members of the chair.

Assessment committee

The assignment is supervised by a committee of at least 3 persons and maximally 5 persons. At least one of them is full professor. At least two must be member of the permanent scientific staff. It is advised to compose the committee rather broadly, e.g. with persons from other chairs, working on related areas.

Assessment standards

As a starting point for the assessment standards the set of learning objectives as stated above is taken.

·	No long lists of criteria that are difficult to distinguish. Instead, the learning objectives are grouped into 3 categories that get a grade: scientific quality, organization and communication. This grouping still allows teachers to put emphasis where appropriate.

·	Proposal for the weightings are: 50% Scientific quality, 20% Organization, 30% Communication.

50% Scientific quality:

·	interpret a possibly general project proposal and translate it to more concrete research questions.

·	find and study relevant literature, software and hardware tools, and critically assess their merits.

·	work in a systematic way and document your findings as you progress.

·	work in correspondence with the level of the elective courses you have followed.

·	perform original work that has sufficient depth to be relevant to the research in the chair.

20% Organisation, planning, collaboration:

·	work independently and goal oriented under the guidance of a supervisor.

·	seek assistance within the research group or elsewhere, if required and beneficial for the project.

·	benefit from the guidance of your supervisor by scheduling regular meetings, provide the supervisor with progress reports and initiate topics that will be discussed.

·	organize your work by making a project plan, executing it, adjusting it when necessary, handling unexpected developments and finish within the allotted number of credits.

30% Communication:

·	write a Master thesis that motivates your work for a general audience, and communicates the work and its results in a clear, well-structured way to your peers.

·	give a presentation with similar qualities to fellow-students and members of the chair.

Limitation of the duration of the master’s thesis

The study load of the master’s thesis is 40EC or 28 weeks full time work. It is expected from the student that indeed the master’s thesis is finished after this period. This should happen according to a planning which has been agreed upon beforehand with the supervisor. At the end of the period, the supervisory committee will give an assessment, based on the results, available at that moment. If the grade is insufficient (less than 6) then the student may use two additional months of work to improve the result. After this extension the supervisory committee will give a new assessment, which will be considered as a re-examination.

Regarding the master’s thesis the following rules have been formulated:

1.	The student and the daily supervisor of the chair should agree upon a starting date and an end date of the master’s assignment.

2.	The end date should be based on a planning, in which along with the work for the master thesis, also time can be set aside for taking courses and re-examinations.

3.	The plan should be approved by the daily supervisor and signed by the student.

4.	For the work for the master’s assignment only the nominal time should be spent (28 weeks).

5.	Illness should be reported to the secretariat of the chair. The amount of time, missed by this illness will be added to the amount of time available for the master’s assignment.

6.	A possible extra re-examination should be approved by the supervisor and integrated into the planning. The time necessary for the re-examination will be added to the amount of time available for the master’s assignment.

7.	In the planning the student and the daily supervisor should agree upon the time spent by the student for possible academic holidays.

8.	Immediately after the end date of the master’s assignment, as agreed upon by the student and the daily supervisor, the graduation committee gives an assessment about the master’s thesis. This will result in a final mark.

9.	If this mark is insufficient (lower than 6) then the student will have the opportunity to improve the master’s thesis during a period of two months. After this period the graduation committee will give a new assessment. This procedure will be considered as a re-examination.

10.	If the mark given after this re-examination is again insufficient (lower than 6) then the student will have to carry out a fully new master’s assignment.