FAQ Thesis/Internship/Research Practice
There are three categories of FAQ's but you can also scroll downwards to see all FAQ's.
Procedure Thesis/Internship/Research Practice
No, they are not informed, as they are not expected to start prior to having found a supervisor. Chair groups can refer students to: https://wur.eu/tir-start.
Yes, it is mandatory for all students of a Wageningen MSc programme to use this procedure. Exceptions are the 2 joint degree masters, MADE and MWT.
There is no manual for supervisors and examiners, because the explanation c.q. manual is incorporated in the case process itself. When action is required from supervisor or examiner, they will receive it via e-mail with brief instructions. Please use the FAQ below for tips when required.
There is, however, a visual guide of the thesis/internship/research practice procedure: Overview thesis/internship/research practice procedure (including screenshots). It provides a conceptual overview of the entire process with screenshots of all the steps, both for the teacher-side and the student-side (which helps the supervisor to understand what the student sees).
In general the thesis/research practice process and internship process are very similar.
The internship process has some extra features:
1. An internship contract (i.e. the signed contract between host, wageningen supervisor and student) can be uploaded in Osiris.
2. The student writes a progress evaluation. The host supervisor receives an email with this report and is requested to forward that email to the 'Wageningen supervisor'. You as supervisor, based on the email-input you receive, can now easily approve the progress. This option only becomes available once the student entered the information in Osiris (and thus the email is sent to the host supervisor).
3. The host supervisor can either advise assessor 1 (if they don't have the same qualifications as required from a WU assessor) or can be assessor 1 (if they have the same qualifications as a WU assessor). You as supervisor set the assessors and thus assess/determine whether the host supervisor meets the requirements to be assessor.
No, the dates you enter in the learning agreement for expected date of progress evaluation and expected date for finalizing of project are only an indication and help to monitor delays.
When you make a new planning with a student, you (or the student) should upload an addendum to the Learning Agreement under 'Optional Documents'. For example you can upload a pdf of the email correspondence in which you mutually agree to change the planning.
When the supervisor enters the 'expected date of oral defence', in the step to assign the assessors and examiners, do bear in mind that this date is included in the email to the assessors, examiner and student.
In some MSc-programmes the maximum size to which an internship/research practice can be extended is 30 credits, in others it is 36 credits. To guarantee that students can not extend their project beyond the length allowed, 2 codes are needed.
It is up to the student to select the correct course code. Osiris check's whether the course code is part of the student's exam programme as mentioned in the course catalogue. If the student's individual exam programme deviates from the programme in the study handbook, then they can still select another code. Students should consult their study adviser first if they are not sure about the correct course code.
In most MSc programmes, students should include an MSc thesis of a specific minimum length (in most programmes 36 credits, in others 30 credits, etc.). Next to that, and next to the option for an MSc research practice to replace an MSc internship, students can opt for a smaller MSc thesis project as part of their Electives. Such a smaller project can be 24 credits. To guarantee that students don't do a too small MSc-thesis project within their programme, 2 codes are needed.
Because of requirements of double degree programmes, some chair groups will have 3 different course codes.
No. Until 31 August 2023 it was be possible to register a thesis/internship/ research practice grade in Osiris in the 'old way'.
When you have a very specific situation (e.g. a student that started 3 years ago), please contact keyusers.osiris@wur.nl to request guidance.
The reports that are uploaded in Osiris can be taken out by functional management of Osiris.
For reports required from before the time Osiris was used for this, specific requests will be forwarded to the chair group.
All internship reports and reflection reports have to be uploaded and will be dealt with as confidential: none will be published in the Wageningen University library and they will be irreversibly removed from Osiris after 7 years, the deadline for legal accreditation.
These uploads will only be used for quality assurance purposes.
In some cases the internship provider may label the internship report or other products as strictly confidential. In that case the student has to make a redacted version (everything that's confidential is marked as censored), if readable this version can also be used for quality assurance purposes. In case of a redacted version, the front page of this version should also contain the name of the person within Wageningen University who has access to the full version of the document and the place where this document is stored in case the full version of the document is needed for quality assurance purposes.
