Final Thesis

There are various ways to find the right supervisor and the right topic. Sometimes you can find published thesis topics, other times the department/institute website or a direct conversation with a professor will lead you to possible topics.

You can find specific information on finding a thesis topic here:

• For all degree programs in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences:
  Get information from the academic program advisors
• For all degree programs in the Faculty of Natural Sciences:
  Get information from the academic program advisors
• For all degree programs in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences:
  Find information on the website for final theses in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
• Bioeconomy for topics in the departments of the Faculties of Agricultural and Natural Sciences:
  Get information from the academic program advisors
• Bioeconomy for topics in the departments of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences:
  Find information on the website for final theses in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.

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The examination regulations state who may supervise your thesis. The supervisor within the meaning of the examination regulations is also your examiner (first reviewer).

Examiners (persons authorized to examine) are

• Professors
• University lecturers 
• Privatdozents 
• Junior professors 
• Heads of junior research groups
• Tenure-track professors
• Interim professors and 
• those academic staff members to whom the authority to conduct examinations has been transferred in accordance with § 52 LHG.

It may be stipulated that the supervisor must be assigned to a specific faculty, institute, or department. You can see which persons are permitted in the table of degree programs under regulations in the individual degree programs.

If your thesis is graded by two people, the table also contains information on the permitted groups of people for second reviewers.

Working on a thesis outside of the university | Examiner from outside the university / faculty

If it is permitted for a thesis to be completed outside the university, a request is usually required.

The request must be submitted to the examination board with the following information before starting work on the thesis:

• Working title of the Master’s thesis
• Research proposal for the Master’s thesis
• Reason why the Master’s thesis is to be completed outside the university
• Name of the first supervisor, who must be a member of the university
• Name of the external organization and the external person

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Once you have found a supervisor and a topic, you must register your thesis with the Examinations Office.

Please check whether you meet the admission requirements for registering your thesis. You can read about this in the examination regulations or in the table under regulations in the individual degree programs.

You can send the completed registration form by email or post to the Examinations Office or hand it in personally or drop it in the letterbox.

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You have 2, 3, 4, or 6 months to work on your thesis, and this time begins on the date the topic is assigned. The exact duration of the time for working on the thesis can be found in the provisions of your examination regulations. You can find information about how much time you have to complete your thesis below in the table on regulations in the individual degree programs.

The topic, the task, and the scope must be defined in such a way that the deadline for completion can be met.

In some Master’s degree programs, it is regulated that the deadline for completing the Master’s thesis can be extended by a period of time to be defined if it is already clear when the thesis is applied for that there will be interruptions due to the topic or process.

Extending the time for working on the thesis

In exceptional cases, the time for working on the thesis may be extended. For this, students must submit a request to the examination board is required. Good cause may include in particular objective reasons, for example in the case of experimental work, or personal reasons, such as illness.

You can send the application by email or drop it in the postbox of the Examinations Office.

Extension for personal reasons

The application for the extension of the deadline for personal reasons should be submitted immediately (that is, when you are sick).

If the application for an extension is for personal reasons, you must attach proof of the reason to the application. If you cannot submit your thesis on time for health reasons, your doctor must fill out the form “Extension of Deadline for Final Thesis”. Submit the certificate together with the request (no particular form for the request) to the Examinations Office.

Extension for objective reasons

The request must be received by the Examinations Office no later than two weeks before the deadline.

The supervisor must confirm that

• the delay is not your fault and
• the requested duration of the extension corresponds to the delay.

As soon as the request is received by the Examinations Office, the Examinations Office forwards it to the examination board for a decision. You will be informed of the decision as soon as the Examinations Office receives word of the decision.

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The registered topic cannot be changed.

However, title changes are possible.

If you wish to change your title, you must submit the request for change of title form to the Examinations Office.

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Most final theses can be worked on at an institution outside of the University of Hohenheim as long as certain conditions are fulfilled.

You can find out whether and under what conditions this is possible in your examination regulations; the information on this is listed in the information under supervisors and examiners  and in the table under regulations in the individual degree programs.

If you are interested in writing a thesis in collaboration with a company, please refer to the guidelines for theses completed outside of the university.

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When submitting, students must declare that they have followed the Principles of Good Scientific Practice and that they independently wrote their Master’s thesis (for group work that they independently wrote the indicated section). This declaration can be made with a signed and scanned document included in electronic form in the digital document or in writing when submitting hard copies.

Students must also declare that they used no other sources or aids than those given and that they marked the passages that were taken from other works word-for-word or paraphrased.

In addition, they must declare that they agree to the electronic version being checked for plagiarism using plagiarism software and, if printed versions are submitted, that these are identical in content and wording to the electronic version submitted without exception.

If a false declaration is submitted, the Master's thesis is evaluated with “unsatisfactory” (5.0).

You will find a template for the declaration containing all the necessary content with the forms.

If generative AI is used, a separate declaration must state how it was used. Information on this can be found in the information on the use of AI.

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In some degree programs, an oral presentation or defense supplements the written thesis.

You can find out whether a presentation or defense is required in your degree program in the examination regulations  and in the table under regulations in the individual degree programs.

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Each failed thesis can be repeated once.

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