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About the master's thesis

The rules and regulations for the master's thesis are stipulated in the course description.

Read about formalities for written assignments in general here.

On Itslearning you find more valuable information and films regarding the Master Thesis

 

Schedule for the master's thesis

30 ECTS equivalent to 6 months fulltime work are set aside for working on the Master thesis including time for grading and defence. The process runs in the autumn from September to January 2nd with defence in January and in the spring from February to June with defence in June.

Enrollment for the course and allocation of supervisor takes place in the semester before the thesis work takes place. Notice that to participate in the exam (hand in and defence) the supervisor agreement must be approved before the deadline which is before the semester starts (see below). The master's thesis can be done individually or in a group of two persons.

The student may not receive any payment for the work in connection with their master's thesis as a) the activity is an ECTS-bearing activity, and b) the student may receive SU during the study. Reimbursement for some expenses or a monthly payment for confirmed expenses can however be granted during the study. If payment/reimbursement is received, it is the student's responsibility to ensure, whether it is taxable or not.

See an overview of the process here.

Process

If in Denmark, attend the information meeting. This will take place in June. 
On Itslearning you find more valuable information and films regarding the Master Thesis

The supervision often begins by a student approaching a potential main supervisor about an idea, a research question. When the idea is developed more and a secondary supervisor is found, the first meeting is to be held where both the supervisors are present. The purpose of the meeting that last normally 1-2 hours is to agree on a problem formulation and to agree on how the supervision is done with respect to number of meetings, type of meetings, preparation of meetings and reading of draft chapters.
After this meeting the supervisor agreement is filled in and submitted electronically as described below.

Use this form.

Find inspiration for a topic via the link below.

You are allowed to enrol for the Master's thesis once you have been registered for 90 ECTS and have passed 60 ECTS at the time of registration. If you wish to complete your Master's before you have been registered for 90 ECTS courses: You need to apply the Study Board.
When you have completed three semesters of your master programme, you must enrol for the Master's thesis. "Completed" means in this context that you have that you have been registered for 90 ECTS courses and have passed 60 ECTS courses. Notice that if you do not have an option to enrol for the "course" Master Thesis in the self-service system,  your have to contact Student Services, Tel 6550 1103 or e-mail: studieservice-es@sdu.dk for further information.

Supervisors will be assigned December 1st /June 1st at the latest. You will get a notification once your profile responsible has assigned supervisors to you.

The deadline is January 15th/August 15th

To get an approval, you need a to develop your idea/subject further into a problem statement and you also have to make a plan for the supervision. 

The problem statement must be sufficiently elaborate for an evaluation of whether the problem statement can allow you to demonstrate ability to produce knowledge at a high level. The problem must be relevant for the profile focus and it must require that you build on or extend the knowledge that you have acquired during your master studies. This means that it must be a complex problem and/or a problem requiring use of relevant literature and/or empirical methods at a high level. Further, the problem should justify the number of working hours that should be used for working on the Master's thesis.

The plan for supervision must show important milestones in your project and the supervision that you need in connection to these milestones.

For this step, you can have one meeting with the supervisor and/or a few e-mail correspondences.

When you are ready to get the approval, you must again go to the digital supervisor agreement, fill in, and submit (see under 2.). The form is then automatically sent to your supervisors and the profile responsible who must approve before the form automatically goes on to your study secretary.

What can you expect from your supervisor and how do you get the most out of supervision?
You can visit the university portal for advice regarding Master's Thesis or the folder from the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences which you find here (called Use your Master Thesis Supervisor).

Deadline is June 1st (spring) or January 2nd (autumn) - or the first weekday thereafter
In the course description (link at the top of this page) and via this link submission of your thesis you can read more about the guidelines for.

 

The oral defence will take place in the same month as the thesis is handed in. The oral defence must take place at SDU.

 

If you miss the deadline and need extra examination attempts

Read about this in the course description (link at the top of this page).

 

Possibilities for exemption

Extension of the deadline can only be granted in the case of extraordinary reasons that differ from normal conditions. This could be illness (documented by a doctor's note) or illness among your nearest relations. Extension requires an application to the study board. 

 

Do you have any doubts?

You are always welcome to contact the Student Services, Tel 6550 1103 or e-mail: studieservice-es@sdu.dk if you have any questions about the master's thesis.

Last Updated 28.02.2024