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This paper aims to show how Master’s theses can contribute to open scholarship and give reasons why this should be done.

The paper provides an overview of published studies and, based on the experience at the University of Lille (France), describes some essential aspects for the processing and valorization of these documents in the academic cloud, as a contribution of open scholarship.

Because of their number and diversity, collections of Masters’ theses in open repositories could be an excellent showcase for the universities’ Master programs and research. They could also offer interesting and large samples for content analysis, citation analysis and text and data mining (TDM). However, some issues need attention, above all intellectual property, quality and preservation. Quality is crucial, and the paper describes how the Lille project proceeds to assure sufficient quality and right clearance, and why the project shifted from students’ self-archiving to a digital library collection in the academic cloud, run by faculty and information professionals. The paper presents also some usage statistics to illustrate the potential, global impact of such a collection.

The paper provides helpful and empirical evidence and insight for those who want to develop the dissemination of Master’s theses via open repositories.

In the context of open scholarship, only few studies deal with Master’s theses, and this paper is the only recent reference that brings together a review of other papers and a case study with empirical evidence.

Higher educational institutions, such as universities of applied sciences, have a significant role in promoting progress towards a sustainable future as defined by the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs). This paper aims to identify how the UN SDGs are featured in master’s theses set in work–life contexts.

Using a descriptive review and content analysis, this study identified the number of SDGs appearing in 31 master’s theses. Sustainable development (SD) and corporate social responsibility were reflected using the approaches and models in the literature. Finland’s eight objectives for committing to SD were used to examine the commitments made by the business school of the university of applied sciences to achieve Agenda 2030.

Emphasising the value of higher education for SD, this study found that SDGs three, eight and 12 appeared most frequently in the theses. Sustainable and responsible dimensions reflected several issues concerning both the worlds of business and industry among the firms and organisations investigated by the master’s degree students in the business school at the Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences.

This research holds practical and pedagogical value, serving to encourage master’s and PhD students to further explore research on SDGs and to shape public policy.

Sustainability was looked at in a new way as investigated by the theses. Ways to integrate the SDGs into management degree programmes and conduct research in the fields of business administration, tourism and hospitality management were identified.

Developing graduate students' academic writing has been a major concern for many scholars over the past few years. Existing literature on the challenges of thesis writing has not focused on master's students in English language teaching (ELT). Data on the challenges have been mainly gathered from the theses and focused on the structure and genre requirements. Few available studies have investigated such challenges through the lens of supervisors in an international context. Knowledge about the factors hindering the thesis writing process of non-native MA students in English from the supervisors' perspectives is scarce. This study attempts to fill these gaps by answering this question: From supervisors' perspectives, what factors hinder the thesis writing process of non-native MA students?

Thirty supervisors from state and private universities across Iran voluntarily participated in this qualitative study. Drawing upon teachers' diaries and semi-structured interviews, the authors identified major factors negatively influencing the thesis work of master's students. Data were transferred into NVivo 10 and analyzed thematically following Colaizzi's method.

The study found that factors constraining students' writing were (1) students' lack of effort, (2) students' lack of a strategy for writing, (3) students' lack of autonomy and (4) students' absence of voice.

The authors discuss the practical implications of these factors for different stakeholders. There is a growing interest in postgraduate students' thesis writing processes. Surprisingly, no research exists on supervisors' perceptions of factors that constrain the thesis writing process of non-native English master's students.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of the thesis research in the industrial engineering related master's programmes in Chalmers University of Technology for benchmarking implementation in Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch (IAU‐STB), taking into consideration the different conditions of two universities and respective countries of Sweden and Iran.

In this research, case study strategy was employed. In total, 17 thesis reports from 2003 to 2006 and other related published/web‐based documents were studied to explore the theses' execution procedure, research method and report organization. To gain primary data, some interviews were carried out. Qualitative research method, along with descriptive statistical method was used to illustrate structural points.