The 'Laudatio' information entered is available upon preparing the information for graduation. When you've entered it during the assessment, you can quickly copy this information so you don't have to enter it again.
In the learning agreement the student has to indicate whether or not they will upload a draft version of their thesis.
Typically, whether or not a student has to upload their draft thesis is part of the procedure in a chair group (rather than the specific choice of the student or supervisor). One of the reasons to have the draft thesis uploaded is to document the progress between the draft and final version of the thesis. That progress will be the combined result of the feedback of the supervisor and the way the student dealt with that feedback.
From Autumn 2024, draft reports will be automatically checked for originality using Turnitin (without the need to go to BrightSpace for this).
Discuss in your chair group whether or not your students need to upload their draft. Subsequently, instruct your students what to indicate when they fill out their learning agreement. Please mention this in part B of the course guide, where chair groups specify their additional information.
If the student only completed the learning agreement, but didn’t start with the thesis/internship/research practice: fill in “not continue” in the progress evaluation and note down in the elaboration-textbox that the student decided to not start with the thesis/internship/research practice. The ‘grade’ STOPPED is registered for the student. The chair group doesn’t receive financial compensation.
If the student stops before the progress evaluation: fill in “not continue” in the progress evaluation. Register in the elaboration-textbox that the student decided to stop with the project. The ‘grade’ STOPPED is registered for the student. The chair group doesn’t receive financial compensation.
If the students stops after a positive progress evaluation:
(for students starting their project from September 2024 onwards)
Abort the project in the step 'Assignment of Assessors and Examiner' (substep 2. Assignment(s), see screenshot below). You have to enter an underpinning of the decision to abort the project in the appropriate textbox.
( for students having started their project before September 2024)
Send an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl and request to 'abort' the process, mentioning the reason, the student name and student-number and the case-number.
Note: The chair group receives financial compensation, as a significant part of this thesis/internship/research practice has been supervised.
If the student scores insufficient on one or more categories of the assessment and will not be able to complete the project with a sufficient grade within 2 months repair-period, the final score is 'INSUFF'. This is also a decision to stop, as the option to repair is not given. The code 'INSUFF' is also used when the student was unable to reach a sufficient level after having been offered a 2 month repair period.
The chair group receives financial compensation for supervising this thesis/internship/research practice.
Note: for students that started their project before September 2024, the code 'INCOMPL' is used.
If the student starts again with the same thesis or research practice code at the same chair group: in case the previous thesis/internship/research practice was ‘graded’ with STOPPED, the student can just start again a new case and the chair group will receive the financial compensation once completed.
In case the previous thesis/internship/research practice was ‘graded’ with INCOMPL or INSUFF, you have to contact the programme director.
They can advise ESA-QSI to make it possible that a student does a thesis or research practice with the same code for the second time within the same chair group and make sure it is funded again.
Note that: a chair group receives financial compensation for the situations in which more than approx 50% of the supervision time was spend on the student. Rationale behind this policy is that in some situations (e.g. if a thesis/internship/research practice is insufficient and the students get the possibility to redo part of the thesis) chair groups spend more time on supervising a student. We expect that this balances more or less within a chair group.
After the previously agreed deadline, the work of the student is assessed by assessors and examiner. When this results in a failing score for the project on one or more aspects, this results in the grade 'INCOMPL' (incomplete). It might be that the student can improve e.g. the report or data analysis up to a passing standard in the 2 month repair period that should be offered to/discussed with the student.
For students that started their project in Osiris from September 1st, 2024:
Both the initial assessment after the initially agreed deadline for the project, as well as the repeated assessment after the 'repair' period are supported in Osiris. The assessment and required documents after the 'repair' period can differ based on the aspects that were insufficient.
For students that started their project in Osiris before September 2024:
The older version of the process does not yet support this situation through self-service. As examiner:
- confirm the INCOMPL grade that the student receives as part of your assessment/examination after the regular deadline, the Osiris-Case is closed.
- set a new deadline for the student, and when the student produces a revised report, organize a new assessment, this can be done by the same assessors, or by other assessors.
- when the new result is a passing grade: use the 'assessment forms for emergency procedure' to enter the grades by the 2 assessors and your final grading as examiner.
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as examiner send these 3 completed forms plus the revised student's report to fb.osiris@wur.nl and in the email confirm the final grade
The colleagues of functional management will process your email and register the grade. They can only do so when the email is sent by the examiner.
Note: for students starting their project after September 1st 2024, this procedure will also be included in the steps of the Osiris-Case process.
It is important that student understand their rights and obligations concerning intellectual property and confidentiality. Therefore, as part of the learning agreement, the student has to accept a declaration that specifies their rights and obligations.
The complete text of the IP-declaration can be found here.
Note that the up to November 22, 2023 a different IP-declaration was used. It turned out that that first version was not appropriate for the situation for MSc-thesis and MSc-Research Practice (it was rather focused on situations in which students worked (e.g. as 'research assistant)' in WUR research projects).
Troubleshooting
Below you find information about changes in the OSIRIS process. In this, we refer to the version number. You can find the version number on the 'Overview' tab of the students case. Version 3 went live on September 1st, 2024 (2024/2025 academic year)
Changes in OSIRIS case for processes started from September 1 2024 onward (from version 2 to version 3)
- As a coordinator you can follow the process of the students within your chair group (via OSIRIS, in the same way as that the supervisor accesses the students' cases). In the learning agreement the student selects the course coordinator from the list mentioned the study handbook. The coordinator has to confirm this using a one-time action (click 'confirm') for each student.
- Students are automatically referred to options for travel support, and required stay-broad registration in case the location of their thesis/internship is abroad (as part of the learning agreement).
- The options to abort the OSIRIS process (in case a student stops) have been extended (see What to do if a student doesn’t finish (or not successfully) a thesis/internship/research practice? ).
- The process around the resit of a thesis/internship is implemented in OSIRIS. When the first examination yields an insufficient result, the student can be given a 2-month period to hand in an improved version, that will be assessed again. Both assessments will be documented. Alternatively, the examiner can still decide that such a 2-month period will not result in a passing and a insufficient final grade can be registered.
- The plagiarism check of students report (final, and draft) can be integrated in Osiris soon (coming months).
- The internship assessment forms are adapted to fit the new assessment criteria and assessment criteria. Furthermore, the distinction between professional and research internship has disappeared.
- Assessors now always enter grades at the detailed level.
- The registration of the internship contract is now more explicit part of the internship procedure.
Changes in OSIRIS case for processes started from January 24 2023 onward (from version 1 to version 2)
- An automated check whether the course code for thesis/internship/research practice is part of the exam programme of the student as mentioned in the course catalogue.
- Text field with 'arrangements regarding progress evaluation' is now part of the Learning Agreement.
- An adapted end date can be filled in, in case of force majeure.
- Students can have rights for facilities for their education (decided upon by the student deans and examining board) . Students can also indicate they want to make use of the facilities they are entitled to for the thesis/research practice/internship. E.g. you can plan 25% extra time until the end date, and discuss on a quiet work place if that is one of the facilities.
- Append a second main and administrative supervisor and coordinator that have the same rights (and receive the same e-mails).
- If the supervisor adapts the learning agreement, they have to indicate which adaptations they made afterwards (instead of before).
- Student receives an e-mail if the main and administrative supervisor disapproves on the learning agreement.
- For the progress evaluation of the MSc-internship, the host supervisor does not have to log in Osiris anymore. Based on a meeting with the host supervisor, the student fills out the progress evaluation. The host supervisor receives that report by email and confirms (by email) to the WUR supervisor that progress evaluation is correct.
As 'main and administrative supervisor', you will see current tasks on the dashboard (opening screen) of Osiris-lecturer.
When you don't have any current tasks, you can also access the student's project information. This is described here.
1. In Osiris-Lecturer, click on 'Cases' and go to overview
2. click on SEARCH : all students you're supervising / you've supervised will show up,
3. Click on that student, or search for a specific student, based on family name, name-as known by ('roepnaam' in Dutch) or student number
4. Go to the 'Overview' tab
5. Below two examples:
In the first example, you can see that the student entered the learning agreement and that the learning agreement is confirmed (approved). In an internship the student first has to provide information in Osiris before the WU supervisor will get a task (Status of student is started, but not completed). The current task for the supervisor is presented in green. If the supervisor clicks on the text, the progress evaluation can be done.
6. In the second screenshot you will see a completed research practice. For every activity in the case, the status is provided.
7. In the overview tab, you can also see the milestones that have been completed (bullet is green when completed). Note that for an internship the advise for assessor 1 by the host supervisor can be ignored, and thus this bullet can still be white after the grade has been finalized. This is no problem in the final grading.
8. Go to the 'Data' tab to see all the data entered, including all uploaded files.
9. In the example only Optional documents are added at this point (blurred for confidentiality reasons). Once the draft of final reports are uploaded you can find them here.
1. go to learning agreement or final grading
2. detach learning agreement or assessment (when using Dutch language settings the button is called 'Ontkoppel')
3. right-click on the learning agreement and select 'print',
4. or dependent on your browser click on the menu on the right hand side and choose 'print'
You can only add a coordinator/examiner/assessor(s)/main and administrative supervisor from the moment that the learning agreement is approved. Before that moment the student should withdraw the case and start a new one.
Note: add persons is only possible for cases that were started from January 24, 2023. For older cases, you can send a e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl with the request to add or replace persons. Please mention student name and number, course code, and case number.
After you have added a coordinator/examiner/assessor(s)/main and administrative supervisor, a task can only be found under tasks of the last one who did the previous task. So if two supervisors/examiners/assessors are active they need to communicate who does what. Therefore, we advise to do this only if someone is ill, on a longer leave or is not an employee anymore. If you want to do a task of someone else, you'll need to go to OVERVIEW and search (click on the green SEARCH bar) for the case of the student.
If you only want one main supervisor, send an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl to have one supervisor removed. Please provide student number and name, course code, and case number.
1. Click on overview, followed by SEARCH (green bar).
2. Fill in (a) personal detail to search for the case of the student, or choose one from the list that pops up.
3. Open the case of the student by clicking on the tile with the case of the student.
4. Click on Overview.
5. Click on 'Append Main Supervisor or Coordinator(s) if you want to add an extra main supervisor or coordinator.
6. Click on Append Main Supervisor or Coordinator (only press CONFIRM after you've indicated the new persons)
7. Indicate whether you want to add a main and administrative supervisor/coordinator/examiner/assessor.
8. Type the name of the person that you want to add (should be someone with a WUR account).
9. Click CONFIRM if you are finished.
The above process can be repeated if you want to add another person. Be aware that only one of the main supervisors can do the task!
After you have added a coordinator/examiner/assessor(s)/main/administrative supervisor a task can only be found under tasks of the last one who did the previous task. So if two supervisors/examiners/assessors are active, they need to communicate who does what. Therefore, we advise to do this only if someone is ill or on a longer leave. If you want to do a task of someone else, you need to go to OVERVIEW and search for the case of the student. Via overview -> search you can always find the cases you are connected to.
It might happen that a student uploads an incorrect version of the final report of the MSc Thesis, Internship or Research Practice.
As long as the assessors have not yet assessed the report (and entered the grades in Osiris), the supervisor (and when present coordinator from the chair group) can revert the step 'Final upload'. The student is informed that the supervisor can do so.
This short instruction outlines this.
1. In Osiris-Lecture, click on the 'Case' icon.
2. Go to the overview.
3. Enter the student name or student number.
4. Click 'SEARCH'
5. The student's Case will appear, click on it to open it.
6. Choose the Overview tab on the top left side. Click on the three dots (...) and select Revert. When the report was already downloaded ("Download of Final Report(s)" is "Confirmed"), you should first Revert that step and then revert the upload step.
The student now has to upload the report(s) again. Upon (new) upload all stakeholders (assessors, examiners, supervisor, student) get an email stating the upload of this version.
'Revert' will be impossible once one assessor has entered grades based on the (wrongly) uploaded version of the report. So you (and especially the student) has to act quickly once you're notified of the mistake.
