{"id":86852,"date":"2018-05-01T16:30:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T14:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=86852"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:59","slug":"hier-een-paar-weken-daar-een-half-jaar-ploeteren-op-je-scriptie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/05\/01\/hier-een-paar-weken-daar-een-half-jaar-ploeteren-op-je-scriptie\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing a thesis \u2013 a few weeks\u2019 or half a year\u2019s work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While a student getting a European studies degree in Nijmegen must work on his or her thesis for an entire semester, labour law students at EUR only require a few weeks to complete their theses. Some universities require their students to defend their theses, while others do not. A random check shows that thesis requirements vary wildly across universities.<\/p>\n

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In some disciplines, brief theses are completely normal. Take legal studies, for instance. Take the master programme in labour law, actually. According to labour law departments in Rotterdam and Leiden, ten ECTS credits suffice for the writing of a thesis. Students taking the same degree in Groningen are given nearly twice as much time to complete their theses, which are worth 18 ECTS credits.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like much, those ten ECTS credits,\u201d admits Maarten Verbrugh, the programme director responsible for the Erasmus University Rotterdam\u2019s master programmes in law. \u201cBut our students spend more time on their theses than just the 280 hours they are supposed to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

How is that possible? \u201cIn the past you could take ages to complete your master programme \u2013 years, even,\u201d explains Verbrugh. \u201cYou can\u2019t do that any longer. It\u2019s not desirable. This is why we want our students to write their statement of the problem before they embark on their thesis, even though they are not officially given any credits for doing so. Once you have stated the problem, you can completely devote yourself to your thesis for ten weeks, because you won\u2019t have any other obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

It does sound kind of easy, compared with theses that take half a year to be completed. But Verbrugh feels that this is the wrong way to look at it. \u201cThe other components of a master programme are also research-oriented. Our students present reports, they discuss the subject matter, they are given a research practical and they learn how to draw up a proper statement of the problem.\u201d However, they are not given any lessons on research methodology. \u201cOur degree does not really involve empirical research, and our students don\u2019t need it to write their theses. Literature and case law reviews do not take much time. That makes quite a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entire semester<\/h2>

Not all degree programmes come with theses that short. Take a master programme in European studies, for instance. Students taking the degree in Maastricht receive twelve of their required sixty credits for their theses. In other words, they should be able to complete their theses in about two months. How different are things in Twente, where nearly half of the degree is devoted to the thesis: 25 ECTS. Where did these differences come from?<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\u2018Our students acquire the ability to work independently before their thesis\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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While writing your thesis, you must learn to work independently, says Martin de Nobel, the programme coordinator of the University of Twente\u2019s master programmes in Public Administration and European Studies. For this reason, he feels that European Studies master students\u2019 theses must be quite long, and they are worth 25 ECTS credits, plus five credits for the academic research course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is all about immersing yourself in something and acquiring the knowledge you need to really penetrate the subject,\u201d De Nobel states. \u201cWe think that really takes some time. Moreover, students taking this degree can\u2019t say, I\u2019ll be a civil servant, entrepreneur or consultant. No, they end up all over the place. For this reason, we must ensure that students master this level of independence, and we feel that the thesis is a good way to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bigger theses have another advantage: they allow students to graduate abroad or focus their research on a work placement. \u201cFor this reason, we prefer to schedule no courses for an entire semester, which automatically equates to about 30 ECTS credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why does Maastricht University award its students so few credits for their theses? The university\u2019s spokesperson told us that Maastricht students are taught independence throughout their degree. \u201cWe provide problem-based learning in tutorials involving small groups of students. I don\u2019t know how other universities go about this, but our students acquire the ability to work independently before their thesis. In addition, we teach several courses preparing students for their thesis. We don\u2019t exactly spell things out for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

A good thesis<\/h2>

So how do students know what constitutes a good thesis? Many departments have a list of criteria they use to assess theses. These lists vary considerably.<\/p>\n

The University of Twente has no fewer than 36 criteria, while Wageningen University has a mere sixteen. Nearly all universities look at the structure of the thesis. They also put a great premium on students working independently. Eleven universities explicitly refer to the statement of the problem. The presentation of proper arguments is mentioned ten times. What about scientific understanding, though? It\u2019s only on four universities\u2019 lists. This mainly shows that the criteria are a little random. Because obviously, every thesis must demonstrate the student\u2019s scientific understanding. That is self-evident.<\/p>\n

The differences don\u2019t stop there. Many students are not required to give an oral presentation on their thesis or defend it. As far as we have been able to tell, this is done at seven universities. These are several criteria for thesis defence sessions which may well amount to the same thing. For instance, what one university calls \u2018verbal skills\u2019 may well correspond to what another calls \u2018the ability to answer questions\u2019.<\/p>\n\t

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Ten or thirty credits? Other degree programmes, too, vary significantly in how many credits they award to master theses. To give you a few more examples, we have included another two degrees in a table: communication sciences and clinical psychology.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\u2018It does raise the question as to whether the degree programme has any other concluding components that reflect the required graduation level.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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Needless to say, all degree programmes are assessed once every six years by NVAO, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders. It is NVAO\u2019s job to determine whether graduating students are good enough for the degree programme to be approved. Therefore, NVAO also inspects students\u2019 theses. \u201cThe end product is a means to show whether a student is able to successfully combine theory and practice,\u201d says NVAO spokesperson IJda van den Hout.<\/p>\n

However, the assessors do not care how many credits are awarded to the thesis or how long the department\u2019s list of requirements is. They have not set any standards for such things, nor are such standards necessary, feels Van den Hout. \u201cDepartments are free to determine the nature of their end product. Panels will carry out a random check of at least fifteen end products. These panels will then assess each selected end product on the basis of the assessment criteria drawn up as part of the accreditation frameworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is ten or twelve credits for a master thesis actually enough? NVAO agrees that it is not much. \u201cIt does raise the question as to whether the degree programme has any other concluding components that reflect the required graduation level,\u201d says Van den Hout. \u201cMaybe the students also write research or work placement reports. What matters is that the department can demonstrate that graduates have attained the master\u2019s level. If a twelve-credit master thesis along with some other \u2018evidence\u2019 can prove this, that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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