Master thesis

The Master’s thesis assesses the student’s capacity to conduct research on a specific microfinance topic.

There are two types of thesis:

• The Master’s thesis: which is an academic paper to be defended in front of a jury.
• The Extended Internship Report (EIR) is based on an internship and does also require an oral defense.

The thesis is an opportunity for the students to:

• apply theoretical notions acquired in the classroom
• broaden their knowledge, skills and experience.

The Thesis guide is a comprehensive guide to help you complete your dissertation. It includes the current rules on plagiarism, the timetable to be followed, bibliographical rules, useful information on finding a supervisor, the outline of the dissertation, practical information on presentation, the structure of the oral defence, etc.
The dissertation is the subject of a compulsory information session, usually organised at the beginning of November by Prof. Carolina Laureti. The Thesis Guide is then discussed and students' questions answered in full.
An additional compulsory session on plagiarism is also organised at the beginning of the academic year and given by a guest speaker from the EMP programme.

Contribution to the teaching profile

This integrative work contributes to all the objectives of the programme:

• Integrate sustainable development into problem analysis
• Identify and apply the relevant analytical tools, scientific knowledge and corporate financial techniques to perform in-depth analyses of microfinance-related issues
• Articulate key macro and microfinance-specific facts and economic trends in the banking sector with mechanisms of management and governance of microfinance institutions
• Collect, organise and analyse data to assess the performance of microfinance institutions using a multidisciplinary approach
• Adopt a scientific approach to data collection, research and analysis and communicate results with clear, structured and sophisticated arguments
• Display critical thinking and develop autonomous learning strategies and techniques
• Apply quantitative and qualitative techniques to support data analysis using standard office and statistical software
• Work and communicate effectively as part of a team in an international and multicultural environment

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Other

Other

As specified in the Thesis Guide distributed at the beginning of the academic year, the timetable for completing the dissertation is precise. The subject must be handed in and approved by the supervisor in February. If the EIR dissertation is based on the placement, it is possible to apply for an open session (defence in October), subject to certain conditions.
Each dissertation will be defended orally before a jury, in two parts: the student's oral presentation (10 minutes) using PowerPoint, followed by a 15-minute discussion with the members of the jury. The mark awarded to the student is overall and therefore covers both the dissertation and the oral presentation.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The dissertation is 100% personal work.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english