Master Thesis

Please be advised: You must register your thesis with the examination office as soon as your have a topic.   

Master thesis projects are issued by the INFOTECH professors/institutes. It is necessary to check with the institute’s black board or home page for project topics. In some cases, and based on the approval by the Examination Committee, master thesis topics may also be issued by professors of the Faculty for Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology who are not participating in the INFOTECH program or by professors of other faculties or universities.

Similar to examination problems, thesis topics are handed out to the candidate in written form. They should contain a detailed description of the research objectives and a list of tasks to be addressed. Additionally the starting date and last date of submission are to be confirmed by the thesis supervisor’s signature.

The normal duration of a master thesis is six months. At the candidate’s request, it may be extended to a maximum of 9 months, if adequate reasons are provided and the advisor and the chairman of the Examination Committee approve. Please see here for more information regarding extensions.

When writing the master thesis, the student has to prove his ability to work independently on a problem and to solve it with the tools acquired in the course of his studies. Regular meetings with the advisor or thesis supervisor (eg. every 2 weeks) to discuss the progress of the master thesis are strongly recommended to help recognize potential problems early and attain additional guidance. The master thesis project is completed with the submission of the master thesis and a presentation and defense in the institute’s colloquium.

According to the examination regulations, it is possible to return a thesis topic once without any consequences within the first four weeks after registering. A completed master thesis project being marked not sufficient can be repeated once.

The master thesis should be completed in english. Exceptions in german can be made for non-native german speaking students.
The submission of a linguistically correct thesis is the responsibility of the student. Ask friends or colleagues to proof-read your thesis. Furthermore the form, i.e. the structure of the report, layout and drawings, clear phrasing, references etc. is also very important. It may not just your supervisor who reads it, but also coworkers, followers, the industry or somebody else who should be impressed by the thesis report. Therefore having a polished thesis and taking such elements into consideration can positively contribute to the grading.

Tips for finding a topic (from the Dean of Studies):

• Do not send generic mass emails as they will most likely be ignored. Contact specific recipients directly and include 1-2 sentences in your email explaining why you think the institute/topic is a good fit based on your skills (eg. refer to relevant lectures/labs you have attended).
• Provide information regarding the courses you have attended within the institute you are approaching including your performance. Not having taken a course from the institute greatly reduces your chances of finding a suitable project/topic there (so focus on approaching institutes where you have taken courses).
• Approach the research staff first (especially those you may know from your courses); they tend to have the best overview of available projects/topics.

Registration:

Access to the registration form in C@mpus becomes active once 78 ECTS credits have been completed.  It is not possible to register before this.
Once you have approval of your topic with your advisor your should register it with the examination office without delay.
Your thesis can be registered at any point during the year - registration is not bound to normal registration dates.