Description of the Master's thesis

The final project or master’s thesis assignment is the final proof of the ability of the student to independently handle more complex problems within the area of electrical engineering, and to work as a “scientific engineer” on an advanced level. 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 your 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 and have not more than 10EC of unfinished courses. If instead of a traineeship, an individual project was part of your master programme then you should have finished this individual project and have not more than 10EC of unfinished courses.

Purpose of the master’s thesis

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

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

Contents of the master’s thesis

You will have to carry out a project that in general contains elements of both research and design, although one of the two may have more emphasis that the other one. The specific problem will be described in a short project proposal that is handed to you by your supervisor. Your task is to solve the problem or at least to contribute to its solution. Note that it is not precisely known beforehand how far you can get finding a solution. Your problem will be new, not only for you but also for your supervisor. If not, then you cannot speak of research. So no one knows how you should solve your problem. You will have to find out yourself.

Roadmap

Below we give a global roadmap that should lead you to a successful master’s thesis.

Literature search and problem definition

The first thing to do after the start of the project is to convert the global problem description into a detailed project proposal. In this proposal specific, research and design questions are posed and for each question a plan is proposed to answer/solve them. Of course literature search is necessary to find out what already has been done elsewhere regarding your problem. This should make clear to you which questions already have been answered so that you can use methods from the literature and which questions are still open. As a rough estimate you may assume that you will need a study load of 10EC, or seven weeks full time work for this phase.

Deliverables: Intermediate report with problem description and project planning

As a result of your literature search you can determine what the starting point of your project is and which contribution you can deliver in the remaining time. This will lead to a detailed problem description and a project planning. Of course you will discuss this report with your supervisors from the assessment committee and you might also give a presentation for the group members.

Your own research

Now that you have a precise problem description and a planning how to solve it, you will start carrying out your own plan. Please keep your planning in mind and adapt it when necessary.

Deliverables: Report and oral presentation

The results of your project will have to be written down into a report that will be read and assessed by the members of your graduation committee. Then, as a last activity in your project you will give a presentation. The expected audience for both the report and the presentation are staff members and colleague students of the group who will be future colleagues of you after you graduation.

Assessment committee

The committee that supervises the Master's project is formed by a minimum of two persons. One of them is the chairperson of the assessment committee and he/she is a full or associate professor of the chair of your specialisation. The supervisory committee shall also include an examiner from a another chair. Probably a third staff member will be added who will carry out the daily supervision. Often you will carry out a part of the research of a PhD candidate, who works in a research project. This PhD candidate then will be your supervisor.

Assessment standards

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

50% Scientific quality:

20% Organisation, planning, collaboration:

30% Communication:

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.