At its meeting in December 2003, the University Senate approved the recommendation of the Board of Graduate Studies that research degree and professional doctorate students are required to submit an electronic or 'soft' copy of their theses as a part of the graduation requirement. The soft copy of the thesis will be stored in the CityU Library's online database. Detailed specifications regarding the format of electronic theses are provided and kept up-to-date by the Library. While the copyright ownership of the theses remains with the students, in accordance to the University's Intellectual Property Policy, the University will, however, have a royalty-free and non-exclusive perpetual licence to use such materials for normal University educational and operational purposes. The abstracts of all research postgraudate theses will be made available to the public for online access. The full text of all research postgraduate theses will be made available online to CityU staff and students with proper authentication. The full text of selected research postgraduate theses with access rights granted is opened to the public.
Students may request, by formal written applications to the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies, that access to the full text of their electronic theses be disallowed for up to 3 years after submission. The School will then consider each such application on its own merits and decide accordingly. However, students that are granted such a restriction are still required to submit a soft copy concurrently with the printed copies to the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies. This full text of the thesis will be available online after the restricted period.
