Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies who have successfully completed a Thematic Seminar course (10 ects) and who have passed courses of the first two years of the International Studies programme worth a total of 100 EC.
The student writes the thesis in the geographical area of specialisation.
Description
This thesis seminar supports students in writing their BA thesis on contemporary East Asia, broadly understood to include Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Viet Nam, and other middle-income economies in the wider region.
Substantively, the seminar offers a common thematic framework within which students develop and carry out their own research projects. The emphasis is on independent research and writing, supported by a limited number of collective meetings and individual supervision. After an initial round of meetings in which we discuss key debates and refine research questions, most of the work will take place through students’ own reading, data collection and writing.
The seminar is organised around four broad and overlapping themes. Students may position their thesis within one of these, combine them, or propose a related topic in consultation with the supervisor.
1. Political economy of development in East Asia
This theme looks at how East Asian economies have developed since the late 20th century, including the legacies of the “developmental state” and the different trajectories of high-income and middle-income economies. Possible topics include state–market relations, growth and structural transformation, regional and global integration, and debates about going “beyond GDP” in defining and evaluating development.
2. Political settlements and governance
Here the focus is on how political arrangements shape development choices and outcomes. Students might examine, for example, state–business relations, party systems and coalitions, central–local relations, bureaucratic capacity, corruption and accountability, or long-term planning and reform processes. Comparative projects on how different political settlements in East Asia influence development strategies are especially welcome.
3. Industrial policy and economic upgrading
This theme concerns industrial and innovation policy, including sectoral upgrading, participation in global value chains, technological change, and responses to shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions. Theses might focus on particular sectors (such as semiconductors, green technologies, automotive, electronics), on specific policy instruments (such as subsidies, state-owned enterprises, special economic zones), or on comparative explanations for why some economies have been more successful than others in sustaining productivity growth.
4. Social policy, social equity and environment
This theme addresses how East Asian states respond to the social and environmental consequences of development. Possible topics include welfare and social protection reforms, labour markets and precarity, education and skills, ageing societies, regional inequality, environmental degradation and climate policy. Students may, for example, analyse how welfare regimes in East Asia adapt to slower growth and demographic change, or how concerns with equity, wellbeing and sustainability are incorporated into development strategies.
Within this overall framework, students formulate and refine their own thesis topic, which may focus on a single country, compare two or more cases, or analyse a particular policy field across the region. Projects may use qualitative, comparative or mixed-methods approaches, drawing on academic literature, policy documents, statistics, media sources and other materials, as appropriate to the research question.
Building on earlier exercises in essay-writing, in particular the essay for the second year’s Thematic Seminar course, a bachelor’s thesis is the finishing paper of the programme. It is a research paper of 10,000 words (± 10%), excluding bibliography and notes, which to a considerable extent is the result of research and writing that is independently done.
Collective supervision is provided in thesis seminars. The aim of the thesis seminar is to guide students through the process of designing a research question; collecting literature, sources, data, and other materials that are necessary for answering the question; bringing logic and persuasive order in the material and in the arguments supported by it; and designing appropriate research methods.
Assignments within the seminar include designing a research question and plan, as well as writing a literature review (ca. 2500 words) and a thesis draft.
Apart from collective supervision, students will receive individual supervision, specifically focused on the subject of their research. The thesis seminar leader is also the one who provides this individual supervision. Students will have four individual meetings with their supervisor during the semester.
Each seminar will be devoted to one of the geographical areas covered by International Studies, and will focus on a broad theme relevant to the programme.
The exact set-up of the seminars may vary somewhat, due to the nature of the area, and the teaching approach of the seminar leader. The theme of a seminar lends focus to the class discussions, and provide extra guidance for students to decide on their research topic.
Course objectives
Based on the knowledge and skills acquired, students will be able to:
work with research techniques that are current in the discipline(s) applied by them;
comprehend sophisticated academic debates;
report on their studies and research in good written English;
work and write under time-pressure, and deal with deadlines;
participate in debates in an active, prepared and informed way, respecting other people’s convictions and emotions;
understand fundamental cultural differences and divisions.
The general academic skills covered by these aims are:
collect and select specialized literature using traditional and electronic methods and techniques;
analyze and evaluate this in terms of quality and reliability;
formulate a well-defined research problem based on this;
set up, under supervision, a study of limited size, taking into consideration the traditional and electronic methods and techniques relevant for the discipline;
formulate a reasoned conclusion on the basis of this;
explain research findings in writing, in a clear and well-argued way.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Four to six seminar class meetings of two hours, spread over the semester; four individual meetings with supervisor (30 min. on average).
Attendance
Attending a seminar is mandatory; no thesis can be submitted that has not been written in the context of a thesis seminar. If you are unable to attend a session, please inform your lecturer in advance. If you are absent at two or more class meetings or more than one individual meeting, the lecturer may have you disenrolled from the seminar.
Assessment method
Assessment
Submission of the following assignments is prerequisite for submitting your thesis:
Research question and research plan (1200-1500 words);
Literature review (ca. 2500 words);
Draft version of the Thesis.
End Grade
The grade for the thesis seminar is determined by the thesis grade.
To successfully complete this course, the grade for the thesis needs to be a 6.0 or higher.
Resit
Students who score an insufficient grade for the thesis (below 6.0) are allowed to resubmit a reworked version of their thesis. The deadline for resubmission of the thesis is 10 working days after receiving the grade for the thesis and subsequent feedback.
In case of resubmission of the thesis the grade will be lowered as a consequence of the longer process of completion.
Students who fail to hand in their thesis on or before the original deadline, but still within 5 working days of that deadline, will receive a grade and feedback on their thesis. This will be considered a first submission of the thesis; however, the grade will be lowered as a consequence of the longer process of completion.
Students who fail to hand in their thesis on or before the original deadline, and also fail to hand in their thesis within 5 working days of that deadline, get 10 working days, counting from the original deadline, to hand in a first version of their thesis. However, this first version will count as a resubmitted thesis with consequential lowering of the grade, and there will be no option of handing in a reworked version based on feedback from the supervisor.
Reading list
Not applicable.
Registration
Registration occurs via survey only. Registration opens 12 December 2025:
1) On 12 December 2025 you will receive a message with a link to the survey.
2) Indicate there which Thesis Seminar has your preference, and your reasons for this preference.
3) Based on preferences indicated by 5 January 2026 and spots available per seminar, the Thesis Seminar Coordinator will assign you to a specific Thesis Seminar by 19 January 2026.
4) Students will then be enrolled for the specific groups by the Administration Office.
5) All students will be enrolled for their group in Brightspace to access all course information.
Students cannot register in MyStudymap for the Thesis Seminar, or be allowed into a Thesis Seminar in any other way.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Student Affairs Office for BA International Studies
Remarks
No thesis can be submitted that has not been written in the context of a thesis seminar.
There are four important due dates during the seminar: in the second semester, students are to submit a research question in week 9; a literature review in week 12; a draft version of the thesis in week 18; and the definitive version in week 23 (deadline 5 June, 2026).
The due dates are not negotiable.
Since both the number of individual meetings with the supervisor, and their duration is limited, it is important that students go to them well-prepared.
Consult the Thesis Seminar Guidelines.