Graduate Theses

Graduate students must register their theses/research projects just like any other course. However, all Master’s theses/research projects require additional paperwork in order to be fully registered. This procedure requires completion of a Thesis/Research Project Application Form. Once completed, with the required signatures and attachments, the form must be submitted to the Dean for approval. All paperwork must be submitted no later than the end of the Drop/Add period during the semester in which students are registering the project. 

It is the student’s responsibility to submit the thesis, respecting his/her thesis advisor’s standards, and to inform his/her Program Director of the submission. The thesis advisor will confirm acceptability of the submission to the Program Director. For students with theses (or extensions) registered in the spring, the deadline for thesis submission is April 15th. For students with theses (or extensions) registered in the summer, the deadline is July 1st, and for the fall, the deadline is December 1st. 

Failure to submit the thesis by the deadline results in an automatic registration of a thesis extension. 

Thesis/Research Project Registration and Extension Policy

A thesis extension modifies the graduation date of the student. Based on the original registration of any thesis or research project, all MA students will have one calendar year in which to research, write, submit, defend, and submit a bound final copy of the project to the AUP library in order to be awarded a final grade. Within the administrative envelope of this year the actual dates of submission and timeframes for marking and thesis defense are set by the graduate program directors in consultation with thesis supervisors. At the original registration, MA students will be required to pay tuition for the registration of the thesis or research project, at the current per credit tuition rate for the number of credits corresponding to the thesis/research project for their MA program. For the subsequent two semesters there will be no administrative charges apart from the mandatory health insurance fees; students will, however, have a zero-credit extension registration for these two semesters.

Thesis submission to the Library

All Master’s students writing a thesis as part of his/her program are required to submit a copy of the final, corrected thesis to the AUP library. Diplomas will not be issued to students who have not met the library thesis submission requirement. For more information on thesis submission to the library, see the library website.