Master's thesis at BOKU

Your Master's thesis should be written in a study programme-related topic and has to be supervised by a BOKU-Professor in this area. To find a thesis-topic and supervisor you will have to contact potential supervisors directly. It is useful to pick a topic and supervisor in the area of your study which you personally prefer. Some departments/institutes offer Master's thesis topics on their webpage or during a thesis fair which is promoted on their webpages. You can also check the pinboards of the institutes for project announcements or get directly in contact with lecturerers in the areas where you want to write your thesis. You have to register your Master's thesis at the BOKU Study services (address: Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, 1180 Vienna) as soon as the task and the supervisor and co-supervisor have been fixed. According to the law the Master's thesis has to be registered before you start working on it. There are no specific deadlines for the registration of the Master's thesis and for submitting the finished Master's thesis at BOKU (no time limits).

Required documents  for the registration of your thesis: Form “Registration of the Master's thesis = Anmeldung der Masterarbeit”  with signatures of:

  • supervisor
  • co-supervisor
  • examiners and
  • the head of the institute of the supervisor

Please download the registration form on the webpage of the Study services, where you also find more general info on procedures. Also the programme coordinator is required to sign the registration form (last), please, send a scan of the document to the administrative coordinator, who will also inquire, if your co-supervisor is eligible for co-supervision and can forward you the signed scan of the registration form (original needs to be handed in at the study services) and confirms the co-supervisor with the study services for you. The Master's thesis defence at BOKU is a thesis presentation and an academic discussion usually during the "Master's Thesis Seminar". The Master’s thesis shall be written in English. Languages other than English are permissible only if approved and confirmed by the thesis supervisor. The thesis defence must be held in English regardless of the language of the thesis.  The Master's thesis is in total 30 credits and is supervised both by a competent professional person at the home university (in the ICP: 20 ECTS) and a second competent professional person at a cooperating university (co-supervising university: 10 ECTS).  Co-supervision of the thesis is obligatory.