Please note that there can be requirements that are specific to your degree programme. It is therefore a good idea to familiarise yourself with this and related pages as well as the academic regulations, so you know what is expected of you in relation to your Master's thesis.
The Study Administration will administratively register you for your Master’s thesis. Both the ordinary exam and any re-exams, without possibility of withdrawal.
Your registration will be adjusted, so it is possible for you to complete three examination attempts within the maximum completion time of your programme.
The thesis does not have to be the final exam activity on your Master's programme. You can still complete any remaining courses within the maximum period of study, either concurrently or after your Master’s thesis.
If you postpone courses to the Master's thesis period, the period for your Master's thesis will not be extended.
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1 September.
Start: 1 September the year after commencement of studies.
Completion (incl. assessment): No later than 30 June the year after starting the Master's thesis.
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1 September.
Depending on your study programme, the thesis will start either 1 September or 15 November in the year following your commencement of studies:
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1. February.
Start: 1 February, one and a half years after commencement of your studies.
Completion (incl. assessment): No later than 30 June, the same year.
Please notice: The thesis period is not prolonged, even if you are following courses concurrently.
Must be completed within 10 months.
If you start your thesis on 1 February, it must be completed (incl. assessment) no later than 30 November the same year.
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1 February.
Must be completed within 7.5 months.
If you start your thesis, for example on 15 April, it must be completed (incl. assessment) no later than 30 November the same year.
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1 February.
Must be completed within five months.
If you start your thesis on 1 September, it must be completed (incl. assessment) no later than 31 January the following year.
Your thesis contract must be completed and approved before 1 September.
The start date may be before the above (latest) start dates.
The submission deadline is 2-4 weeks before the assessment deadline.
If necessary, please ask your programme coordinator for the specific deadline. (Find your programme coordinator under 'Contact and Study Service > Programme coordinators ' in the menu.
The deadline for assessment is fixed. It requires an exemption to change it. (Find more information under 'Student counselling > 'Exemptions ' in the menu.
If the thesis period covers holiday periods, the thesis period is not prolonged.
Your thesis exam will take place at Aarhus University as an individual, oral exam. The exam follows the guidelines stated in the thesis’ course description in the Course Catalogue.
The thesis contract is made by you and your future supervisor.
The thesis contract must be filled out by you and approved by your supervisor and your head of degree programme via the Contract Generator.
You can find guidelines in the Contract Generator.
When your contract has been approved, the Study Administration will register the contract. If there are any questions to your programme or your need to update your Master’s programme contract, we will contact you.
Your Master's thesis contract must be completed and approved before thesis start via the Contract Generator.
You have the possibility of doing your Master's thesis as a group assignment together with maximum two of your fellow students.
A group may consist of a maximum of three people.
You can choose between two types of group assignments:
The bibliography of the report can be divided into a common part and a part for each group member. The final grade for each of you will be an overall grade for your individual oral examination, and the individual and common parts of the report.
Each member of the group must fill out a thesis contract in which the other members of the group are listed. If you do not do this, you will not be able to submit your thesis as a group in WISEflow.
Your Master's thesis exam will take place at Aarhus University and is an individual, oral exam. The exam follows the guidelines stated in the thesis’ course description in the Course Catalogue.
The thesis must be submitted via WISEflow.
You can read more about WISEflow under 'Exam > WISEflow'.
Your exam will be available no later than one week before the submission deadline.
You can find relevant information about Master's thesis submission under the exam information in WISEflow.
The thesis must be submitted before 13.00 on the submission date on your thesis contract.
It is your responsibility to submit your thesis in due time.
Therefore, we recommend that you upload and submit your thesis in good time before the submission deadline. If you submit your thesis too late, it will not be assessed.
Generally, your Master's thesis should be submitted as a single PDF file.
However, if you need to hand in any appendices in other formats than PDF, you can do so.
If your thesis includes confidential information or material, it should still be submitted in WISEflow. When submitting you have to state that it is confidential.
Both supervisors and external examiners have a duty of confidentiality in relation to the information they receive during your report and examination.
If you do not submit your thesis by the deadline, it will count as using an examination attempt.
You have to fill out a new thesis contract with a revised problem statement, which must be approved and thereafter, you will get a three-month supplementary deadline.
If the thesis is still not completed after these three months, one additional examination attempt is registered as used, and the deadline is extended again by three months – to the third and last attempt. Once again, you have to fill out a new thesis contract with a revised problem statement, which must be approved.
In connection with your thesis, you will be administratively registered for both the ordinary exam, the 2nd, and 3rd examination attempt.
We recommend that you start early on your reflections on your thesis, perhaps already at the beginning of your Master’s degree programme.
Your main supervisor must be a permanent employee at either Natural Sciences or Technical Sciences.
You can seek inspiration in the courses you find exciting, talk to your lecturers or the head of programme.
You can find more inspiration for your choice of topic at Studypedia.au.dk.
Decide if you wish to do your thesis in collaboration with a company, or perhaps as a group assignment.
Find out whether there are any special guidelines at your department – for example regarding scope, structure, possibility for a study seat and/or laboratory space.
Your future supervisor will be able to tell you whether there are any specific guidelines at your department.
You may want to check with your programme coordinator, where and when the thesis is to be submitted. (Find your programme coordinator under 'Contact and Study Service > Programme Coordinators' in the menu)
The purpose of your main supervisor is to assist you in your thesis in relation to the academic content and process.
Therefore, it is important that you are open and honest with your supervisor in relation to any challenges, questions, and problems during the thesis period.
Your principal supervisor will also take part in your Master's thesis examination.
Find out whether there are periods during the thesis, where the supervisor is absent and thus not available for thesis supervision.
Clarify whether there are other relevant partners of discussion for you, in addition to your main and co-supervisors. Please check to see if others are working within the same area, for example, fellow students, PhD students, etc.
Find more good advice about collaborating with your supervisor at Studypedia.au.dk.
First and foremost, talk to your supervisor yourself.
Find out whether your expectations of the supervision process are aligned. Many problems arise if the expectations have not been clearly aligned from the beginning.
You are welcome to contact your student counsellor and find inspiration on how you can approach the challenges, or you can contact your head of programme.
It is important that you react immediately if you discover that your thesis process is not proceeding as expected. If you discover the challenges early in the process, you and your supervisor can still make sure that you are able to reach your goal in due time.
You can contact both your supervisor and a student counsellor if you need to discuss your options.
If illness or other exceptional circumstances occur during the thesis period, you can apply for an exemption to prolong your thesis period. Applications should be submitted to Nat-Tech Study Administration via MyStudies.au.dk under "Exemptions". However, this requires that you are able to document the exceptional circumstances with a medical certificate or other official documentation.
Contact your supervisor or student counsellor and, in consultation with her/him, check your options.
Like other courses, you can submit a complaint over your thesis examination. First, contact your supervisor and clarify the reasons for the result. After this, you can find more information about exam complaints under 'Exam > Examination appeals' if you still wish to submit a complaint.