In some situations, especially when having an open science policy to publish all MSc theses through the library, you may want to update the thesis after the assessment. For this you will need to contact the library. The polished version can be sent to media.library@wur.nl by email. Please include the following information:
This is an updated version of:
- Title MSc thesis:
- Name of student:
Once the learning agreement is approved, it is no longer possible to make changes!!
Smaller changes (expected end date, expected number of ECTS, progress evaluation date) etc. can be put in a word document and uploaded under "Optional documents". The WU supervisor has to indicate the exact number of ECTS when assigning the assessors and examiner, so no problem if the expected number is different from the actual number.
What to do if a student has created a case with the wrong course code, did not fill in the coordinator, needs to change the main and administrative supervisor etc.? As long as the learning agreement has not yet been reviewed (and recorded) by supervisor, the student can choose the "withdraw" option. The student can then start a new process with the correct information (supervisor, coordinator, dates etc.).
If the learning agreement has already been reviewed by the supervisor, then the withdraw option no longer works. Then, only FB Osiris can delete the case. Send requests for this in an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl, stating student name and number, case number, course code and the reason for deletion. If the case was started with the wrong course code: see the next question in this FAQ to find out whether when it is possible to have the code changed.
The case number is a unique identifier for a case. When you have a technical request (e.g. to remove a duplicate), always include this number in your request.
Send requests for deletion of the case in an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl, and provide the following information:
student name
student number
case number
course code
reason for deletion
If the change is to another type (e.g. from a thesis to research practice code) this is not possible!!
What to do if a student has created a case with the wrong course code? As long as the learning agreement has not yet been reviewed (and recorded) by supervisor, the student can choose the "withdraw" option. The student can then start a new process with the correct information (course code, supervisor, coordinator, dates etc.).
If the learning agreement has already been reviewed by the supervisor, then the withdraw option no longer works. Then, only FB Osiris can delete the case. If the case was started with the wrong course code, the student has to create a new case, and the wrong one needs to be deleted.
If the change is within thesis, or research practice or internship (e.g. from thesis code XXX80424 to XXX80436) this is possible!! However, this is only possble if the grades have not been entered yet! After the final grade is set, the students needs to request the examining board to approve the study programme with the "wrong" course code. N.B. Students starting a case will get a warning if the course code is not part of their exam programme! Students are responsible for choosing the correct code. If they are not sure, they should contact their study adviser first.
The case number is a unique identifier for a case. When you have a technical request (e.g. to remove a duplicate), always include this number in your request.
Send requests for this in an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl, and provide the following information:
student name
student number
case number
course code
reason for deletion (if you want to have the case deleted)
new course code
For cases that were started after 24 January 2023:
An additional main and administrative supervisor can be added. This additional main and administrative supervisor will have exactly the same role as the first mentioned main and administrative supervisor (same rights, receives e-mails etc.). The initially mentioned main and administrative supervisor cannot be deleted! You have to make agreements on who is doing the administration.
Please send information to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl with student name and number, course code, case number if you want a main supervisor deleted from the case.
For cases that were started before 24 January 2023:
When a supervisor/assessor/examiner needs to be replaced (e.g. in case of illness, maternity leave, retirement) one can send an e-mail to keyusers.osiris@wur.nl
Information needed: Name of student, student number, course code, case number, name of new supervisor/assessor/examiner.
The case number can be found in the dashboard of Osiris for secretaries: How do I get an overview for all MSc Thesis/Internship/Research Practices at my chair group? The case number is a unique identifier for a case. When you have a technical request (e.g. to remove a duplicate), always include this number in your request.
If the student made a mistake filling in supervisors and the supervisor has not yet done anything with the case process, the student can withdraw the case himself and create a new case with the correct information.
This functionality is not part of the Osiris process (which focuses on the learning process and assessment process of the student.The polished version can be sent to media.library@wur.nl by e-mail. Also, if you want the thesis not to be public available, use this e-mail address. Please include the following information:
This is an updated version of:
- Title MSc thesis:
- Name of the student:
You will see current tasks on the dashboard (opening screen) of Osiris-lecturer.
When you don't have any current tasks or if you are coordinator, you can also access the student's project information on the Overview tab instead.
