Finding Assignments
There are multiple ways to find an assignment or topic to start Research Topics and your Final Project on:
- Visit the websites of the research chairs within the Computer Science department of EEMCS (SCS, DMB) or the IEBIS chair of BMS. Most research chair will have a page where they publish possible thesis assignments. Often these assignments are linked to and part of bigger (international) research projects on which multiple universities and industry collaborate togehter.
- Ask a lecturer of a course you really liked and that fit your specialization, if they have open assignments and are available for supervision. Note that this lecturer needs to be appointed as an examiner for the Final Project and Research Topics. If not they can still act as daily supervisor but you also need someone else involved that can act as examiner.
- If you want to take your project outside of the Univerisity of Twente, you can also search for (graduation) assignments on company websites. Especially larger companies like large banks (ING, Rabobank), consultancy (KPMG, Deloitte) or technology and research companies (Shell, Demcon, Thales, Bizzdesign, TNO), or local spin-off and smaller technology companies, often have experience with graduates from our university and/or publish assignments on their website. Plus, if you are interested in a certain company you can always send an unsolicited application. You can also take a look at the EEMCS internship Canvas, or take a look at Jobteaser. (a university wide platform where companies publish assignments). Most study associations (like Inter-actief and Stress) have a database with companies (and even assignments) too. Plus you can also try companies that cater to connecting students with companies like Integrand. The latter also offers a curriculum vitae check. As inspiration we also have a list of companies where students carried out their graduation assignments over the past couple of years.
- If you need more inspiration on which companies you could approach, or what projects are carried out with regards to the final project, we highly recommend visiting essay.utwente.nl. Here you will find the theses from our former Business Information Technology students from 2005 onwards, but you could also take a look at the projects from Industrial Engineering and Management, Computer Science or Internet Science and Technology. These will not only give you an idea of the possible topics, supervisors and chairs/organizations, but also give examples of how to structure your thesis.
- If you want help with for example preparing your Curriculum Vitae, or your presentation skills, the UT Career Services platform offers a lot of workshops that might benefit you: https://www.utwente.nl/en/ces/career-services/student/
Overall, don't wait too long on an answer from a company or supervisor, before trying something else. It doesn't hurt to have multiple options open and to know what your options are.
Confidentiality of your assignment
During your Final Project you may need to keep some things confidential. Sometimes, this only concerns certain materials or data you are using, but in other cases it will effect the contents of you final thesis. In principle your final thesis report is always public, unless confidentiality is deemed necessary (see Education and Examination Regulations article on confidentiality).
If the contents of you thesis need to stay confidential , your supervisor should put in a motivated request with the Programme Board (usually the Programme director) before the start of the Final Project. Keep in mind that confidentiality is always granted for a limited period only and a confidential report remains accessible for the supervisors, the Programme Board, and any members of bodies with the authority to assess the quality of the grading of the entire programme. And even though the contents of a thesis might be confidential, your thesis defense is always public. Though the contents of this public thesis defense may be adapted to avoid making public those matters that are considered confidential.
In case a company asks you to sign a contract with them, you can always contact the EEMCS Internship Office and ask for advice concerning IP or confidentiality.
Ethics review for research involving human subjects (ethics committee)
Whenever your reserach involves human subjects, your research will need to be reviewed by an ethics committee. This needs to happen before the research involving human subjects starts. Usually, because Research topics will mainly literature studies, this will be during or at the start of your Final Project. However in some cases, Research topics already includes interview or other activities involving human subjects. In that case the review and approval needs to take place earlier. For more information:
- Ethics committee EEMCS: main supervisor from EEMCS and topic related to EEMCS research/research group
- Ethics committee BMS: main supervisor from BMS and topic related the BMS research/research group
- Please discuss with your supervisors whether you need the review and which committee is more suitable. Reviews are distributed based on the supervising researcher / reserach chair. See also the FAQ 'who can submit....."
Graduation assignment at a company (contracts, NDA, etc)
If you are planning on carrying out your Final Project at a company, please make sure to also visit the internship Canvas. Although the rules and regulations of the Final Project apply where it comes to duration, registration in Mobility Online, contents and level of the assignment etc., some of the information on the Internship Canvas is still relevant to you. Especially when it comes to contracts and NDA's. Note. that the NDA concerns your time and work during your graduation, if your thesis needs to stay confidential during a set time, you and your supervisor still need to put in a separate request for confidentiality of the thesis with the programme director.
You can enroll yourself in the Internship Canvas via the following link: https://canvas.utwente.nl/enroll/JH94Y9
The page on NDA's and contracts can be found here:https://canvas.utwente.nl/courses/1901/pages/contract-and-non-disclosure-agreements?module_item_id=246071
Note. It can take up to several weeks if a contract needs to be signed by the UT (via internship office). Company contracts always have to go through legal first and several iterations might be needed before they can be approved/signed.
Furthermore, the internship cannot sign a contract before you have discussed it with and had the contents of your assignment approved by a supervisor/examiner and BOZ has confirmed you have enough EC to start the graduation process. The Internship Office will check Mobility Online for a signed form or you need to present them with written confirmation otherwise.
By law VISA students need to have a three party internship agreement when they carry out an assignment with a external party. This agreement is signed by the external party, the university and the student. Contracts signed by the university may not exceed the study duration of the study unit in question. For a graduation project the nominal duration is 5-6 months.