Theses

The preparation for the application as well as the writing of the Bachelor or Master's thesis at the Department of Business Administration entails different steps, whereby the application process is described in detail here.

Before you begin your application, please consult the "Remarks" column in the table below. There you will find important information on prerequisites, guidelines, and application requirements for the individual research interests.

1. Topic search/ Application for topic: You have the following two options:
   1. You find your own topic, write a Research Proposal and submit it via Business Theses Market.
   2. Choose one of the provided Topic Proposals and apply for the corresponding topic on the Business Theses Market including a letter of motivation.
2. Contact through supervisor: If your Research Proposal has been accepted or your application for an existing topic has been successful, you will be contacted by the person who will supervise you in your thesis. Based on your Research Proposal inputs, your supervisor will formulate the thesis assignment. After a successful match via the Business Theses Market, the further process continues via OLAT.
3. Thesis assignment on OLAT: The task assignment includes your official thesis assignment for the written thesis. It can be collected on OLAT from the moment you have been informed by your supervisor. Once you collect the thesis assignment on OLAT, the time limit of six months starts.
4. Processing time: Start working on your thesis early and discuss problems with your supervisor. Nevertheless, remember that a Bachelor or Master’s thesis is to be written independently.
5. Submission: You must submit your thesis via OLAT i.e. you upload your thesis and any additional documents/attachments as a ZIP-file to OLAT.
6. Thesis evaluation: You receive your grade within a month after submission.

Detailed information on the OLAT Process

The prerequisite for writing a Bachelor and Master's thesis at the Department of Business Administration is relevant prior knowledge in the corresponding subject area. In particular, the relevant lectures must have been attended and passed. Provided Topic Proposals may contain further requirements, which you will find in the respective proposal.

It is also important that the rules and instructions of the Dean's Office (study and graduation) are generally to be noted. The responsibility regarding compliance with these regulations lies with you.

In order to write a thesis at the Department of Business Administration, a digital application via the Business Theses Market is required. You will need the following documents for the application:

• Curriculum Vitae (as PDF)
• Transcript of records (as PDF, current export from the Module Booking)
• Research Proposal (if you propose a topic of your own)

For the application via the Business Theses Market, you also need your UZH login credentials (shortname and password).

There are two ways to apply for a thesis at the Department of Business Administration:

Option A: Own topic

Elaborate your own suggested topic and write a Research Proposal. On two to three pages, the Research Proposal summarises your motivation, the objectives, the planned procedure and the expected results. It is important that you assign your Research Proposal to the correct research area so that it can be made available to appropriate supervisors. The research areas and fields of interest listed in the table below can serve as a decision-making aid. The links of the Professors lead to their respective chair websites.

Based on your Research Proposal, the final thesis assignment will be issued. However, the Department of Business Administration reserves the right to ask for improvements to the proposal, to make changes, to provide a different topic or to reject the application.

Option B: Provided topic

Apply for a topic provided by a supervisor via Business Theses Market. Look at the topics on the marketplace, choose one and apply. Note that in addition to a CV and transcript of records, a short letter of motivation is also required for the application. Describe how the provided topic matches your skills and interests, and how the topic fits into your course of study.

Further notes The Department of Business Administration strongly recommends that you start finding a topic for your Bachelor or Master's thesis at an early stage.

The matching process usually takes about a month, sometimes longer (especially for your own proposals), since all supervisors supervise several theses, and your own proposal must match the interests of your supervisor in terms of content. We will inform you as soon as the matching process is completed, or if we need further information or adjustments from you. If you want/need to start as soon as possible, you also have the option to apply to one of the posted proposals.

The Department of Business Administration endeavours to offer all applicants the opportunity to write a thesis at other deparments, but we cannot guarantee a specific topic or a specific supervisor. Temporary bottlenecks may occur in the supervision. If you have any questions or problems in connection with your application, please contact theses@business.uzh.ch

An overview of possible topic areas at the Department of Business Administration can be found in the following document:

Possible Topic Areas for Bachelor's and Master's Theses (PDF, 114 KB)

This overview serves as guidance for your application via the Business Theses Market.