Study Programmes 2016-2017
GTFE0014-1  
Final work
Duration :
Number of credits :
Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)20
Lecturer :
Collégialité
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
All year long
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents :
The students must first decide if they prefer to write a research thesis or a project thesis.
What is a project thesis?
A project thesis is based on the analysis of a complex management problem arising in a company or organization and linked to the area of concentration chosen by the student.  The student has to perform :


  • a diagnosis ;
  • a detailed analysis ;
  • the identification and possible implementation of concrete solutions.
It relies on: scientific approach, theoretical research, critical analysis.
What is a research thesis?
It is a scientific text based on an original research topic linked with the area of concentration chosen by the student and written following the standards of a scientific document.  The student must clearly identify a topic and questions, gather and process relevant information following an appropriate method and finally provide personal answers to the questions. 
Learning outcomes of the learning unit :
The key capacities that are developed and evaluated through the master thesis are :


  • Strategy : establish a strategy in order to optimize the value chain of a company, an organization or a project.
  • Implementation : take charge of the everyday management of a company, an organization or a project. 
  • Quality and performance control : plan and implement the performance and quality control in a company, an organization or a project. 
  • Communication : communicate efficiently, internally and externally, about a company, organization or project. 
  • Adaptability : adapt his/her managerial practice to the needs of a fast-evolving world.
A sixth capacity, didactics, is added for the master with a teaching focus.
Each thesis is personal and different, but, the thesis being the capstone project of the master degree, the five capacities will be evaluated during the defence.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
Personal work.
Recommended or required readings :
Detailed rules, agenda, portfolio of projects and much more on
http://lola.hec.ulg.ac.be
Assessment methods and criteria :
Besides being original and far-reaching, the topic will imperatively consist in analysing a real management problem related to the specialist field of the student's programme.  It has to be validated by both the thesis director for the specialist field concerned and by the thesis management committee.
As an output, the student writes a thesis manuscript. It contains at most 70 pages, excluding the appendices.  It is written in French, in English or possibly in another language with the agreement of all the jury members.  The student defends orally his/her work at the end of the year.
For a project-thesis, the jury is composed of the project-thesis supervisor (a School Faculty member), a project thesis reader (a School Faculty member), the mentor (a manager or executive of the company or organization where the project-thesis is carried out) and a facilitator. The latter's attendance, though, is not mandatory. Should the student wish for a facilitator to attend the defence, (s)he will address this request in writing with due motivation to the project-thesis officer.  The internship "mentor" is invited to attend the defence.  In his absence, he will forward his appraisal of the student's behaviour to the thesis supervisor and to the project-thesis director.
For a research-thesis, the jury is composed of the project-thesis supervisor (a School Faculty member) and of two readers (School Faculty members and/or specialists from outside).
The full rules are available in a separate document (Lol@).
Work placement(s) :
Each HEC student must do an internship (see the corresponding description).  In the case of a project-thesis, the internship must be related to the project thesis.
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Project thesis:
Research thesis: