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Professional immersion & Master Thesis

The professional immersion internship 

All students enrolled in the Master in Sales Management (MSMA) at HEC Liège do a work placement, called "professional immersion", during each year of the Master's program, the volume of which represents 24 credits (ECTS) in the first year, and 29 credits (ECTS) in the second year, including the Master's thesis.

The professional immersion starts at the beginning of the academic year (from the Monday of the week of September 15) and ends at the end of the academic year on June 30. In this context, the company signs a professional immersion agreement (CIP) with the student for a renewable period of one year. By default, the ideal is to carry out the professional immersion internship in the same company during the entire cycle of the Master's degree, i.e. 2 years.

The internship in professional immersion corresponds to 95 days of work in a company. The student is present 3 days per week based on an academic calendar specific to this program.

 

Objectives of the professional immersion

The professional immersion is a personal experience that allows the student

  • To act in the field in a supervised manner and to progressively evolve in the professional practice of the commercial executive profession in order to acquire the professional competencies, know-how and interpersonal skills targeted in the training plan and the competency reference framework;
  • To consolidate the theoretical and methodological knowledge acquired during the course at HEC Liège by confronting it in the field during professional practice;
  • To develop transversal skills specific to any university education in terms of strategic, analytical, reflective, synthesis, recommendation and responsibility capacities.

 

In-company project 

The outlines of the in-company assignment must respond to a Sales Management issue posed by the company and cover a "major project" on which the student will be able to work during the two years of his or her Master's degree.

To be valid, the internship project must meet two objectives:

  • To allow the implementation of the knowledge, theories and conceptual tools that the student acquires at HEC Liège in a professional environment. This first objective can be qualified as practical.
  • To aim at the development of competences and learning activities of level 7 (university master) according to the European Qualification Framework (EQF). Therefore, the mission and activities/tasks entrusted to the student should be similar to those of a junior manager. An internship at the level of a "university master" should lead the student to support a reflective approach, to analyze a complex situation and to propose concrete recommendations to the company in order to guide it in its strategic and/or operational decision making. This second objective can be qualified as analytical.

For more information: consult the specifications for companies presenting all the practical details and legal implications of the professional immersion internship.

In order to ensure that the professional immersion internship corresponds to the academic requirements and to the competency framework of the MSMA program, HEC Liège has developed a pre-registration platform for the MSMA where the student is asked to define in an exhaustive manner the content of the company project that will be entrusted to him/her on the basis of an ad hoc computerized form (commonly called "annex 3").

 

Field of activity and location of the internship

The work placement can take place in a B to B or B to C company (commercial, financial or industrial), selling products or services. The company may be located in Belgium or in the Euregio or in any other area of activity, subject to the approval of the MSMA Program Manager.

In case of an internship in the Euregio, the professional immersion agreement (CIP) being a social document under Belgian law, the company must establish an internship contract equivalent to the CIP or any other measure more favorable to the student, including a part-time work contract (CTTP), in accordance with the Decree on work-study.

It is important to remember that the choice of the place of professional immersion must allow for the implementation of the work-study system, which provides for an articulation between training periods in a company and training periods at HEC Liège.

 

The Master Thesis

n the framework of the Master in Sales Management, the student must complete a thesis called "Master Thesis" or "Thesis-Project". This written document is a personal work done during the Master 2.

The objective is to allow the student to demonstrate that, at the end of his or her training, he or she is capable of using the knowledge acquired to carry out a personal, methodological, reflective and rigorous approach to a research question or to the formulation of a problem related to Sales Management or its related fields.

More specifically, the Master Thesis must meet the dual requirement of a thesis (scientific work) and a project (practical work). The student must also demonstrate critical thinking skills and the ability to structure his or her thoughts, support a critical position, rationalize his or her practice, and communicate the results of his or her research in a well-argued manner.

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