Thesis and Internship Procedure Business Economics

For doing a thesis we follow the guidelines of respectively the BSc thesis protocol, the Internship protocol and the MSc thesis protocol of the Social Sciences Group as listed in the selection menu on the right.

Below the steps of doing/organising a MSc thesis in the Business Economics Group are given. The procedures for doing a BSc thesis and an Internship are similar, the only differences are:

  • There is no colloquium about the research proposal of the BSc thesis and Internship (see step 5).
  • The colloquium about the results of the BSc thesis is preferably in English but can be in Dutch.
  • In the BSc evaluation form the weights of the different aspects are similar to the MSc thesis (step 9). In the Internship evaluation form the weights of the different aspects are: research competence (40%), report (35%), self-reflection (15%), final colloquium (5%) and examination (5%).

Organising a thesis project

  1. Student checks whether he/she fulfils the prerequisites for writing thesis with the Business Economics Group and thinks about his/her interests (on our website examples of thesis subjects can be found).

  2. Student should organise for a MSc thesis an intake with Prof.dr.ir. Alfons Oude Lansink and for a BSc thesis an intake with dr.ir. Monique Mourits. Intakes can take place on Tuesdays from 13.00-13.30 hrs. or Thursdays from 13.00-13.30 hrs. Duration: approx. 15 - 30 minutes. Contact the secretary for an appointment. The secretary will check whether the student meets the prerequisites in the CSA system. At the end of the intake the student will be introduced to the supervisor.

    Getting started

  3. Student and supervisor fill in the thesis contract and deliver it to the secretary (contract forms are listed in the selection menu on the right). The contract ensures that agreements made between supervisor and student are official. It has to be signed by the student, supervisor and professor and delivered to the secretary. Copies will be given to everybody involved, including the director of studies.

    Research proposal

  4. Student writes a research proposal (in English or in Dutch: the Dutch written proposals should also include an English title), the supervisor sends the proposal to the secretary and organises the date of the first colloquium with the secretary. The secretary adds your picture and other information to the Thesis photo gallery at the Business Economics Group. An example of a research proposal can be found here: example. Information that should be on the proposal includes: full name of the student, registration number, title, course code, start- and ending date, name of supervisors (including supervisors from other groups or organisations).

    Colloquium about the research proposal

  5. MSc students present his/her research proposal to fellow thesis students. The colloquium takes 15 minutes presentation and 5 minutes discussion and should be in English. Student should prepare a PowerPoint. Thesis students (BSC as well as MSc students) need to attend a certain number of these colloquia (see attendance requirements described by Thesis Procedure Business Economics in selection menu). The colloquia are scheduled on the first and third Thursday of every month. Not later than three days before the presentation the student should inform the secretary about the title. The secretary will send an announcement to all tutors of Business Economics, all current thesis students and all students who followed the relevant courses in the academic year (before).

    Writing the report

  6. The research will be executed as described in the research proposal. The student writes a report in either Dutch or English. The final version can be printed on costs of the Business Economics Group. We have our own pre-printed covers, which should be used. Three copies of the final version should be provided to the Business Economics Group: one for the supervisor, one for our own archive and one for the WUR library.

    Colloquium about the results

  7. Student presents his/her final results to their peers during a colloquium. The colloquia are scheduled on the first and third Thursday of every month. Not later than three days before the presentation the student should inform the secretary about the title. The secretary will send an announcement to all tutors of Business Economics, all current thesis students and all students who followed the relevant courses in the academic year (before). The colloquium takes 20 minutes presentation and 10 minutes discussion and should be in English. Thesis students (BSC as well as MSc students) need to attend a certain number of colloquia of other thesis students (see attendance requirements described in Thesis Procedure Business Economics).

    Oral examination

  8. Supervisor and student organise a date for the final examination assessment with prof.dr.ir. H. Hogeveen or prof.dr.ir. M. Meuwissen. During this assessment (30 minutes) questions will be asked about the thesis research.

    Final grade

  9. To assess the final grade for the thesis work, the examiner and supervisor evaluate several indicators as defined by the WU evaluation forms. For the BSc and MSc assessments the weights of the research indicators are set at, respectively, Research competence (35%), Thesis report (50%), Final Colloquium (5%), Examination (10%). More details can be found in the official evaluation forms as listed in the selection menu.