Dissertation and Placement Proposals

The difference between a placement and a dissertation in collaboration with the company lies in the scope and nature of the proposed work, as well as in terms of its implementation:

Placement

• Project-oriented, solving a concrete and defined problem, useful for resolving an issue within the company
• Professional context, understanding the issues for the company (economic, environmental, …)
• Understanding of how a company is run and implementing/developing transversal skills
• Student workload: approximately 300 to 450 hours, depending on the duration of the placement
• Carried out full time in the company, 8 to 12 weeks between July and October, between the first and second year of the Master’s

Dissertation

• Clearly research-oriented, Research & Development, potentially more prospective work
• Student workload: about 600 hours
• Carried out outside the company (in collaboration with it) or partially within the company:
  • either full-time for a typical duration of about 8 weeks (“Dissertation in the company or research centre”)
  • or by following a strict programme with the company (“Dissertation in collaboration with a company”)
• Between November and the end of May, during the second year of the Master’s

The dissertation cannot therefore be a simple extension of a project already covered during the placement. It must represent new developments justifying a sufficient volume of work, or a different subject.

The placement or dissertation subjects proposed by a company are discussed with a teacher (the academic supervisor), before being formally approved by the Faculty concerned. In collaboration with an academic reference, and with the student, the first obligation of the placement or dissertation supervisor is to define the dissertation specifications (objectives, content and deliverables) or placement project.

During the placement or the realisation of the dissertation in a company, the placement or dissertation supervisor:

• welcomes and integrates the student into a team, verifies that the tasks assigned are consistent with the placement objectives specified in the placement agreement
• ensures the availability of resources in the company
• provides regular feedback to the student.

At the end of the placement or the dissertation, the student communicates the elements necessary for the student’s assessment to the academic supervisor..

Placements

• Placement offers are collected throughout the year and communicated online continuously via the faculty teaching portal, as well as by our alumni association (AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni).
• You can submit your proposal by sending a descriptive document to: stages.polytech@umons.ac.be
• The student is in charge of contacting an academic supervisor and the referred person in the company (to be noted on the placement proposal) to get additional information in order to finalise the specifications of the project by the end of April at the latest.
• The choice of placement is officially approved in the first week of May.
• The placement agreement is finalised by the end of June.
• Ideally, a placement subject should be proposed by the beginning of April at the latest.  Beyond this date, the subject is unlikely to be selected for the current year but can be kept for the following year.

Dissertations in collaboration with a company

• Dissertation subjects are collected from Faculty’s teaching departments by the end of April at the latest
• If you have direct contact with a teacher (or teachers) at the FPMs, it is best to send them your proposal directly.  If you do not already have a personal contact, you can send your proposal to stages.polytech@umons.ac.be (with “proposition de TFE” in the subject line) which will then be forwarded to the relevant department. In this case, if a teacher wishes to co-supervise the dissertation, they will contact the technical manager indicated in the proposal in order to finalise the topic and will also include a list of topics proposed by their department.
• Dissertation topics proposed are communicated to students early May.
• Students’ dissertation choices are officially approved in late October.
• Ideally, a placement topic should be proposed by the beginning of April at the latest. Beyond this date: it is still possible to propose a topic until the end of September for the current year, but it must be approved as soon as possible by an academic supervisor to have a chance of being selected. Most students make their choices in June.

Meeting Students

If you want to present your topics directly to students and meet potential candidates, this is possible during our Journées des Entreprises in February. Please consult JDE (in French) for more information.

Deadlines for submitting topics and the realisation and assessment of placements and dissertations: refer to PlacementAndDissertationCalendar

For more information, please visit the following pages:

• Our Course Profiles and Competency Framework (in French)
• Placement in a Company: general info
• Dissertation: general info
• Information for placement supervisors, examples of placement agreements, placement coordinators according to degree programme, standard documents, please contact: stages.polytech@umons.ac.be – +32 65 37 40 73