Modul

Examination by two examiners from the two faculties. For details refer to examination regulation. The examiner has to be involved in the degree programme. Involved in the degree programme are the persons that coordinate a module or a lecture of the degree programme.

The student can independently handle a complex and unfamiliar subject based on scientific criteria and the current state of research.

He/she is in a position to critically analyze and structure the researched information as well as derive principles and regularities. He/she knows how to apply the thereby achieved results to solve the task at hand. Taking into account this knowledge and his/her interdisciplinary knowledge, he/she can draw own conclusions, derive improvement potentials, propose and implement science-based decisions.

This is basically also done under consideration of social and/or ethical aspects.

He/she can interpret, evaluate and if required, graphically present the obtained results.

He/she is in a position to sensibly structure a research paper, document results and clearly communicate the results in scientific form.

Regulated in §14 of the examination regulation.

The requirements for the examiner are described in §14 (2) of the examination regulation.

• The master thesis shows that the candidate can autonomously investigate a problem from his discipline with scientific methods according to the state-of-the-art of the discipline within a specified time period.
• The master thesis can be written in German or English.
• The topic of a master thesis can be accepted or chosen by each of the examiners according to examination regulation. The examiner accepting a topic for a master thesis acts as the first supervisor of this thesis.
• Writing a master thesis with a supervisor who is not a member of the two faculties participating in the degree programme (Departement of Informatics, Department of Economics and Management) requires acceptance by the examination board of the degree programme. The candidate must have an opportunity to make suggestions for the topic of the master thesis.
• Candidates can write a master thesis in teams. However, this requires that the contribution and performance of each candidate to the thesis is identifiable according to objective criteria which allow a unique delineation of each candidate's contribution. The contribution of each candidate regarded in isolation must fulfill the requirements a individual master thesis.
• In exceptional cases and upon request of the candidate, the chairman of the examination board chooses a supervisor and requests that this supervisor provides the candidate with a topic for the master thesis within 4 weeks after the request. In this case, the candidate is informed by the chairman of the examination board about the topic selected.
• Topic, specification of research tasks and the volume of the master thesis should be limited by the supervisor, so that the master thesis can be written with the assigned workload of 30 credits (750-900h).
• The master thesis must contain the following declaration of the candidate: “I truthfully assure that I have autonomously written this master thesis. I have quoted all sources used precisely and completely. I have labelled everything which has been taken from the work of others with or without change.” A master thesis without this declaration will not be accepted.
• The date of the assignment of the topic to a candidate as well as the date of delivery of the master thesis should be registered at the examination board. The candidate can return a topic for the master thesis only one time and only within a period of two month after he has received the topic. Upon a request of the candidate with reasons supporting an extension, the examination board may extend the deadline for the delivery of the master thesis by a maximum of three months. A master thesis not delivered within time is graded as “fail” except when the candidate is not responsible for this delay (e.g. protection of motherhood).
• The master thesis is reviewed and graded by the supervisor and the additional examiner. The team of supervisor and examiner must represent both faculties participating in the degree programme (Department of Informatics, Department of Economics and Management). At least one of the two must be professor or junior professor. If the grades of the supervisor and the examiner differ, the examination board sets the mark within this limit.
• Reviewing and grading should be done within 8 weeks after delivery of the master thesis.

The total workload for this module is approximately 900 hours. For further information see German version.