Library Research Services
Contact the Library Research Services team if you have questions or require further information
Congratulations on completing your thesis! Before graduating, you must submit the final version of your thesis to the Library.
To be eligible to graduate, you are required to deposit your thesis at the Library. This page will give you information and guidance on how to complete the deposit process.
As every thesis is unique, you may have questions or concerns that aren’t addressed here. Please read through the information below and get in touch with the Library Research Services team if you have any questions about the deposit process.
You may have other upcoming deadlines that require the deposit process to be completed. If you have any questions or concerns about deadlines, your degree, or graduation, please contact your faculty.
Note that your thesis can only be deposited in the Library after it has been examined, marked, and finalised.
Before submitting the electronic version of your thesis:
If your thesis is being withheld (including those for study at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML)), refer to the section below on withheld theses.
All other electronic theses must be submitted through the Library’s thesis self deposit service. This requires a student (preferably) or staff username and password to access. Help and a walk-through guide for the service are available. Please consult the Research Codes section in the guide for information regarding the ‘Type of Research Activity’ and ‘Fields of Research’ sections.
Once your thesis has been received, you will receive a thesis deposit receipt. The receipt will also go to your faculty and school admins and your supervisor(s).
Your thesis will be held in the University’s Open Access Institutional Repository. The Repository is open to the public, and anyone who is interested may access, read, and download material. The contents of the Repository are regularly harvested and indexed by NZResearch, Google Scholar, and Digital New Zealand, among other services.
If you do not want to have your thesis accessible by anyone, you may apply for it to be withheld: see below.
Theses can be withheld permanently or for a specified period (up to two years). Withheld theses are held in the University’s RestrictedArchive rather than the Open Access Institutional Repository.
If you wish to have your thesis withheld, you must apply for permission from the Wellington Faculty of Graduate Research. Note that you do not need to apply for permission for theses for study at the IIML.
Theses to be withheld must be submitted manually, either by email at library-research@vuw.ac.nz or brought in to the Library on a digital storage device. You must also include a permission and deposit form:
Once your thesis has been received, you will receive a thesis deposit receipt. The receipt will also go to your faculty and school admins and your supervisor(s).
If you completed a thesis at VUW in the past and are willing to allow us to digitise it and make it available to the public through the University’s Institutional Repository, please download and fill out the Permission form for alumnipdf92KB (a Guide to filling out the formpdf249.3KB is available) and email it to Library Research Services.
Alternatively, you may post it to:
Library Research Services
Victoria University of Wellington Library
1 Kelburn Parade
PO Box 3438
Wellington 6012
New Zealand