Master Thesis in Public Administration

The course description applies to students starting spring 2021 or later, subject to change.

The following rules apply to the master's thesis:

• The purpose of the master's thesis is for students to demonstrate the ability to describe, analyze and process complex and practical research questions at a high academic level, in addition to acting as agents of change within these research questions. The thesis must be relevant to the institution, organization or business in which the students work, in addition to having academic research relevance. The task must therefore be action-oriented.

• Guidelines for the number of pages on the master's thesis depend on whether it is written on an individual basis or two students together. For individual assignments, the assignment should be about 70 pages (bibliography is included, but appendix is ​​excluded), while assignments written by two students together should be about 90 pages (bibliography is included, but appendix is ​​excluded). Deviations from these page number indications must be agreed with the supervisor.

• Guidance is given in connection with the assignment of up to 36 hours per. group. Students who write alone are entitled to 28 hours of supervision. This can include up to 5 hours of bi-guidance.

Knowledge

• Have in-depth insight into recent research literature and theory that is relevant to research questions. • Have good insight into relevant research methods to shed light on research questions.

Skills

• Identify and analyze key challenges within the public sector

• Apply perspectives, theories, methods and interpretations in an independent work with theoretical and practical problem solving within the public sector

General competence

• In an independent manner, use relevant methods in the implementation of research and development work, and be able to communicate the results of such work.