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Master's degree project rules and routines

This page presents the rules and routines for degree projects at second cycle at EECS.

Courses and course coordinators

The degree projects are organised in courses. Each master's programme has a dedicated degree project course, the name of the programme is included in the name of the course. Programmes with tracks that belong to different major subjects ("huvudområden"); Electrical Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering, have a degree project course for each major subject.

In addition, there are dedicated courses for

  • double degree students
  • master of science in engineering students ("civilingenjör") who do not follow any master's programme
  • exchange students. 

List of degree project courses

If you have any questions, contact the course coordinator of the given course.

Roles

  • Master coordinator: Student administrator handling the course admission.
  • Course coordinator: Has the administrative responsibility for a degree project course (or several courses). Provides information about the degree project process to the students as well as the examiners. Coordinates the application process, the assignment of examiners and supervisors, and if needed the presentations and oppositions.
  • Examiner: Ensures the quality of the project based on the project plan, and grades the completed project. Only teachers who completed an examiner course can be examiners. The examiners of each degree project course are appointed by the director of first and second cycle education (GA).
  • Supervisor: Follows the work of the student through the entire project, and meets the student regularly. Ensures the scientific and technical quality of the work. The examiner and the supervisor have to be different persons. The supervisor can be a doctoral student.
  • External supervisor: Follows the project at the external partners, usually supports the day by day work of the student.

On-line resources

Information for the students that they need before starting the project is published in the shared Canvas course room for managing the master degree projects. A new course room is started each year.

Before the degree project

Information to the students 

Students receive information about the requirements of and processes around the master's degree projects at dedicated meetings, or as a part of the programme integrating courses. The information is also available in the Canvas room for the current year.

Requirements for admission to degree project 

To start a master's degree project, at least 60 credits for second-cycle studies must be fully completed. These 60 credits have to contain courses that are relevant to the thesis, including a course on philosophy of science and research methodology. 

If the student is enrolled in a master of science in engineering (civilingenjör) programme, all courses required for the bachelor's degree must be completed.

The school's office of student affairs evaluates the basic eligibility requirements of completed courses on first cycle, 60 credits second-cycle courses, including the philosophy of science course.

The examiner is responsible for ensuring that the student has completed courses that are relevant prerequisites for the project. If this is not the case, the student may either delay the start of the degree project and take the course(s) needed or propose another project.

Process for admission to the degree project course

Students get admitted and registered to the course through the following steps.

1. The student finds a degree project. The student can also find an examiner and a supervisor who agree to examine and supervise the project. The examiner must be an examiner of the degree project course as listed in the course catalogue. The supervisor has to be employed by KTH. Some programmes (see the course room) require that the student finds the examiner and the supervisor.

2. The student applies for the degree project by submitting the project proposal through a web interface (KTH Forms). If the student already has an examiner and a supervisor, the student also adds this information. At the same time the student uploads the form about the DiVA publication. The link to KTH Forms, the template for the project proposal and the DiVA form are available through the degree project course room. For projects starting in period 3, the students are asked to submit the application by 15 December (1 December for some programmes), if possible, but applications arriving later are accepted.

3. The master coordinator at the school's office of student affairs performs the basic eligibility check.

4. The course coordinator starts the process where teachers can sign up as examiners and supervisors for the submitted projects. Based on the information in the submitted thesis proposal, the examiner checks that the student has completed courses related to the thesis topic and that the topic of the thesis is suitable for a degree project.

5. Once the examiner and supervisor are confirmed, the school's office of student affairs admits the student to the respective degree project course. The student registers to the course via Ladok for students, as for other courses. After registration, the student gets access to the closed part of the Canvas course room.

Students from other schools/EECS students carrying out the project at another school

For a student who comes from another school within KTH and wants to do a degree project at EECS, or the opposite, a student at an EECS programme wants to do a degree project offered by another school, there are two possible solutions:

1. The student stays at the “home-school”, registers for the degree project course of the programme, and gets an examiner from the home-school. The supervisor comes from the school giving the degree project. The home-school compensates the supervisor for the work. 

