Victoria University publishes its higher degree by research (HDR) requirements in two places that do not always look alike at first glance. The candidate-facing Preparing your thesis page is the practical checklist. The HDR Thesis Requirements Procedure is the binding policy behind it. Where the two differ in detail, the procedure is the document that governs, and it is the one an examiner or the Graduate Research Centre will point to.
This guide walks through both in the order you will actually need them.
Know your word limit before you plan a single chapter
VU is unusual in setting a minimum thesis length. Most universities only publish a ceiling. VU publishes a band, and expects you to sit inside it.
| Degree | Thesis length |
|---|---|
| Master of Research | 25,000 to 50,000 words |
| Master of Applied Research | 25,000 to 50,000 words |
| Doctor of Philosophy | 50,000 to 80,000 words |
| Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated) | 50,000 to 80,000 words |
| Year 1 thesis, PhD (Integrated) only | 12,000 to 15,000 words |
The count includes quotations. It excludes tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes.
If your thesis falls outside the range for your degree, it can still be submitted, but a letter from your principal supervisor must accompany it stating the length, explaining why it is above or below the expected limit, and justifying that length against practice in the field. Where you exceed the maximum, you also state the actual word count in your declaration of authenticity. Plan so you never need that letter.
For creative projects, the written component must be no less than 30 per cent of the total work. In practice that means roughly 18,000 to 30,000 written words at PhD level and 12,000 to 20,000 at masters level, alongside the creative work itself.
Formatting: set the document up on day one
None of this is difficult, but all of it is tedious to retrofit across 70,000 words.
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Paper | A4, single sided |
| Font | 11 or 12 point, Times New Roman or Arial |
| Line spacing | Minimum 1.5 (the procedure allows 1.5 or double) |
| Margins | Minimum 3 cm left and right |
| Page numbers | All pages numbered |
| Tables and figures | Numbered, captioned, placed near the text that refers to them |
| Table of contents | Hyperlinked |
Build a Word template with these settings, use real heading styles rather than manual bold, and generate the table of contents automatically. A hyperlinked contents page is a policy requirement at VU, not a nicety, and it only works if your headings are styled properly.
Your title has a character limit
The thesis title must be no more than 150 characters, must clearly describe the research project, must use sentence case with only the first letter and proper nouns capitalised, and must avoid abbreviations and acronyms. If you produce a bound copy, the spine carries a clear description of the project within the same 150 character limit.
Count your title now. It is a small thing that gets caught late and annoys everyone.
The preliminary pages
VU's Preparing your thesis page sets out the order:
- Title page, showing the degree title, the institute name, your full name, and the month and year of submission
- Abstract, maximum 500 words
- Student Declaration of Authenticity
- Dedication (optional)
- Acknowledgements
- Details of Included Papers (thesis with publication only)
- Preface (optional)
- Table of contents with page numbers
- Lists of tables, figures, abbreviations and symbols, as applicable
The declaration is inserted after the title page and abstract and before the table of contents. VU supplies the wording as a template rather than leaving you to draft it, so use the University's version.
Your abstract has to do real work in 500 words: the context and purpose of the research, the methodology, and the major conclusions drawn. Write it last, when you know what the conclusions actually are.
Acknowledgements are where several obligations land
The procedure requires the acknowledgements section to identify everyone who contributed, including anyone involved in proofreading and editing, and to record the use of an AI tool if the thesis has been edited with one. If you hold a Research Training Program or other scholarship, acknowledge that funding here too.
Ethics: get approval before you collect anything
If your project involves people, their data or their tissue, you need Human Research Ethics Committee approval before you start collecting. VU's guidance is that PhD, professional doctorate and masters by research projects should be approved by your institute of enrolment through the candidature confirmation process before they go to VUHREC for ethical review. Read the VUHREC application and approval process early, because the sequencing catches people out: confirmation first, then ethics, then data collection.
Build the review cycle into your timeline rather than assuming approval is immediate.
Thesis with publications
A thesis with publications is available to doctoral candidates only at VU, and the conditions are specific:
- You must be the principal author of the included work.
- You need written verification from co-authors and their permission to include the papers.
- Publications must be no more than 10 years old.
- At least 50 per cent of the material must be published or accepted manuscripts.
- Quality is demonstrated through Scopus quartile rankings or discipline-specific rankings, and you submit verification of those rankings.
- Linking material must contextualise the research, justify the theoretical framework, review the literature comprehensively, set out the research design, and draw conclusions about the contribution to knowledge.
That last point matters most. A thesis with publications is not a stapled collection of papers. The linking material is what makes it a thesis, and it is what examiners read to judge whether the whole is more than the parts. If this route interests you, raise it early with your supervisors rather than after the papers are out, and read the separate guidelines VU publishes for it alongside the Details of Included Papers form and the Declaration of Co-Authorship.
