Rules for bachelor project for BSc students

The text below contains the generic rules for the BSc project. These may be supplied with specific rules for the individual programme specifications (see My study programme)

Bachelor Project

The BSc project is the final project in the BSc programme. The purpose of the BSc project is for you to be able to competently formulate, analyse, and process issues within a defined academic subject area that reflects the main emphasis of the study programme.

Prerequisites for starting the BSc project
You can only start the BSc project when you have achieved 120 ECTS credits in the programme and have passed the course project. If you are enrolled before September 2023, the basic natural science courses and technology core courses are recommended academic prerequisites for starting the BSc project. If you are enrolled from September 2023, the polytechnic foundation and programme-specific courses are recommended academic prerequisites.

If you are a BSc Eng in General Engineering, the course project equals the 4 design-build projects.

There are specific requirements regarding prerequisites that must be fulfilled before you can begin your BSc project. You must therefore familiarize yourself thoroughly with your own programme specifications on student.dtu.dk under “Programme specifications” before starting the project.

Content and learning objectives of the BSc project
The content of the BSc project must be agreed upon with the supervisor. The project can include a combination of experimental work, fieldwork, theoretical studies, synthesis, modelling, and analysis.

The BSc project from DTU must demonstrate that you:

  • can work independently and is able to structure a major project, including meeting deadlines and organizing and planning the project work
  • can summarize and interpret technical information and is fully familiar with technical problem solving through project work
  • is able to work with all project phases, including the preparation of proposals, solutions, and documentation
  • is able to independently acquire new knowledge and adopt a critical approach to the acquired knowledge and carry out relevant and critical information searches, and on this basis find the right methods to shed light on the problem in question
  • is able to communicate technical information, theory, and results in written, visual/graphic, and oral form

The BSc project must demonstrate you ability to solve a relevant engineering task in which the acquired knowledge and competencies are applied in an independent way in a major project. The student must demonstrate, at the appropriate level, the ability to assess options, and results, and argue for the results obtained in a logical and coherent manner.

Supervisor
You must enter into an agreement with a supervisor regarding the BSc project. The main supervisor for a BSc project must

  • be an employee at DTU as a VIP with research obligations and one of the following job categories: assistant professor, associate professor, researcher, senior researcher, senior adviser, or professor,
  • hold a permanent position (with the exception of assistant professors and researchers)
  • have completed DTU's course 'Supervision of larger projects at DTU' or similar pedagogical competence development at the university level e.g. a course in PhD supervision; for assistant professors, however, it is sufficient that one is in the process of UDTU, and
  • have in-depth knowledge of the study conditions at DTU.

For assistant professors and researchers, however, there is an additional requirement that an associate professor, senior researcher, senior adviser, or a professor (docent, ingeniørdocent or professor) must be connected to the project as co-supervisor, so that the assistant professor/researcher does not have sole responsibility for the project.

The head of department can approve that a VIP who for a number of years has gained extensive experience in supervising final projects, can be the main supervisor without having completed the course 'Supervision of major projects at DTU' or equivalent.

The supervisor is required to confirm that the student has the requisite academic qualifications for undertaking the BSc project. The student is required to document his/her qualifications and level in the form of a list of courses he/she has completed.

Project size and project agreement
The scope of the BSc project can be either 15, 17½, or 20 ECTS credits.

You normally carry out the project in a department relevant to your BSc programme. Where it is academically relevant, the project can be carried out at another department in agreement with the head of studies.

You can do the BSc project in collaboration with a company or another university. Read more about projects in collaboration with companies at student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Teaching'/'Project courses'.

The BSc project may be conducted abroad if the general requirements are met. The supervisor, also being the examiner of the project, still has to be an employee at DTU. 

The BSc project may be prepared individually or as a group project. There can be a maximum of four students in a group. Read more below under the section 'Assessment and examination' on how to conduct the oral examination.

The bachelor project must be written in Danish in the Danish BSc programmes and English in the English BSc programmes; The BSc project must include a summary. The summary must be in English - unless another foreign language has been agreed with the supervisor - and is included in the overall assessment. If the BSc project is written in a foreign language by agreement with the supervisor, the summary may be written in the same foreign language.