2. The student takes the degree project course outside the home-school. This has to be approved by the home-school in advance. If the student is from EECS, both the programme director (PA) and the director of first and second cycle education (GA) have to agree. The PA may need to accept this again when the student applies for the degree. Not all schools at KTH allow this solution.

During the degree project

The main steps of the project, according to the course syllabus, are the following:

● The examiner informs the supervisor about the rules and procedures of the degree project.

● The examiner informs the student about the requirements of passing the degree project.

● The student prepares the individual plan for the degree project, that includes the problem description, as well as a discussion on the implementation of the project. The individual plan has to be approved by the examiner in Canvas.  

● If the degree project is carried out by an external partner, the supervisor ensures that the external supervisor is aware that the thesis will be a public document. If possible, the supervisor from KTH meets the external partner, or at least contacts the external supervisor via e-mail.

● The student writes an extended pre-study, including a discussion of methodology and a literature study on the theoretical background of the project. This should serve as a draft for the respective chapters of the final master's thesis. The supervisor from KTH, and for some programmes the examiner, needs to accept the pre-study in the Canvas course room.

● The student performs the individual work of the master's degree project, where knowledge, methodology and skills gained in the master's programme have to be applied. The supervisor from KTH follows the process.

● The student prepares a written report (the master's thesis), where the student describes and discusses the final results of the project, as well as the theoretical results and arguments that support these. The report also needs to motivate the selected methodology and discuss sustainability and ethical issues.

● The student completes a self-evaluation of the master’s degree project, according to a given template. The supervisor comments and accepts the self-evaluation. Based on the self-evaluation, the supervisor evaluation and the thesis draft, the examiner accepts the thesis for oral presentation and agrees with the student on the date and time of the presentation.

● The student is present and participates actively at two presentations of master’s degree projects. The participation is acknowledged by the examiner of the presented project in Canvas.

● The student performs written and oral opposition of a master’s degree project. The opposition is acknowledged by the examiner of the presented project in Canvas.

● The student makes an oral presentation of the results of the master’s degree project. The examiner approves the oral presentation in Canvas.

● After the oral presentation, the student revises the thesis, adds cover pages if needed and submits the final version of the thesis in Canvas.

● The examiner performs a plagiarism check of the thesis and assesses it with respect to the grading criteria.

● The examiner reports the grade in Canvas. The examiner also emails the approved grade and date to education-support@eecs.kth.se , together with the thesis with cover pages but without TRITA number.

● The school's office of student affairs registers the grade in Ladok, adds the TRITA number, and uploads the report to DiVA.

● The examiner certifies the grade in Ladok.

● The Canvas course room is used to archive compulsory material, such as the individual plan, pre-study, opposition report, material for oral presentation, and self-evaluation report. The student is responsible for posting these.

Note that the degree projects at second cycle have to be individual projects, unless otherwise stated in the course syllabus. Each student needs to submit their own individual plan, carry out the degree project individually, and write a single-author report.

Deliverables required for passing the degree project

  • Individual plan for the degree project. 
  • Pre-study, including a discussion of methodology and a literature study.
  • Written and oral opposition of another master's degree project. 
  • Active participation at two master’s degree project presentations.
  • Written report, with abstract and keywords both in Swedish and in English. 
  • Oral presentation. 
  • Self-evaluation report. 

All course requirements have to be passed within one year of the start of the degree project. Otherwise the degree project is concluded with a failing grade, unless specific circumstances motivate the delay. In this case, the school's office of student affairs contacts the examiner to make a decision.

Forms and templates

The following forms and templates are provided for the students through the Canvas course room:

  • DiVA publication form. 
  • Project proposal template.
  • Individual plan template.
  • Information for students and employers ( KTH Degree Project Portal ).
  • Report template.
  • Opposition template.
  • Self-evaluation form.