Developing analytical and organizational skills to handle real-life decision problems is an explicit objective of the postgraduate programme in Industrial Management at KU Leuven. Because the final test is in eating the cake, a system of field research for the Master's thesis project was developed. In recent years, this project activity has been reshaped according to our total quality management policy, leading to a professional approach of selecting, conducting and evaluating these projects. This paper elaborates on this experience and describes the added value to the pedagogical process.