Master’s Thesis
General:
The general course of action for writing a master’s thesis at the Professorship of Higher Education is:
- Discuss a possible topic* with Prof. Liudvika Leisyte.
- Write a 2-page proposal (incl. title, table of contents and timeline of the thesis).
- Get approval for this by Prof. Leisyte.
- Prof. Leisyte will write a letter to "Prüfungsverwaltung" to declare that she will be your supervisor.
- Write the thesis: in the process, make sure to send the questionnaire for surveys or interview schedules to Prof. Leisyte to get approval before you start your empirical work.
- Submit to "Prüfungsverwaltung", Dez. 4.3.
Type and time frame of the thesis:
- Generally, all theses at the Professorship are empirical (i.e. the self-organized collection and analysis of data is part of every thesis). This type of thesis has a time frame of 26 weeks (for details see the Prüfungsordnung below).
- In exceptional cases, theoretical theses are accepted. The specific topic must then be discussed and agreed on with Prof. Liudvika Leisyte. The time frame for this type of thesis is only 17 weeks.
» The time frame (count of weeks) starts with the registration of your topic (a letter from Prof. Leisyte to the Prüfungsamt).
Topic of the thesis:
Generally, the topics you can choose for a thesis should be highly relevant for practice and policy and the thesis should to be empirically grounded. The topic you choose should relate to the main research fields of the Professorship of Higher Education (see: http://www.zhb.tu-dortmund.de/zhb/hdhf/en/research/index.html).
*Possible Topics:
Governance
- Innovation through organizational learning
- Stakeholder representation and characteristics in the boards of universities
- Promotion of collaboration at German universities: policies and practices
- Changing governance of universities and implications of this for their performance
- The implementation of gender policies in German universities
- Characteristics and challenges of an inclusive professional organization
Academic entrepreneurship
- Policies of German universities to promote spin off creation in Germany
- The characteristics of founders of new high tech ventures in Germany
- Motivations of academic entrepreneurs to patent
- Gender and entrepreneurship: evidence from patenting activities
Academic profession and managerialism
- The role of new public management on publication behaviour of academics
- The role of performance based systems on grant acquisition of academics
- Implications of balancing working from home versus working in the office on performance
- Gender in academia: what are the gender differences in academic productivity?
- Challenges of integration of foreign knowledge workers in Germany
Preconditions for a master’s thesis at the Professorship of Higher Education:
Theses are accepted according to certain preconditions and according to capacities of scientific staff.
For theses in the Master SowIn as well as the exam regulations (Prüfungsordnung) see also:
http://www.sowin.tu-dortmund.de/cms/de/studiengang/zugang/index.html
For theses in the Master WiWi see also:
http://www.wiwi.tu-dortmund.de/wiwi/de/studium/studiengaenge/wiwi-master/index.html
Translation of some important aspects in the Master WiWi Prüfungsordnung (MPO 2015)
§ 13 Master’s Thesis
- The master’s thesis should show that the candidate is able to independently work on a scientific problem from their subject area within a restricted time-frame.
- Supervision: can be done by everyone who is a first supervisor according to §7.1
- The topic for the thesis should be chosen from the candidate’s study profile, candidates must be given the opportunity to propose topics for their master’s thesis. The thesis can be written in English language if supervisor and candidates mutually agree on this.
- A topic for the master’s thesis can only be determined after the candidate has acquired at least 60 credit points. The topic has to be officially issued by the chair of the examination board, the point of time of issuing has to be recorded.
- If no supervisor can be named by the candidate, the candidate can formally ask the chair of the examination board to find a supervisor.
- The master’s thesis has to be written individually. This does not mean that the topic cannot be worked on within a working group, but in such cases it has to be ensured that the contribution of the individual is objectively taken into account when it comes to grading.
- The time frame for working on the master’s thesis is 17 weeks or a maximum of 26 weeks for empirical, experimental or mathematical topics. The topic and tasks have to be designed so that the thesis can be finished within this time frame. In agreement with the supervisor, the time frame may be prolonged by up to 4 weeks following a reasoned request by the candidate to the chair of the examination board. Such a request has to be posed at least 14 days before the end of the actual deadline.
