Bachelor's and Master's Theses

For the submission of your thesis our chair submits the completed Credit transfer request to the Examinations Office. You will get more information at the first meetings with your supervising tutor.

Further important information on dissertations and theses given by the Examinations Office

In general, you can classify subjects for theses in our field in three different categories: 

1. Research-related work
2. Literature work
3. Cooperation work with companies (practice-oriented work)

Below you find references and an orientation how to structure your work for the mentioned categories.

1. Research-related work

Task:

• Investigation of a well-defined problem formulation
• Own development/ reformulation: e.g. model, methods, elaboration and proof of several characteristics of the problem / method
• Clear presentation and justification of the development steps and results
• Explanation of the approach by means of examples/samples of calculation
• Critical analysis and evaluation of your own enhancements

Structure:

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Problem formulation and modeling 
• Solution
• Computational experiments
  • Generating data
  • Calculation tests that are structured according to specific questions, e.g. quality of the solution approach in comparison to status quo, choice and quality of single parameter e.g. definitions of neighborhoods / solution methods, comparison of alternative solution methods
• Conclusion, general discussion and prospects 

Basically, it is possible to write a research-related thesis without any programming skills. In that case it is necessary to develop an own elaborate theoretical analysis of the optimization problem or the suggested solution approach.

2. Literature work

Task:

• Systematic literature search with an explanation how and where the research was done, as well as a critical evaluation of the literature search in terms of the problem formulation
• Systematic examination of the technical literature
• Illustration of the models and methods by means of examples
• Clearly structured, logically and didactically succeeded presentation of the material
• Critical evaluation and, where required, critical comparison of the literature opinions

Structure:

• Introduction
• Conceptual basics
• Literature overview / classification
• Detailed consideration of two or three subareas, if necessary, in seperate chapters
• Conclusion and prospects

3. Practice-oriented work

Generally, scale and content of a practice-oriented work are proposed by the supervising tutor in collaboration with the company. For the evaluation are the rules and requirements of our chair decisive.

Task:

• Dealing with the company's decision problem
• Conducting a case study, e.g.:
  • Clear presentation and selection of the problem, inclusive opportunities for operations, goals, restrictions
  • Description of the current decision-making process and its critical evaluation 
  • Proper collection of relevant data. Missing data can be generated randomly or can be valued after having consulted the supervising tutor of the chair or the company.
• Formalization of the problem and its integration in the theory 
• Analysis of the problem, modeling, choice and application of suitable methods
• General discussion of (potential) accomplished results in practice

Structure:

• Introduction
• Problem description
• Theoretical basics
• Formalization / problem formulation
• Solution
• Computational experiments
  • Generating data or description of the collected data (case study) 
  • Calculation tests that are structured according to specific questions, e.g. quality of the solution approach in comparison to status quo, choice and quality of single parameter e.g. definitions of neighborhoods / solution methods, comparison of alternative solution methods
• Results from a practical point of view and derived recommendation for action
• Conclusion

Dear students,

We would like to thank you for your interest in writing your thesis at our department. You have the opportunity to write your thesis in cooperation with external companies.

Please note the following points:

• The topic of the thesis should be related to optimization.
• Even when working with a company, we remain your primary supervisor and ensure that the topic of the thesis is provided by us. Our task is to ensure the scientific qualification of your thesis. That is why we also create the task sheet. Of course, we are open to your own ideas and suggestions.
• In the past, case studies or method-oriented theses have proven to be particularly suitable for meeting these requirements. Nevertheless, we are open to different approaches and look forward to innovative and creative topic suggestions from you.
• Please note that when incorporating company data, it is your responsibility to make the necessary confidentiality agreements.
  • On the one hand, there is a confidential clause ("Sperrvermerk") on the thesis, which ensures that the thesis can only be viewed by a certain group of people. A confidential clause is unproblematic; you will find a corresponding text below.
  • On the other hand, some companies also want to conclude a separate non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the department or university. Two points are important here: Firstly, experience has shown that only the standard text of the University of Passau can be used for this. Secondly, if the conclusion of NDAs can be avoided without compromising the quality of the work (e.g. by anonymizing the data), this is the preferred way.
    

We are always happy when company visit is possible, so that we as a chair can gain insight into the company's logistics, production and data analytics/planning processes.

We are convinced that cooperation with a company can be a valuable addition to your scientific education and look forward to accompanying you in this exciting project.