Formalities regarding report length, content, structure, and duration of the oral defense, etc., are agreed upon between you and the main supervisor. In the event of disagreement, the study board at the department where the main supervisor is employed may be involved.

Your project agreement with the supervisor must be reported in the Project Reporting System well in advance of the start of the project. The supervisor makes the report. Upon notification, the Head of Studies is automatically informed and can, within 14 days, reject the project if this does not fall within the focus area of the programme. You will be contacted if the project cannot be approved. Notwithstanding the academic approval, however, the project work must not start until you receive an e-mail with the approved project agreement from the Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs. That also applies if the bachelor project is completed in whole or in part outside DTU.

Project period
Before the start of the project
The BSc project agreement is binding and counts as an exam attempt from the moment the BSc project is initiated as agreed. Up until the start date of the bachelor's project, the agreement can be cancelled without it counting as an exam attempt.

The duration of a BSc project is 9 weeks of full-time study (including annual leave and public holidays) for a project corresponding to 15 ECTS credits. If the student simultaneously takes courses, the project period can be extended by 3 weeks for every 5 ECTS credits. If the project is carried out as a group project, any extension of the project period will apply to all members of the group. It is the main project supervisor who allocates the extra time when the project is reported in the Project Reporting System.

The main supervisor can extend your project period by one week for each course the student plans to complete as a re-exam during the project period. You must present your study plan to the supervisor and possibly documentation for the final exam registration. However, the total project period must not exceed 18 weeks, unless you are assigned special exam conditions.

Prior to the project start, the project period may also be extended by up to 3 weeks if you can document an impairment. If the project is carried out as a group project, this extension will be awarded to all members of the group. Read more about this on student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Exam'/'Special Exam Arrangements'.

When determining the start date of the project, the supervisor's consecutive 3-week summer vacation in June, July, or August must be taken into account in order to avoid conflicting with the 10-day deadline for holding the oral defense, cf. below under ‘Assessment and examination’. The project plan should also reflect this.

After the start of the project
During the project period the main supervisor may extend the project by 1 week for every course, you plan to complete as a re-exam during the project period. You must present your study plan to the supervisor and possibly documentation for final exam registration. However, the total project period must not exceed 18 weeks, unless you are assigned special exam conditions. You must present your study plan to the supervisor and possibly documentation for the final exam registration. The supervisor must enter the new submission deadline in the project reporting system.

An extension of the submission deadline for the project must be noted in the final version of the project plan. This applies to all types of extensions of the submission deadline.

The main supervisor cannot extend your project period on the grounds of the supervisor's vacation in June and August. That must be taken into account before the project is submitted.

The agreed project period must be observed. Failure to meet the deadline means that you will have used one examination attempt and will receive the registration 'No Show (EM)'. 

If you do not pass your project, a new project agreement must be made. That also applies if you do not meet the submission deadline.

A new project agreement and period for the project, including making a decision on whether a completely new project period is to be agreed upon, or whether you should continue working on the previous project. If you wish to reuse already handed-in elements or larger parts of the project that were handed in but not passed, this must be clearly stated in the new project, as otherwise there will be self-plagiarism and thus a violation of the rules of the exam. Read more at student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Exam'/'Cheating at exams and other forms of assessment'.

During the first month, you are required to submit a project plan outlining the objective of the BSc project to the supervisor. You automatically receive an email with information about the submission deadline for the project plan. Submission takes place via the group that has been created for the bachelor project. In the project plan, you must also take into account the learning outcomes of the bachelor's project. When submitting the BSc project, you must enclose a separate document presenting the original project plan and a revision of the same, where appropriate. 

Extension of the project period via the Board of Studies - up to six weeks
If there are extraordinary, unforeseen circumstances in relation to the project (eg in relation to collaboration with a company, change of supervisor, extraordinary technical problems) or in relation to your personal situation (eg illness, death in close family, maternity leave), the department board of studies has the opportunity to grant up to six weeks extension of the project period. Project extension must always be supported in writing by the main supervisor. 

You must submit an application to the department board of studies where the main supervisor is employed. The application must be accompanied by documentation of the special circumstances (eg a medical certificate) as well as a revised project plan stating when the extraordinary circumstances occurred. An overview of the chairmen of the department board of studies can be found at student.dtu.dk under 'Academic offers and guidance'/'Board of Study, chairmen'.

