Yes. The thesis trajectory consists of three parts:
- The proprosal (re-sit does not have an impact on cum laude)
- The final thesis (re-sit does have an impact on cum laude)
- The thesis defence (no re-sit possible).
If you fail the proposal or the final thesis, you will be allowed to re-sit either of these two elements. It is not possible to re-sit the thesis defence.
The thesis re-sit is meant to provide students who submit a final thesis of insufficient quality at the first deadline the opportunity to improve or repair that version so that they can still pass the thesis trajectory (and graduate) within the academic year.
The thesis re-sit is therefore not meant for:
- Providing another opportunity to improve the thesis, and, therefore, obtain a higher grade.
- Providing more time to work on the thesis by submitting the thesis at the re-sit thesis deadline.
Additionally, we want to point out that, if you do not submit a thesis document at the first attempt, or the file is empty, you do not qualify for the thesis re-sit, since your work cannot be assessed, and it cannot be determined whether the work is of sufficient quality to pass the thesis trajectory or not.
The thesis re-sit is not a strategic option for obtaining a higher grade but only an option of last resort for students who made a serious effort but whose thesis does not meet the quality standards. Students can only make use of the re-sit period when all the following three criteria are met:
- The final master thesis was submitted to TOP by the deadline;
- The final master thesis is of the same or higher quality than previous drafts;
- The final master thesis receives a “fail”.
The proposal- and thesis re-sit deadlines vary per MSc programme. For more information you are advised to reach out to your thesis coordinator. The final thesis re-sit deadline for this Academic Year is 15 August for all MSc programmes.
For an overview of the thesis trajectory, see this article.