Thesis at ESL

A Thesis information session on How to Write a Master Thesis is organized in November (Part I) and in February (Part II)

In addition, a Thesis Forum with the presentation of the Professors' research fields is organized in November.

Make an appointment with your potential supervisor as soon as possible after the Thesis Forum.

What do I need to do?
Enter the thesis topic you discussed with your supervisor

Where?
Online submission of the thesis request

When?
1-year programs* - from November 24th to December 12th
2-year programs** - from November 24th to March 27th
*1-year programmes: ECON2MA (direct access), ECON2M1, ETRI2MA, Double Degree and QEM programmes
** 2-year programs: ECON2MS/G, ECON2MD, ECON2MA (2 years)

Remark: if you plan to submit your thesis in January of the following year (due to program constraints), you have to start the procedure the year before (for instance, if you plan to submit your thesis in January 2026, you need to start the process during the AY 2024-2025 and meet the deadline of the 2-year programmes - submission by March 31st at the latest)

How?
See tutorial

Requirements:
For ECON2MA / ETRI2MA / QEM: a research plan, a relevant bibliography (5 max.) and an abstract must be specified in the online application

For Double Degree Students

1-year programs: at latest by the end of February
2-year programs: at latest by the end of April

Be mindful that if there must be a change of supervisor after this deadline, a new thesis request must be submitted

Writing the Thesis

1-year programs: January 2026 - June 2026
2-year programs: September 2025 – June 2026

Thesis Writing Preparation

Several activities are organized during the year to help student get started with their thesis:

"How to Write a Master Thesis" Part I / November
Thesis Forum (presentation of Professor's research fields) / November
"How to Write a Master Thesis" Part II / February

Thesis Content

A Thesis or TFE must be the result of an original research work in which the student demonstrates a real ability to understand the economic reasoning, as taught in the courses, and its application to a specific topic.

In additional to the info session and the guidelines from your supervisor, please read carefully the Vademecum.

Thesis Interim Report

An intermediate report has to be submitted to the thesis Supervisor by email BEFORE March 3rd / April 28th of the year of the thesis defense

For the 2-year programs and QEM students*: submission by March 3rd
For the 1-year programs**: submission by April 28th
* 2-year programs (in their second year): ECON2MS/G, ECON2MD, ECON2MA (2 years) AND QEM2 students
**1-year programs: ECON2MA (direct access), ECON2M1, ETRI2MA, Double Degree students
For a thesis defense taking place in January, the intermediate report has to be submitted at the latest by October 31st

The report, of about 3 pages, is a brief description of the state of advancement of the dissertation and contains:

A. an abstract (or a detailed description of the research question);

B. a short bibliography / review of the literature, mentioning 3 or 4 reference articles, which are particularly relevant for the research carried out in the dissertation;

C. in case the student plans to do some empirical work, the data sets he/she is going to use. They must be clearly identified so that the supervisor is able to check whether the student has enough data to finalize their research; in case the student is involved in a more theoretical research, a relatively detailed description of the type of model (or analytical framework) he/she plans to use;

D. a short description of the main problems, setbacks and difficulties experienced so far.

The report will be assessed by the supervisor of your thesis.

A grade on a scale of 1 to 5 will be sent to the student office and will count towards your final thesis mark (with a weight of 2 credits on 15 credits for the MA & 4 on 20 for the other programs)
If the grade is below 3: you will be required to amend your report at the last by March 30th for the 1-Year Programmes and May 31st for the 2-Year Programmes

Plagiarism

Cheating is considered as a fraud. Taking inspiration from an auhtor without citing him/her is an intellectual theft.

If a citraton is literal, even if translated, it is mandatory to place it between commas.

Every citation literal or not must be followed in the text by the correct reference.

The University takes very seriously plagiarism issues.

Reminder about plagiarism or how to use external sources appropriately (only in French).

At the latest, by the official opening of the relevant exam session: either in June or in September.

When you submit your Thesis in DIAL, a submission Thesis attest is produced. The attest need to be dated, signed and handed over to the student office with a copy of your thesis cover.

Be mindful that the application send only the notification to the supervisor. This means you will need to send your thesis (PDF) to your reader as well (not applicable for master 60).

For QEM students, the thesis must be submitted during the June examination session

For Maastricht DD students, the thesis must be submitted during the June examination session (opening day of the exam session)

More details to be found on Thesis Submission (Dial) - Printing

Oral Defense

The public defense will take place during the exam session (Only during the June session for QEM students and specific DD programs).

The date of the defense is set by the professor in accordance with the student office and according to the place where the professor in mainly located (Louvain-la-Neuve or Namur or online).

Exception: DD students have to take care of the defense organization and contact their supervisors/readers to check their availability and set a date and time that suits the whole Committee. DD specific guidelines and procedures will also be reminded to the students by email by the DD Coordinator a week after student's thesis registration.

If the professor is not available during the official period of time, the student will be responsible for finding a date that suits everyone and inform the Student Office accordingly. This must be done before the defense.

The defense is chaired by the Supervisor, with the presence of the Reader and of any interested person.

The defense consists in a short oral presentation with PowerPoint slides in which the student illustrates the work, the methodology and the conclusions (more or less ten minutes) and questions by the reader and eventually by Supervisor, followed by the answers of the student (more or less 20 min).

The mark for the thesis is jointly decided by the Supervisor and the Reader.

Evaluation

Please refer to Section II of the Vademecum for evaluation details per Master programme.

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