Guidelines for EnvEuro Thesis Supervisor and Co-supervisor

Guidelines for tasks and responsibilities of the thesis main supervisor (HOME) and co-supervisor (HOST)

The EnvEuro double degree MSc program between 4 universities (BOKU, SLU, UCPH, UHOH) requires joint supervision for the MSc thesis.
Each university has their own regulations for how a master’s thesis should be done; therefore, by becoming a supervisor of an EnvEuro double degree MSc thesis student you will be taking part in a program that differs from the ordinary (national) master’s thesis, and thus has different specific guidelines for supervisors. Below are some considerations to keep in mind as you supervise an EnvEuro student, in addition to adhering to your local regulations. These guidelines have been created to help supervisors and students get the most out of the thesis writing process.

• There will be a main supervisor from the host university (2^nd year university where the student is writing their thesis) and a co-supervisor from the home university (where the student completed their first year).
• The main supervisor and co-supervisor both contribute knowledge, enhance and help the student define the thesis topic (identification of topic/problem, planning, doing, data interpretation and discussion, )
• As a rule of thumb the main supervisor is expected to contribute approx. 2/3 of supervision, and the co-supervisor to contribute approx. 1/3.
• The co-supervisor is meant to add an extra dimension to the thesis work; i.e. could be an additional field of expertise to obtain a cross-disciplinary thesis, or a complimentary expertise in terms of geographical area of study covered by the co-supervisor.
• A co-supervisor is not required to travel to the country where the student is conducting their thesis and will not be monetarily compensated for their work.
• In order to ensure the supervisor and the co-supervisor collaboration is efficient and constructive, the following questions are suggestions of what should be answered at an initial meeting or early in the project process:
  • Who will be responsible for what? For example, lab analysis, experiment assistance, research contribution, etc.
  • How can each supervisor's professional background contribute?
  • How often will meetings take place? Where?
  • Who will lead the thesis project - student or supervisor?
  • What information will be provided before each supervision meeting? For example agenda, reading materials to be discussed, data to be discussed?
  • How much input regarding student’s work will each supervisor provide?
• In the final defence of the thesis, both the main supervisor and the co-supervisor must be present either in person or via a videoconference. The main supervisor is responsible for arranging the online defence and ensuring all parties can be present. The online defence can be arranged via the videolink support at each university

BOKU: videokonferenz@boku.ac.at

UCPH, SCIENCE (Frederiksberg Campus): itself-service.ku.dk (https://kunet.ku.dk/employee-guide/Pages/IT/Video-conference.aspx)

UHOH: Ingo Kneller ingo.kneller@uni-hohenheim.de

SLU: Videoconference@slu.se

• Both supervisors are equally responsible for the final marking of the students – and external examiners are included in the grading at the university of the main supervisor when the national regulations require this.
• Once the student has submitted the thesis, the main supervisor is responsible for notifying the EnvEuro secretariat of the defence date.