Editing, proofreading and AI
VU permits professional editing and proofreading. Three conditions apply: talk to your supervisors before you engage anyone, pay for it yourself, and name the person in your acknowledgements. The University points candidates to the Institute of Professional Editors directory to find an editor, which in practice means editors who work to the national guidelines on editing research theses.
On AI, VU's position is that any use in the thesis must be ethical, responsible and consistent with research integrity, and that candidates will acknowledge AI use in the thesis. The practical advice is the same as for editing: agree with your supervisors what is acceptable in your discipline before you rely on a tool, and keep notes as you go so the acknowledgement is accurate rather than reconstructed.
If you want a second pair of eyes on structure and argument rather than line editing, that is a different kind of help. Our thesis writing support is built around that distinction.
Submission and examination
Examiner nomination is the step that sets your timeline. Your principal supervisor lodges the examiner nomination eForm through the Quest research management system at least two months before you expect to submit, and you complete your own sections of that form. Examiners have to be external experts with publications or grants of international standing, and free of conflict of interest with you, your supervisors and the University.
VU's documentation is not fully consistent on how far ahead you must give formal notice of intention to submit. Earlier versions of the procedure referred to three months; the current candidate-facing guidance sets two months for examiner nomination. Confirm the current deadline with your Graduate Research Centre contact rather than working from either number alone.
Most theses go to two appropriately qualified examiners of international standing. Creative projects involving live performance or exhibition go to three. If two examiners split between a pass and a deferral or fail, a third examiner is appointed.
The five classifications
| Recommendation | What happens next |
|---|---|
| Passed without further correction | Nothing further required |
| Passed, subject to minor corrections | Normally six weeks to complete |
| Passed, subject to substantial amendments | Normally three months to complete |
| Deferred, candidate permitted to revise | Normally up to nine months to revise and resubmit, extendable by up to three months in exceptional circumstances |
| Failed | No resubmission |
After re-examination, the only available outcomes are passed after re-examination or failed after re-examination, with four weeks to respond. Examiners normally have six weeks from dispatch to report, with reminders at five and ten weeks. Where an oral examination applies, the procedure schedules it around ten weeks after dispatch.
If you resubmit after a deferral, you include a response template setting out what you changed. Write that document as you make the changes, not afterwards.
Appeals must be lodged within 15 University business days of the original decision, and only on the grounds of procedural irregularity or evidence of prejudice or bias. Disagreeing with an examiner's academic judgement is not a ground of appeal.
Examination enquiries go to [email protected]. Researcher development enquiries go to [email protected].
Pre-submission checklist
- Word count sits inside the band for my degree, counting quotations but not tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references or footnotes.
- If it does not, my principal supervisor's justification letter is ready.
- Title is 150 characters or fewer, sentence case, no acronyms.
- A4, single sided, 11 or 12 point Times New Roman or Arial, minimum 1.5 spacing, minimum 3 cm left and right margins.
- Every page numbered; table of contents generated and hyperlinked.
- Abstract is 500 words or fewer and covers context, purpose, methodology and conclusions.
- Student Declaration of Authenticity signed and placed after the title page and abstract.
- Acknowledgements name every contributor, including proofreaders, editors and any AI tool used in editing.
- Scholarship and funding support acknowledged.
- Ethics approval obtained before data collection and recorded in the thesis.
- Thesis with publications only: Details of Included Papers, co-author declarations and Scopus verification are complete.
- All figures and tables numbered, captioned and placed near the relevant text.
- Copyright checked against the VU Copyright Guide for Research Students before repository upload.
- Examiner nomination eForm lodged in Quest at least two months before submission.
What VU does not publish
Two gaps are worth naming plainly.
There is no single prescribed referencing style. VU's thesis requirements do not name one. Your style comes from your discipline and your supervisors, and the expectation is consistency in the most recent edition of whatever you choose. Confirm the choice at the start of candidature rather than at the end.
Formatting detail beyond the basics is left open. Heading hierarchy, figure caption placement, whether reference lists sit per chapter or at the end, and page numbering conventions for preliminary pages are not specified. Ask your supervisor to point you at a recently passed VU thesis in your discipline and follow its conventions. That single request will answer more questions than any amount of policy reading.
Where to get help
Your supervisors are the first stop for anything discipline-specific. The Graduate Research Centre handles candidature, submission and examination process questions, and the general VU enquiry line is +61 3 9919 6100. For referencing and copyright, the VU Library is the right contact, and the Copyright Guide for Research Students is a required check before your thesis is loaded into the repository.
The failure modes at VU are predictable: a thesis that drifts under 50,000 words and needs a justification letter nobody wanted to write, a title that runs past 150 characters, an acknowledgements page that forgets the proofreader, and an examiner nomination lodged too late to keep the submission date. None of those is about the quality of your research. All of them are avoidable if you read the thesis requirements procedure in your first year rather than your last month.