The results of the study help to develop group work in thesis execution, to identify the role of qualitative strategy in industrial engineering research, and to adopt a flexible approach in organization of thesis report provided that some mandatory regulations are followed. In addition, it helps to build research‐oriented inter disciplinary departments vs traditional education‐oriented departments on the basis of the requirements of ongoing socio‐economic processes in national economy.

The acquired knowledge has been partly adapted and adopted by departments of industrial engineering in IAU‐STB. The main implication is the need to explore how the entire industrial engineering departments (IEDs) in Iranian universities can efficiently and effectively adapt and adopt such knowledge for thesis research.

This work provides effective assistance for IEDs in Iranian universities embarking on their benchmarking journey on thesis research.

This study represents a knowledge gap and offers practical help to IEDs in Iranian universities to leverage the skills and expertise of their faculty members together with the talents of their students and consequently to maintain and enhance their thesis research capability.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case about the emergence of human capital (HC) during the master thesis as a work-based learning project.

The case study uses data from 107 master’s students 2007–2011 and feedback from 91 managers as business advisors 2007–2016.

The findings show direct contributions of higher education (HE) to intellectual capital (IC) in organisations through the enhanced HC of managers.

The case contributes to the emerging new, fifth stage of IC research by demonstrating how HC develops beyond the boundaries of an educational institution; how it influences an organisation’s IC and how 91 business advisors, as external stakeholders, assessed the achievements and value creation of HE.

The purpose of this study is to present the academic pattern of project-based studies on the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach in a comparative manner in the context of Turkey.

Focusing on the context of Turkey, a detailed search was conducted at the National Thesis Center of Turkey, and on Google Scholar between November 28 and December 15, 2021, using the keywords “Lean Six Sigma” and “Lean 6 Sigma” in both Turkish and English. As a result of this search, no conference proceedings on the subject were found. However, 25 postgraduate theses and 19 articles were accessed. It was determined that ten of the 19 articles were produced from these theses. It was observed that nine of the 25 postgraduate theses contained conceptual analyses. At this point, it was concluded that the project-based theses conducted in the context of Turkey provided the necessary representation on the subject. Therefore, the 16 postgraduate theses that had been accessed constituted the sample of the study. These 16 theses were subjected to a comprehensive evaluation with the systematic analysis design, with descriptive content analysis being used as the data analysis tool of the research. In this context, the theses were examined using parameters such as type, number, year, university, institute, department, discipline, original language and title of advisor. Other parameters used were purpose, industry, duration, team, results, tools and techniques of the LSS projects mentioned in the theses.

It was determined that the number of postgraduate theses on LSS was low in number, with only one study having been performed at the doctoral level, and most studies having been produced in 2019. In addition, it was observed that the subject had been studied by different universities, institutes, disciplines and departments with the LSS spreading to different academic disciplines. Most of the relevant theses were written in Turkish, and it has been determined that these theses were mostly carried out under the supervision of academicians with the title of assistant professor. It was also found that the purposes of the theses, the tools used throughout the process and the results obtained were per the LSS spirit. On the other hand, it was determined that the duration of the project and the composition of the team members would vary due to the diversity of features that make the internal dynamics of the projects clear.

The research revealed the academic pattern of the project-based studies on the LSS in the Turkish context. The use of systematic review design and descriptive content analysis as data analysis tools in the research is an important initiative. While the uniqueness of the studies carried out on such a practical subject cannot be discussed, the holistic approach of these studies increases the contribution value of the research. At this point, this study is considered to be especially valuable for an understanding of LSS research in country-specific conditions. In this aspect, it is an aim of the aforementioned research to become a resource for researchers and practitioners interested in LSS, with this research providing a basis for making contextual comparisons in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a theoretical platform for a design-based approach to entrepreneurship education grounded in the ideas of the Russian psychologist and linguist Lev S. Vygotsky by reconceptualising the development of entrepreneurial expertise as artefact-mediated activity. This model is elaborated into some core pedagogical principles and contrasted with other approaches to entrepreneurial education. It also describes the piloting of this design perspective in a Master of Science programme in entrepreneurship. Students working as interns in high-tech start-up companies reflected on their practice and learned to learn using a number of artefacts as “scaffolds”.

