Master Thesis in Real Estate and Facility Management

The course comprises a Master’s thesis in Real Estate Development and Management, amounting to 30 ECTS credits. The thesis builds upon the completed course AAR4874 - Theory and Methods for Master’s Theses (7.5 ECTS).

The Master’s thesis must address the background of the research problem, research questions or hypotheses, and the theoretical framework and relevant models from both a national and international perspective. It should describe and justify the research design and scientific methods that underpin data collection and analysis. Furthermore, it should explain how the analyses were carried out and provide a basis for discussing findings, results, and conclusions.

The Master’s thesis must comply with NTNU’s requirements regarding structure, format, language, and referencing.

KNOWLEDGE - The candidate

• has in-depth knowledge and specialised insight into theory and methods for conducting investigations within relevant topics in Real Estate Development and Management.

SKILLS - The candidate

• can formulate a research problem and research questions, and understand the relationship between the problem, theory, and method.
• can assess relevant methodological approaches and apply appropriate methods in the Master’s thesis.
• can analyse and critically evaluate various sources of information related to the topic and use these to structure and formulate academic reasoning.
• can carry out an independent, large-scale project under supervision and in accordance with good practice.

GENERAL COMPETENCE - The candidate

• can prepare a work plan for the project and develop an outline for the Master’s thesis.
• can work independently on data and information collection, as well as processing and analysing data and findings.
• can evaluate and discuss findings based on data collection, draw independent conclusions, and summarise the results of the Master’s thesis work.
• can communicate the results of independent work in a structured and clear manner to both experts and the general public, using relevant technical terms and expressions in a professional and scientific way.

The course will be carried out as an individual project or as a collaboration between two students. Seminars will be organised on report writing and relevant topics related to the project work, as well as discussions of the students’ projects.

Supervision during the semester will be arranged in consultation between the candidate and the supervisor. In addition, there are three compulsory activities that must be completed within the course and according to the specified deadlines:

• Attendance at the course introduction activity
• Submission of a research proposal
• Presentation of the research at the mid-term evaluation

Each of these activities is time-critical and designed to ensure that the thesis is completed on schedule and to an appropriate standard.