1. In Osiris-Lecturer, click on 'Cases' and go to OVERVIEW
2. Click on SEARCH
3. or search for a specific student, based on family name, name-as known by ('roepnaam' in Dutch) or student number
In the new version of the case, the host supervisor does not need to log into Osiris. Instead, the hosts will receive an e-mail with the progress evaluation that was entered by the student. If the host does not agree, they can send an e-mail to the WU supervisor.
FB Osiris makes sure that the progress evaluation/assessment is entered in the case and that the official progress evaluation/assessment documents are archived in the case as additional documents.
In some chair groups, the examiner is neither assessor 1 nor assessor 2. To prepare the oral defence meeting, the examiner wants to read the final report before both assessors have finished their assessment.
This is possible (after the student has uploaded the final report of course).
Note: we're developing an improved functionality in which you as examiner (but not assessor 1 or 2) will be notified by email when you can preview the reports.
- In Osiris-Lecturer, click on 'Cases' and go to 'Overview'
- Select the filter option 'WU-cases-preview for examiners'
- click on 'Search' (this might be counter-intuitive!): all students for whom you are assigned as examiner and where the final report is uploaded by the student will show. You can now click on the relevant student (proceed with step 4 under the screenshot)
Alternatively in step 3: search for a specific student, based on family name, name-as known by ('roepnaam' in Dutch) or student number and then press 'Search'.
- Go to the 'Data' tab
- When the student has uploaded the final report, the final report is available here for download.
After the assessment has been entered in the Case process, only part of the assessment form (the tick boxes only) is visible in Osiris-Lecturer at the Grade tile, along with the final grade and test date (see screenshot below). This may be confusing to some, as up to academic year 2021-2022 the full assessment form was visible in via the Grade tile in OSIRIS.
The full assessment form can always be reviewed by opening the student's case (at tile Case). From there, select the tab 'Data' and select the assessment you want to review ('Assessment by first assessor', 'Assessment by second assessor' or 'Final grading by examiner and finalizing').
This addition was added in one of the latest releases of Osiris. Basically, it does not need to be checked or unchecked. It is a restrictive setting, but since we use only one faculty in this case process it is does not make a difference whether you check it or not.
There is now a dashboard for secretaries to keep overview of all (current and past) students doing an MSc thesis or Research Practice; for the manual see: How do I get an overview for all MSc Thesis/Internship/Research Practices at my chair group? A similar dashboard for coordinators will be available later, but is not yet available. The coordinator will then have an overview of all the cases in which he/she is mentioned as coordinator in the learning agreement (Osiris-Lecturer). In addition, the coordinator is able to take over the tasks of the 'main and administrative supervisor' e.g. in case of illness (Osiris-Lecturer).
Persons with 'chair-group-secretariat'-role ('secretary') can download the files that are uploaded in the process. (Osiris Basis (for Secretariats)).
Once the dashboard is available, the coordinator can only see the information in the learning agreements etc. from the moment the learning agreement is approved by the main and administrative supervisor. And -of course- only when you're mentioned as coordinator (or 2nd coordinator).
Make sure that all students mention the coordinator in the learning agreement (screenshot) if the coordinator of the chair groups wants to be able to keep an overview and/or when the coordinator wants to have the possibility take over the tasks in the case (e.g. in case the main and administrative supervisor is ill). Please update the course guide part B with chair group specific instructions whether students need to fill in the coordinator and/or a draft upload is needed.
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Roles
A PhD candidate cannot be one of the formal assessors. However, when he/she is 'main and administrative supervisor', can pre-fill the assessment form and texts to be used by assessor 1. This is an advice and can be changed by the assessor 1. Once the assessors are assigned by the supervisor, these supervisors receive an email with instructions.
A PhD candidate cannot be an assessor since an assessor needs to be an academic staff member (see 'Who can have a role within the process').
That depends on the qualifications of the host supervisor; if the host supervisor has the same qualifications as a Wageningen University assessor (so has a PhD), they can assess the internship as assessor 1. If the host supervisor doesn't qualify (s)he can give input to assessor 1. In both cases the host supervisor receives a one time link to perform this task in Osiris.
If the host supervisor is Assessor 1, they should enter all grades (performance, report, and oral presentation) directly into Osiris.
