At the university campus in Diepenbeek, UHasselt and KU Leuven organize a joint programme in engineering technology in various fields: civil, chemical, electromechanical, electronical-ICT, energy,  nuclear, software systems engineering technology. They complete their study with a master's thesis in which they work on a research question about a concrete engineering problem in collaboration with a company or research institute.

CONTENT

The concept ‘research question’ should be interpreted as an application-oriented problem definition with an innovative character.  The research question therefore starts from a concrete industrial or research context with the purpose to optimize or innovate. Possible methods are e.g. feasibility studies, numerical or experimental simulations or designs. Analysing existing solutions or control calculations cannot be the subject of a master's thesis. The master’s thesis accounts for 20 of 60 credits of the master year and is therefore a crucial part of the programme.

COMPETENCIES | APPROACH 

Research skills and scientific knowledge (setting up research, , conducting goal-oriented research, analysing and interpreting results, clear communication about the research) of the engineer as a starting researcher are evaluated. 

The intention is that the student will independently look for answers to a certain research question, under the supervision of an internal supervisor (from the study programme) and an external supervisor (from a company or research institute).  The student writes down his findings in a thesis and defends this thesis before a jury of academics and experts from the field.

TIMING 

The possible subjects are announced to the students in the spring prior to their master’s programme.  The students choose their preferred subjects. A student always has the possibility to submit a subject himself. Based on the motivation and the study progress of the student, a final subject is assigned by the master’s thesis coordinator of the program in question.

The student then takes care of the administration, makes the necessary arrangements with his supervisors and starts the research. This can already start before the start of the academic year. Depending on the study programme and the study pathway of the student, he works individually or per two one semester or a full academic year on the master's thesis and completes the project in February, June or September.

ADMINISTRATION

For each master’s thesis, a master’s thesis agreement is drawn up together with a risk analysis form in which the responsibilities of the parties involved are stipulated.  This is the responsibility of the student and this agreement must be signed by all parties before the start of the work.

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