Course detail
Master's Degree Thesis
FSI-SDD-A Acad. year: 2024/2025 Summer semester
The master thesis is an independent, extensive work done under the guidance of an advisor within the discipline. Candidates are relatively free to choose topic for their thesis, but it needs to be approved by the study coordinator. A thesis can be either applied, related to a company or an agency/governmental body, or it can be in the form of a theoretical investigation.
Language of instruction
English
Number of ECTS credits
30
Supervisor
Department
Entry knowledge
Each candidate must have written a successful proposal. This should be the last course taken within the MSc program. This means that the candidate should have approved 90 ECTS in order to have the master thesis graded.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
The master theses are graded with the same letter scale as ordinary courses. An evaluation committee consisting of one internal staff member and one external grader is appointed for each thesis. Internal and external graders for the theses are appointed by the program coordinator after suggestions from the supervisors.
The supervisor and both graders should be present together with the student involved. The format of the oral presentation is as follows:
1. The student presents his/her main findings for approximately 20 minutes.
2. After the presentation, the graders and the supervisor initiate a discussion around the thesis, point out weaknesses and strong points and ask the student to clarify any indistinctness. This session should last up to 30 minutes.
3. When the discussion is finished, the two graders agree about a final grade.
The work progress on the master’s thesis is monitored by the master’s thesis supervisor.
Aims
The aim is to create space for the work on master’s thesis and related activities (performing experiments, performing computer simulations, etc.). Particular emphasis is placed on the ability of students to accurately formulate a problem and propose a suitable solution.
The student's learning outcomes after completing the course:
Knowledge
- How to define a problem and determine a research question
- How to structure and organize a research project
- Understand the role of theory in research
- Have updated theoretical knowledge within the research field of the master thesis
Skills
- Ability to perform an independent research task with a strong professional and methodological basis
- How to choose an appropriate method for collecting relevant information and data
- Be able to use theory to analyse key issues within the topic of the master thesis
- How to write an academic report
General competence
- How to plan and accomplish a scientific work
The study programmes with the given course
Programme N-LAN-A: Logistics Analytics, Master's, compulsory
Type of course unit
Supervision of Master’s thesis
260 hours, optionally
Syllabus
Students are obliged to report the progress to their master’s thesis supervisors. The scope and extent of the progress monitoring is determined by the master’s thesis supervisor. Supervision includes all aspects of this process, like giving advice, reading and commenting drafts and similar activities. Students who want to write their thesis off-campus, must get approval from their supervisor.