Bridging the Science-Business Gap in Work-Integrated Learning Through Students' Master Theses: A Business Perspective in French-Speaking Belgium
(2025) WACE World Conference 2025 — Location: Istanbul (28.May.2025)
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- Although often overlooked, the master thesis can be seen as a pivotal mechanism for bridging the gap between universities, businesses, and students in Work-Integrated Learning (WIL). While universities emphasize scientific rigor and methodological depth, businesses prioritize applied research and actionable insights (Fournet & Bedin 1998). This misalignment raises critical challenges: how can a master thesis serve both academic excellence and business relevance, while at the same time developing key professionally adapted skills for students? How is it possible to resolve the epistemological tensions that can appear in some fields (Morillon, Grosjean, & Lambotte 2018)? Several authors developed specific ways of framing master theses in businesses settings, particularly in engineering and IT (see for example Höst, Feldt, & Luders 2010; Knauss 2021). This paper draws on a report examining how master’s thesis formats and supervision models in recent WIL programs (accountancy, management, communication) at a French-speaking Belgian university can better respond to stakeholder needs. More specifically, it presents insights from business representatives, gathered through an inquiry and group discussion, on the (potential) articulations between students’ master theses and business expectations. While businesses representatives expressed strong interest in leveraging science and master theses, they also voiced obstacles, such as time constraints and a lack of structured collaboration with universities.
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Derinöz, S., Lambotte, F., Poncin, I., & Provost, A.-C. (2025). Bridging the Science-Business Gap in Work-Integrated Learning Through Students’ Master Theses: A Business Perspective in French-Speaking Belgium. WACE World Conference 2025, Istanbul.