Main Difference Between Supervisors, Advisors and Examiners

• The job of the supervisor or advisor is to guide and advise the student during his/her work towards a thesis.
• The job of the examiner is to examine the student during the thesis defense, and to mark the thesis. For every master’s thesis there are two examiners.

The job of the supervisor or advisor and the job of the examiner can be done by the same person, and often this is the case. In the following, the words “supervisor” and “advisor” will be treated as synonyms.

External Supervisors

• The supervisor can be external, i.e., a non-member of the University, for instance when the student does his/her thesis work with a company. In that case, the supervisor will not be an examiner of the thesis.
• It’s the student’s job to ask the examiner whether he/she accepts the mode and place where/how the student is going to work on their thesis.
• So, students who want to do their thesis work outside the university, e.g. with a company, are strongly advised to get in touch with their examiners before they start the work.

Examiners

• Both examiners must have the right/permit – according to the BremHG – to examine students. If in doubt about the status of a potential examiner, just ask the examination office.
• At least one of the two examiners (usually the first examiner) must be a professor at Uni Bremen or HfK, depending on where the student is enrolled, and he/she must be affiliated to the Digital Media program. For Uni Bremen students the first examiner may also be affiliated with the computer science program, but he/she should preferably have a professional affinity with digital media.
• The second examiner could be a post-doc at Uni Bremen/HfK, or a professor from another university with a subject in digital media, computer science, or related. She/he does not necessarily have to be affiliated to the Digital Media program, but this case should be discussed with the first examiner. If an examiner is not directly affiliated with the Digital Media program, he/she should at least be related to Digital Media research topics.
• All other choices of examiners are, as usual, by request to the Board of Examination of the Digital Media study program. When in doubt, it is recommended to submit a request to the Board, including the reasons. In such cases, please send an informal email to the examination office.
• When doing the thesis with a company (or non-research institute), please check with your first examiner to make sure that the work is on the Master’s level. The examiners also might want to meet with the local supervisor at the company.

List of examiners

• First and second examiners of bachelor and master theses in digital media (Uni Bremen)

No military-related research

According to the Zivilklausel of Uni Bremen, it not allowed to do military-related research. If in doubt, please discuss with your first examiner and/or send a proposal to the Board of Examination of the Digital Media program.