Master Thesis

Before starting your master thesis, you must study the script “Introduction to Academic Research and Writing” and complete the corresponding online course.

The master thesis gives students the opportunity to

• work on a topic in a subfield of the study program and thereby acquire specialized knowledge and
• produce a practice-oriented paper that meets scientific criteria, thereby demonstrating their ability to

formulate objectives, define problems, select methods, work systematically, and present their findings.

With their thesis, students should

• demonstrate that they are able to use scientific methods to understand a complex problem related to their own company or professional environment.
• accurately present proposed solutions from theory and practice, critically evaluate and compare alternative approaches, develop their own decision, and outline the path to implementation or realization.

The master thesis should therefore be understood as a practice-oriented project in which the knowledge and skills acquired in the study program are applied to a specific problem. Interdisciplinary connections should be highlighted.

The master thesis is a practice-oriented piece of work that must be written according to scientific criteria and serves to gain knowledge in the respective subject area.

Students learn

• to ask relevant questions,
• to define and delimit a problem,
• to position the question in a broader context,
• to manage a project,
• to search for literature relevant to the question and apply it to the specific question,
• to argue content-related and methodological decisions,
• to participate in scientific discourse through a written contribution,
• to choose a suitable method for carrying out the project (e.g., literature study, interviews, participatory or non-participatory observation, survey, document analysis, experiment, or case study with a combination of different methods, with or without the development of products, processes, or systems),
• to formulate consequences and further research possibilities.

Max. 150,000 characters (without spaces) min. 110,000 characters (without spaces – that is approx. 80-100 pages for the text part alone, excluding appendices).

An academic reviewer with relevant expertise in the field must be selected for the master thesis. Where possible, academic reviewers should be lecturers on the study program and must be approved by the Study Program Director. They support students in planning and carrying out their work and provide them with expert feedback. They assess the thesis by means of a written report. The formal reviewer, on the other hand, checks compliance with the formal criteria and is a member of the department's academic staff.

The topic of a master thesis must be approved by the Study Program Director and the two reviewers.

For the overall assessment, a defense (i.e. a presentation of the thesis by the examinee) before a two-member examination committee is mandatory. The presentation should not exceed 20 minutes. Afterwards, the committee will ask the examinee questions about the master thesis. The total duration of the defensio is approximately 50 minutes.

More detailed information on the formal and content structure as well as on the submission deadlines can be found in the “Master Thesis Handbook,” which will be made available to participants as part of a special course on this topic.