- The topic for a master’s thesis can be withdrawn only once and only within the first 14 days after issuing. The thesis will then be regarded as not yet started.
- The length of the master’s thesis should usually be about 70-80 pages.
- When handing in a master’s thesis, the candidate has to attach a statutory declaration that he or she has written the thesis on their own, has used no sources and means of support other than those declared and has identified all citations. For the statutory declaration, an official form of the central examination board has to be used.
§ 14 Hand-in and grading of the master’s thesis
- The thesis has to be handed in on time at the central examination board electronically as well as two times as a print-out version, will be checked for plagiarism (….)
- The thesis has to be read and graded by two supervisors, the first supervisor should also advise the candidate throughout the process. The second supervisor will be appointed by the chair of the examination board. The supervisors have to grade the thesis individually and have to explain their grading in written form.
- The grade will be calculated from the two grades given by the supervisors. If there is a difference of more than 2.0, or if one supervisor grades the thesis as 4.0 or better and the other one with 5.0 (not sufficient), a third examiner will be appointed (…)
- Before final grading, the candidate has to defend the thesis, which has to be graded 4.0 or better, vis-à-vis the supervisors/examiners. If graded 4.0 or better, the grade for this defense will account for ¼ of the total grade. If the defense is graded 5.0, it can be repeated for a better result only once. Should the new defense be graded with 5.0 again, the candidate cannot pass the final examination.
Bachelor’s Thesis
General:
The general course of action for writing a bachelor’s thesis at the Professorship of Higher Education is:
- Informal application by e-mail, stating one to three possible bachelor’s thesis topics*.
- Selection interview and choice of a topic as well as registration for the project seminar.
- After successful completion of the project seminar, Prof. Leisyte will write a letter to "Prüfungsverwaltung" to declare that she will be your supervisor.
- Write the thesis: in the process, make sure to send the questionnaire for surveys or interview schedules to Prof. Leisyte to get approval before you start your empirical work.
- Submit to "Prüfungsverwaltung", Dez. 4.3.
Application period:
- July 15 to September 1 for the following winter semester
- February 15 to March 1 for the following summer semester
The selection interviews will take place shortly after applications have been received.
Type and time frame of the thesis:
- Generally, all theses at the Professorship are empirical (i.e. the self-organized collection and analysis of data is part of every thesis). This type of thesis has a time frame of 13 weeks (for details see the Prüfungsordnung).
- In exceptional cases, theoretical theses are accepted. The specific topic must then be discussed and agreed on with Prof. Liudvika Leisyte. The time frame for this type of thesis is only 9 weeks.
» The time frame (count of weeks) starts with the registration of your topic (a letter from Prof. Leisyte to the Prüfungsamt).
Topic of the thesis:
Generally, the topics you can choose for a thesis should be highly relevant for practice and policy and the thesis should to be empirically grounded. The topic you choose should relate to the main research fields of the Professorship of Higher Education (see: http://www.zhb.tu-dortmund.de/zhb/hdhf/en/research/index.html).
*Possible Topics:
Governance
- Stakeholder representation and their characteristics in the boards of non-profit organizations
- Diversity Management and gender equality in management teams
- Factors leading to innovation success in professional organizations
- The influence of board membership on performance of professional organizations
- Management of organizational change in professional organizations
- The role of chancellors in German higher education
Entrepreneurship
- The role of student entrepreneurs in creating startups on campus
- Characteristics of German entrepreneurs
- Entrepreneurship and gender: differences between male and female entrepreneurs
- Motivations of academic entrepreneurs to patent their knowledge
- Policies of German universities to promote knowledge commercialization
- Policies and practices of patenting in Germany
Profession, Performance, and Mobility
- Importance of work satisfaction of professionals for performance
- Working at home versus working in the office – implications for productivity
- The motivations for international mobility of professionals
- Factors leading to successful integration of foreign professional employees in Germany
- The role of performance based funding on academic productivity
- Changing academic profession in the managerial era: what happens to professional autonomy
Preconditions for a bachelor’s thesis at the Professorship of Higher Education:
Theses are accepted according to certain preconditions and according to capacities of scientific staff.