The empirical base of this paper is an instrumental case study of the pilot programme where the material is subject to documentary and narrative analysis. The master’s theses of the students participating in the new start-up programme were compared with those of students in the regular programme using thematic analysis.

The authors call for a more systematic examination of the model derived from Vygotsky in the field of entrepreneurship education. The exploratory study indicates that the emphasis on artefact-mediated action may strengthen systematic self-reflection and learning to learn among master’s students in practice-based programmes. However, Vygotsky’s focus on “distributed agency” should be complemented by a more personalized mentoring scheme.

This is a pioneering study examining the pedagogy of artefact mediation in entrepreneurship education.

To properly address complex sustainability issues, higher education institutes (HEIs), such as universities, need to implement innovative educational programmes that adhere to transdisciplinary principles. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how to do so across and beyond a university.

This study presents a module comprising two courses, the first of which centres on the identification of sustainability issues in student-led multi-actor dialogue sessions and the second on addressing those sustainability issues through interdisciplinary collaboration among master’s students who are at the same time also working on their own thesis. The authors conducted continuous evaluations during the first two pilot years, including community (partners), faculty and student perspectives.

The authors found that the module was successful in training students for inter- and transdisciplinarity. Moreover, high levels of commitment were observed from a diverse range of students and faculty across one HEI as well as positive responses from the community (partners) involved in the module. Further improvements of the module rely on active buy-in from programme directors and ensuring continuous collaboration throughout the co-creation process by streamlining the translation of the issues into manageable research projects with specific research questions.

This study provides inspiration and lessons on how to implement university-wide inter- and transdisciplinary module into higher education.

The module is innovative in combining university-wide and interdisciplinary learning with and transdisciplinary learning through long-term, co-creational collaboration within and beyond the university.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the nature of graduate training experiences in research groups and to identify factors that may lead to increased student retention and success.

Surveys administered at four US universities resulted in quantitative responses from 130 Master’s and 702 doctoral engineering students participating in graduate research groups. Missing data were imputed, and responses were weighted by gender, discipline, degree program and nationality. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors describing research group experiences. Regression models were built for two outcomes: satisfaction with research group experience and intention to complete degree. Control variables included gender, discipline, degree program, nationality, year in program and institution.

Fifty-five per cent of the variance in satisfaction was described by a model including agency, support, international diversity and group climate. Sixty-five per cent of variance in intent to complete was described by a model comprising international diversity, agency and support. Several control variables were significant.

Agency and support in particular were the most influential predictors of both satisfaction and intention, suggesting that future efforts should emphasize stable funding, clear expectations, access to mentors and agency-building experiences to help students take an active role in their own success.

The number of universities offering Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) in China has increased to 316 in 15 years. This paper aims to take a closer look at the production patterns of experimental report theses in terms of total number, distribution across universities, supervision model and research content, reflects on the problems and suggests improvements, provides a reference for MTI education in China and beyond.

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the published final theses of experimental reports for the MTI in China between the years 2012 and 2022, the period during which this type of thesis was produced, to identify the production patterns of these theses.

The number of experimental reports published by the nine leading universities accounts for 80% of the total 296 papers. The uneven development is also reflected in the supervision model and research content. Most universities can structure the main content of theses according to the suggestions of the MTI Guidance Training Outline. However, there are still deficiencies in the areas of experimental design, experimental validity, research questions and academic standards.

This paper reflects on the problems of MTI theses of experimental reports. Also, suggestions are made for linking top-level design and university education, for joint progress in faculty development and talent training and for integrating industrial aspects and international visions, to provide a reference for MTI education in China and beyond.