Instructions for Preparing a BSc or MSc Thesis

On this page you find guidelines on how to prepare and deliver your BSc or MSc thesis.

General Information

After defining the thesis topic, you and your supervisor agree on a start- and end date. For a BSc thesis (duration of 5 months) you need to fill out the green form obtained from Bettina Choffat. For a MSc thesis (duration of 6 months) you need to fill out the first part of this form and send it to the JMCS secretariat (Dr Andreas Humm). The JMCS secretariat will check that you satisfy the conditions to start the MSc thesis and send you back the signed form. In the download section below we provide a project folder including a LaTeX template for both the BSc and MSc theses. The project folder must contain all your source files, results and figures and must be submitted to your supervisor for evaluation.

You also need to submit a printed copy of the thesis document to your supervisor and an additional one to the secretariat. Make sure that you print in color, that the binding is of good quality and that chapters start on odd pages (right hand side).

BSc Thesis

The bachelor project is worth in total 20 ECTS, of which 10 ECTS are allocated to your thesis, 5 ECTS for the documentation and code and the remaining 5 ECTS are allocated to the completion of one of our seminars. The project will also require a 30-minute public presentation of the work at either the course seminars or at the seminars of the CVG. Please schedule a date with your supervisor ahead of time. Once the bachelor thesis is completed, you can proceed with the final steps of the graduation outlined here by the Faculty of Science.

MSc Thesis

For master theses please refer to the guidelines of the BeNeFri master program. You find all instructions at this website. If you are enrolled at the University of Bern, you will find further information on completing your master's degree here.

Note: As of HS2019 the deanship no longer requires a printed copy of the master thesis. It is sufficient to send the document in electronic form (PDF) to andrea.perez@natdek.unibe.ch. The requirements stay the same:

  • You submit the final and corrected version.
  • The cover page is formatted according to the guidelines.
  • The document contains the statement of authorship.