The application must be submitted no later than one month before the applicable submission deadline for the project unless special circumstances have arisen after this time. The application deadline is important in view of the Board of Studies' ability to process the application before the applicable submission deadline.  

If your application is approved, it is the responsibility of the Board of Studies/main supervisor to change the submission deadline for the project in the Project Reporting System. If the project extension extends beyond your maximum duration of the study programme, the project extension takes precedence. If the application is not accepted, you can submit an application to the Board of Exemptions according to the procedure below.

Extension of the project period via the Board of Exemptions - more than six weeks
An application for an extension of the project period beyond six weeks will in principle not be granted, and you are referred to use an exam attempt.

If you wish to extend the project period beyond six weeks and this is supported in writing by the main supervisor, you can submit an exemption application for unusual circumstances to the Board of Exemptions (CMDU). 

Exemption is applied for at www.dispensation.dtu.dk. The application for an exemption must be submitted at least one month before the project submission deadline to ensure that you receive a response before the deadline.

In the case of sudden emergencies, you may submit an application for an exemption after the deadline. The rules for submitting an exemption application are described in more detail at student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Exemption'.

Illness during the project period
If you become ill during the project period but before the submission deadline for your final project, you can apply for an extension of the project period via the above options with the department study board or the Board of Exemptions.

You can also apply for a leave of absence during the project period. Read more at student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Leave of absence'.

Submission of the project
The BSc project must be submitted electronically. You receive an autogenerated email with information about the submission deadline for the project, just as there is a link to an overview of all your submissions at student.dtu.dk ('My assignments'). Submission takes place via the group that has been created for the bachelor project.

Illness after the submission but before the oral defence
If you become ill in the period from the submission of the project to the oral defence or on the day of the defence, you must inform the supervisor about this as soon as possible. If you send documentation of the illness to your main supervisor within 14 days from the original scheduled date of the oral defence, a new date for the oral defence can be agreed upon, without this counting as a new exam attempt.

Assessment and examination
The BSc project is assessed according to the 7-point grading scale by an external examiner on the basis of the report and an oral defence with the participation of the supervisor, any co-supervisors, and an external examiner appointed by the Civil Engineering Corps of External Examiners. This also applies to projects fully or partially completed abroad.

The evaluation of the report and the oral defence are based on an overall assessment. A submitted report without an oral defense is assessed with 'Not met' (EM).

When assessing a BSc project, the main focus is on the academic content. Your formulation and spelling ability count for a small, but nonetheless significant weight of the assessment. DTU can grant exemptions for you, if you can document a relevant disability.

If the project is produced by more than one student, each student must be examined individually. The assessment of group projects, however, may also include a group exam with the participation of the entire group. In that case, the individual oral exam must take place afterward. In addition to the examinee himself/herself, only those group members who have already been examined themselves may be present. A student in a group project you always have the right to deselect a group exam. In that case, the duration of the individual exam must be adjusted accordingly.

The oral defence of projects carried out in a company may, due to company secrets referred to in the project, be held behind closed doors by agreement with the supervisor. Read more at student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Exam'/'Exam Forms' under 'Oral exam'.

Date of the oral defence
After consultation with you, the supervisor determines the time and date of the oral defence. The defence must take place no later than 10 working days after the scheduled submission date of the project. To meet the deadline for the oral defence within ten working days, the main supervisor is encouraged to secure an external examiner well in advance.

In the event of special circumstances, the Head of Department may approve a later exam date upon request from the main supervisor. The main supervisor’s vacation is not considered a special circumstance. The main supervisor is encouraged to discuss the matter with the student(s) well in advance if the deadline cannot be met.

Date of the oral defence if the submission date has been extended
If the project period has been extended after the project started—following a decision by the study board or the exemption committee—the 10-day deadline must still be observed in relation to the newly established submission deadline, insofar as possible. If, due to changed circumstances—such as a supervisor’s three-week main holiday in June, July, or August—it is not possible to meet the 10-day deadline for the oral defence, a later date may be set without the approval of the Head of Department. Find more information on student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules/Exam/Deadlines for grading'. 

Exam certificate
When you have completed the education at DTU, DTU issues a diploma/exam certificate. Information about how and when you receive the diploma is available on student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules'/'Examination'/'Exam certificate/Diploma'.