Information on Bachelor´s and Master´s thesis - Examinations office
Master's thesis application form together with
current transcript of records at office.entrop@uni-passau.de
Topics final theses Finance
To give you as much flexibility as possible when planning your studies, the initial plan is that you will be able to start your thesis at any time – depending on the chair’s availability – once you´ve consulted the chair's office. We will announce any fixed ‘start dates’ at a later stage, if necessary.
You must fulfill the formal requirements set out in the examination regulations applicable to you.
We recommend that students write their Bachelor’s thesis in the 6th semester (Bachelor’s) or the 4th semester (Master’s). Exceptions to this are possible in justified cases.
For your own benefit, we expect you to have the appropriate knowledge to successfully complete a thesis at the Department. You can demonstrate this by successfully attending the Chair’s courses, in particular the seminar and the workshop (as soon as these are offered by the Chair), and other suitable finance-related courses within the AFT specialisation.
Usually, part of your thesis will be an empirical study or the application of quantitative models to solving business management problems. You should therefore have a solid know-how of quantitative and statistical methods. Proficiency in Excel is a prerequisite. Knowledge of statistical software such as Stata, EViews, R or SPSS is highly desirable for an empirical focus. For a model-oriented specialisation, knowledge of VBA is generally very helpful.
Please ensure you take this into account in good time when planning your studies.
The Chair reserves the right, in individual cases, to refrain from assigning a thesis if the student does not meet the necessary requirements—i.e. does not have the knowledge that would enable for a successful completion of the theses—and if, based on experience, it cannot reasonably be expected that they will acquire this knowledge within the timeframe allocated for the theses.
To enable us to offer you as wide a range of topics as possible, we continuously maintain a list of different subject areas. Please select two of these subject areas and specify them, in order of preference, on the aforementioned application form of the Chair. We will then contact you and work with you to specify the topic. You will receive the fully formulated concrete topic at the start of the working period.
In addition, you have the option of proposing a concrete topic yourself. In order for us to determine whether the topic you propose can be developed within the scope of a final thesis and can, moreover, be well supervised at the Chair, a roughly three-page exposé must be attached to the application form, which motivates and presents the problem and sets out the planned approach. Provided that the topic is promising from an academic perspective and realistically feasible, you will be assigned this topic or one closely related to it.
You may also write your thesis in cooperation with a practice partner, provided that this appears to be practicable. In doing so, you should bear in mind that any internships associated with this arrangement often offer only limited benefit to the final thesis during the working period, since the interests of the company do not necessarily need to coincide with the requirements of the final thesis. In this regard, we strongly recommend that you establish "clear rules of engagement" with the company in advance, and the Chair will gladly support you in this. Here, too, a corresponding exposé must be submitted.
Deadline
Please be sure to submit the application form no later than one month before your desired start date.
When preparing your thesis, please be sure to observe the Guidelines of the Chair for final theses. In particular, these also specify the scope/length of the final thesis.
On the day the topic is assigned, bring the corresponding official application form for your respective degree programme. Complete this form in advance as far as possible.
