During this 3 month project, I

learned a lot and gained valuable

experience working in a commercial
setting. I felt working with Great Scot
- creators of Trossachs.co.uk - was
very rewarding, but even better, was
seeing my project work getting used
for real! It was such a memorable
experience.
Haipeng Wang,
MSc Advanced Computing Student
University of Stirling
Its symbiotic both parties benefit:
the business benefits from research
input, the student sees how we
function
Allan Browne
Halliburton Pipeline & Process
Services
External Supervisor for University of
Aberdeen Project, Supervised a MSc
Oil & Gas Engineering student
Our masters graduates have to
compete successfully in the harshest
job market for 40 years. This initiative
will enable them to do that to their
highest level.
Learning and Teaching, University of
Edinburgh

Making the Most of Masters (MMM) aims to improve collaboration between external
organisations and universities by providing opportunities for postgraduate masters students to
undertake work based dissertation projects.
The projects, which are an integral part of the students academic programme, address real
needs within an organisation. Projects can be from any discipline and economic area.
Our team develop links between individual masters programmes and external organisations,
providing the necessary documentation and support required to facilitate the overall process.
How it Works
The Benefits
There is a degree of flexibility within projects,
The project aims to provide real benefits to
so all aspects can be discussed and tailored
employers, universities and postgraduate
on an individual basis. This includes:
masters students. These are just some of the
Project Proposals
reasons to get involved:
Organisations submit a Project Proposal.
Greater Links between Industry and
Topic Selection
Universities
Project proposals are refined and developed
The MMM project offers masters programmes
in consultation between the organisation and
and organisations an ideal opportunity to work
an appropriate academic member of staff.
together, sharing knowledge and expertise.
Student Selection
Real World Projects
There are a number of possible routes and we
External organisations have the opportunity to
address a real need within their organisation by help
to identify the best option for you.
proposing a project that will allow students to
Logistics
apply knowledge gained through their
Projects take place over an 8-16 week period
university programme.
and may involve the student being based full
Enhanced Employability
Students may go through a recruitment process time within the organisation or having an
industry informed/simulated project carried
which will help them develop their CV and/or
out within the University but mentored by an
interview experience. Undertaking their
industry supervisor and having a series of
dissertation with an external organisation will
visits/meetings.
also provide opportunities to gain valuable
Project Agreements
experience of the workplace, to refine their
To ensure the expectations of all parties are
career plans and to gain skills relevant to the
clearly understood. Including issues relating
economy.
to final deliverables, Intellectual Property and
Fresh Insights to Your Business Area
confidentiality.
Students are enthusiastic about gaining real
Support for Supervisors and
experience in the workplace, they can provide
different perspectives to problems & act as new Students
All students have a university supervisor in
motivated members of the team.
addition to an organisation supervisor to help
Addressing Business Needs
oversee the project.
This scheme provides organisations with an

Case Study

This project has been

beneficial both to us and to the
student. It is clearly desirable
to link topics that need
studying with students wishing
to study them.
Project Aims:
Rod McGovern
To review technical issues associated
Founder, Farm Energy Consulting
with
noise from wind turbines;
To study the methods of assessing the
acceptability of this noise;
To find statistical methods to analyse
noise data and apply them to an existing
data set.
The Employers Experience:
We benefitted from having a good
student who was able to spend time
researching a technical area. We gained
access to information that we were not
aware of, and techniques that would not
have been easy to find, even with Google.
The results will be very useful and saved
us time.
The Students Experience:
I knew that I needed experience to
prove that I could do this kind of work.
Because the project had a purpose, I was
more interested and was determined to
prove that I could do a good job. (As a
result of the project) Ive got experience,
something to talk about at interviews and
a reference.

Making the Most of Masters is funded by

the Scottish Funding Council.

For further information about Making the

Most of Masters at Abertay University, or
to take part in the programme, please
contact :
Arts, Media & Computer Games
Euan Dempster
amg@abertay.ac.uk
01382 308601
Dundee Business School
Mohamed Branine
dbs@abertay.ac.uk
01382 308495
Science, Engineering & Technology
Kehinde Oduyemi
set@abertay.ac.uk
01382 308726
Social & Health Sciences
Adam Hawkey
shs@abertay.ac.uk
01382 308700
You can also find further information for
employers, universities and students at:
www.mastersprojects.ac.uk
Published April 2014, amended
November 2015
This material has been adapted from
resources produced by the Making the
Most of Masters Project.

at Abertay

University
Providing
opportunities for
masters students to
undertake Work
Based Projects