Faculty Regulations for the Master's Thesis

(approved by the Faculty Council on 25 oktober 2010)

The faculty regulations for the Master’s Thesis are an addition to article 62 of the general examination regulations regarding the Master’s Thesis of the two-year Master’s programmes in the Faculty of Science. For the one-year Master’s and Post-initial Masters's programmes , the general guidelines under these regulations apply, except for the time schedules. The programme committees (POC’s) may provide further additions to these regulations particularly as regards to making the procedures to be followed more concrete and moving up the final dates for the various phases of the allocation process. They will notify this change to the Faculty POC (FPOC), who may request a revision.

1. Supervisors

All full-time and part-time tenured academic staff members of the KU Leuven who are active within a field of research which fits in with a programme, can supervise Master’s students. Doctors with a temporary tenure may also act as supervisor, in which case a member of the tenured academic staff will also be appointed to stand as guarantor for the continuation of the supervision, in the event that the doctor-supervisor’s mandate ends. A doctor-supervisor may supervise a maximum of three dissertations per year.

In case the master's thesis is done abroad in the framework of an Erasmus exchange, the same rules apply for the designation of the (co)supervisors as at KU Leuven, unless an excemtion is allowed by the FPOC.

2. Subjects

Supervisors and groups of supervisors (research groups, departments and sections) can make suggestions to the POC regarding specific subjects and/or research subjects (“subjects”) for a specific course programme, or a speciality within a course programme. Proposals must be submitted to the Programme Director (or the respective delegate) for discussion during the last meeting before the Christmas holidays. The POC will determine the admissibility of the proposals for the programme.

3. Announcement

The course programme will publish a list with the proposed subjects no later than the first week of the second semester, or by an earlier final date. The published list will enable students from the first phase of the course programme to familiarize themselves with it and to determine their preference. To this end students can contact supervisors and research units.
Late submissions may be added to the list at a later date.
Students can also provide proposals themselves regarding a potential supervisor and research subject outside the list published by the course programme. For this, a motivated request should be submitted to the POC no later than the eighth week of the second semester. After approval of the request, the POC may appoint a cosupervisor to act as point of contact for the course programme and the Board of Examination as regards this Master’s Thesis.
If the POC takes on a case that refers to an individual student’s Master’s Thesis, it will act without the student members but with the addition of the ombudsperson.

4. Allocation

After announcing the list and at the latest by the end of the class weeks in the second semester, students must make their preference known to the POC for the allocation of a research subject. They must choose a number of preferred subjects to be determined by the POC. The Chairman of the POC will consult with the respective Head of Department or the respective delegate for the allocation of subjects. The former will ensure that the students’ preferences are followed as closely as possible, the latter will ensure a reasonable distribution of tasks within that department. The monitoring of sufficient staffing and supervisory capacity is their joint task. If desired, the POC can work out a procedure for this. The final
allocation will be approved by the POC and announced to the students no later than immediately after the June deliberation of the first course phase of the Master’s programme.
A change of supervisor or subject after the second week of the second course phase of the Master’s programme may only be permitted by the Programme Director in consultation with any research unit and/or Head of Department (or delegate) involved.

5. Advancing the allocation procedure

If an individual student wishes the procedure to be advanced in connection with a domestic or foreign stay outside of KU Leuven (Erasmus and similar programmes) during the second Master’s phase, he/she should inform the Faculty Administration and contact the Erasmus coordinator before the Christmas holidays. The Erasmus coordinator will coordinate with the student, the potential supervisor(s) or the research groups and with the Programme Director. No later than during the second week of the second semester, the student will deliver a dossier to the Erasmus
coordinator who will submit this for approval to the POC.

6. Language of the Master’s Thesis

The thesis of the initial Dutch-taught master’s should be written in Dutch. The Master’s Thesis can be written in English if a summary in Dutch is
added. Students have the right to defend the Master’s Thesis in Dutch. The thesis of the initial English-taught master’s will be written in English.

7. Conclusion of the second course phase of the Master’s programme

The supervisor will notify the secretary of the Board of Examination of the title of the Masters's Thesis no later than the tenth study week of the second semester. The latter will supply all information regarding the Master’s Thesis (name of the supervisor, two readers and title of the Master's Thesis - English and Dutch) to the Faculty Administration before the end of the thirteenth class week of the second semester.

8. Format and assessment of the Master's Thesis

The text of the Master's Thesis should preferably be printed on DIN A4 paper and be bound. The first page should have a provided standard layout. Sufficiant printed copies of this text for the promotor(s) and the readers + one electronic version, must be submitted to the coordinator of the master's thesis around the date to be stipulated by the POC and no later than three weeks before the date on which the results will be announced. The coordinator of the master's thesis will ensure that the copies are dispatched to the correct persons.
The supervisor will propose two readers from among the potential programme supervisors to the coordinator of the master's thesis no later than eight weeks before announcement of the results of the second examination period. At least one of these readers will belong to another research unit than the one in which the student prepared his Master's Thesis. In order to enable a profound assessment, the readers will interview the student on his work. The supervisor and the readers must be official members of the Master’s Thesis assessment committee.
The student will publically defend his Master's Thesis during the examination period. The coordinator of the master's thesis will in good time set up an agenda for defending the Master’s Thesis. The purpose of the agenda is to enable as many professors and researchers of KU Leuven and outside involved in the relevant research area as possible to attend the defence. The examiners who are present at the defence, including the readers of the Master's Thesis, will jointly give an examination note for each defence on a session that is presided over by the Chairman of the Board of Examination or his delegate. The names of these examiners will be stated in the report.
Four notes will be given for the Master's Thesis, one from the supervisor, one from both the readers and one for the defence. The relative weight of these four notes is 10:3:3:4. The relative weight of the notes for the Master's Thesis for the Master’s programme in Geography (interuniversity programme) is 8:4:4:4.

9. Exception relating to the Master’s Programme in Informatics and Applied
Informatics

Students of Informatics and Applied Informatics course programmes will follow the procedures in effect in the Computer Science Department within the Faculty of Engineering with regards to submitting the application, the allocation of the research group, the supervisor and the readers.
These regulations will also enable students to complete their Master's Thesis on Informatics outside the Computer Science Department.
The Head of the Computer Science Department (or the respective delegate) will provide all information regarding the Master’s Thesis (name of the supervisor and title of the Master's Thesis) no later than eight weeks before the date on which the results are announced to the Faculty Administration.

10. Amendments and disputes

All disputes arising from the application of these regulations will be settled by the Programme Director who is in charge of the course programme, if necessary in consultation with the respective Heads of Department. Any appeals against this decision must be submitted to the Faculty Board.