The beginning of the end

Although we were all completely shocked by this, university studies slowly rolled over into their second half for my schoolmates and me. The fact that we had to go through a challenging, and very stressful, process of proposing our future dissertation theses over the last two weeks probably reminded us of this transition the most strongly.

For every student, the thesis is the culmination of his or her university studies – it is the longest technical work throughout a student’s school days, and students usually spend most of the third year writing it. The grade for the thesis also has a major impact on the final grade on the university diploma.

A thesis differs from all the other essays not only in its extent but also, and above all, in that when producing their theses, students conduct their own original research for the very first time. Unlike ordinary essays, which basically summarize already written reference literature on the problem in question, students have to find a “gap” in the existing reference literature when selecting the theme for their theses, and then fill the gap through their own research. Thus, for all students the thesis is a challenge that they look to with misgivings, but at the same time with excitement.

The whole process started last Tuesday, when during one of the lectures we received lists of teachers who would advise students next year in their thesis work, and also a list of topics that each of the teachers covers in his or her own research and that the students can therefore select as topic for their theses. The week that followed was really hectic – each one of us had to decide, and in the shortest possible time, which field to examine in his or her thesis, to determine a specific topic, and then to ask the teacher who is the expert in this topic to mentor the student in his or her thesis.

Since during the course of one year one teacher can mentor no more than ten students to be able to devote sufficient time and attention to them individually, we really had no time to spare; some of the teachers were already fully “occupied” in the first 24 hours. I tentatively selected The German Government’s Policy In Respect Of The Further Economic And Fiscal Integration Of The European Union as the heading of my thesis. When I write it, my mentor will be Dr. Stefan Wolff, originally a German teacher, who is a recognized expert on Germany’s foreign policy and the enlargement of the European Union. He has published several specialized publications on both topics and has taught at universities in Germany, the U.K., the U.S., and other countries. His guidance will therefore bring enormous benefit when I write my thesis.

But at this moment we have to abandon all thoughts of our theses at least for a short while; the second trimester is drawing to its end, and therefore the deadlines for handing in long essays for this trimester are approaching – it is therefore the highest time to concentrate all of our efforts on them. In addition, I am still trying to engage in some of a broad range of extracurricular activities offered by the university: for example, this week the school was visited by Paul Mason, a well-known author and a BBC political commentator. I attended his very interesting lecture on Power to the People: A History of Working Class Revolt, and a subsequent formal reception where students had an opportunity to talk with Mr. Mason in person. This is, by the way, one of the great advantages that I can see in studies at a large, traditional university – it has the capacity and the means that make it possible to organize a number of highly exclusive events (for example, last year’s last pre-election debate of the chairmen of major U.K. political parties), which students at small universities have no chance to experience. I am therefore trying to make the most of the time that I am going to spend here.