A thesis is classified as a type of paper for enrolment purposes. A thesis code is equivalent to a paper code and shows that you are undertaking a long dissertation based on original research.
A thesis code is made up of:
- A four-letter subject code e.g. HIST for History
- A number to show the level of study e.g. 5 for master's or 9 for PhD
-
Letters to show the period of enrolment within an academic year e.g.
- F = full-time, full-year
- H = part-time, full-year
- FH = full-time, part-year (first or second half of the year)
- HQ = part-time, part-year (first or second half of the year)
A few courses do not follow this standard pattern and may start with a different number (e.g. 8 instead of 5 for postgraduate Medicine courses) and/or use different letters (e.g. AF, AH, or AQ).
Enrolment periods for thesis codes are normally noted as 'T' periods (rather than FY, S1, S2). The T codes cover a longer period than the standard University of Otago semester:
- TY is full year (covering the period 1 January to 31 December)
- T1 is first half of the year (covering the period 1 January to 30 June)
- T2 is second half of the year (covering the period 1 July to 31 December)
If you enrol in a T1 period and continue thesis study in the second half of the year, you will need to request your thesis enrolment is updated via a change of course.
If you are unsure which thesis code you should be using, contact your supervisor or the divisional office.
Deadline to enrol in a Master's or PhD thesis code for the first time
You can enrol into your PhD thesis at any time, once you have all approvals prearranged.
While you can also enrol into your Master's thesis at any time, it is best to enrol by 10 December of the year before you intend to start.
Re-enrolling in a thesis code
If you wish to re-enrol using a thesis code which you have previously enrolled in, you will need to request Special Permission to have the thesis code added.