If the WU supervisor is Assessor 1, the host supervisor should provide their grades to Assessor 1 either by entering their advice in Osiris or by sending it via email. In this case, entering the advice in Osiris case is optional, and can be ignored.
Yes, as post docs have a PhD and are considered by the Education and Examination Regulations to be academic staff members.
The chair group secretary can see the relevant data of the learning agreement in the TIR dashboard in Osiris for secretariats. For the manual see: How do I get an overview for all MSc Thesis/Internship/Research Practices at my chair group?
The coordinator can take over the tasks of the "main and administrative supervisor" in case this is necessary (e.g. illness of supervisor), but will not receive any e-mails or tasks in Osiris. Only if a coordinator is added they will see the case in 'overview' after the learning agreement has been approved.
The answer to this question depends on the role and the process (thesis/research practice versus internship):
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Supervisors and coordinators
From a technical point of view, everyone with an employee WUR-account can be assigned the role of 'main and administrative supervisor', 2nd or 3rd supervisor, and coordinator. This also holds for persons that are not members of your chair group. Visiting-staff and guest-employees can also have this role as long as they have a WUR-account. -
Host supervisors (internship only)
The host supervisor receives an e-mail with a one time link to approve the progress evaluation and give input for/do the assessment of the student. -
Assessors
For assessors there are rules set by the examining boards / Education and Examination Regulations (EER) that should be taken into account: assessors should be Wageningen University academic staff members (which excludes, among others, PhD candidates). -
Examiners
For examiners, only the examiners listed in the course catalogue for the MSc thesis/internship/research practice can be selected.
The roles of assessor 1 and assessor 2 are slightly different, see 'What is the difference between the roles of assessor 1 and assessor 2'.
To be assessor for an MSc thesis, internship or research practice, you don't have to be listed as examiner in the course catalogue.
The examiner, however has to be assigned by the relevant examining board (link to WUR intranet, login required). Be sure that this information is added to the EMC tool in order to have in the course catalogue for the next academic year. Changes during an academic year can be requested through the relevant examining board. However, do not forget to mention them in the next Education Modification Cycle.
We advise chair groups to have at least 2 examiners for the MSc thesis, MSc Research Practice and MSc Internship , so there is a stand-in in case of illness/sabbatical/leave.
The 2nd and 3th supervisor have no specific role in the administrative process and don't have access to the information provided.
They are mentioned in the Learning Agreement for completeness of the information.
Here we'll publish a short instruction on how coordinators can access an individual student's case information and when required take over the role of the supervisor and/or add another main&administrative supervisor (e.g. in case of illness).
This information will be updated a.s.a.p. (last edit 23/1/2023)
The host supervisor does not have to log in Osiris anymore. The questions in the progress evaluation are the same as in the course guide for internships. The student should fill in the progress evaluation and have a meeting on the questions.
If the host supervisor is advising on the grade or is assessor 1, he only sees his own tasks in Osiris (so no learning agreement, reflection report etc.).
Yes, the host supervisor can either advise about the assessment of the student to assessor 1 or be assessor 1. They receive a one time access link to Osiris and an e-mail with instructions.
Whether the host supervisor can be assessor 1 is decided by the examiner for the internship, in general the host supervisor should have a PhD degree or equivalent.
The difference lies in the categories of criteria the assessor should assess:
- Assessor 1 assesses the categories 'Performance', 'Report' and 'Presentation'. This implies that assessor 1 need to be sufficiently involved in the supervision to be able to do this assessment. When the daily supervisor is not allowed to be assessor (e.g. a PhD candidate), the daily supervisor can pre-fill the assessment form as advice for the first assessor. The latter then takes that advice into account while making their own assessment.
- Assessor 2 at least assesses the report. Furthermore, they can optionally assess 'Performance' and 'Presentation'. In the assessment form they can indicate this. Assessor 2 often (depending on tradition within chair groups) is also the examiner. There is no need to have 3 persons involved in the assessment. The examiner can be assessor 1 or assessor 2.
Given this difference in role, it is important that the supervisor assigns the correct persons to each role (see 'Whole can have a role within the process' and the visual overview of the process).