Open Collections

Although UBC opened its doors in 1915 it was not until 1919 that the University awarded the first graduate degrees. In that year two women, Ruth Fulton and Isobel Harvey, received masters degrees. In fact, six of the first ten masters degrees granted by the University went to women. The University awarded its first doctorates in 1950 when four students earned PhDs.

What began as a trickle of graduate degrees early in the 20th century has now grown to approximately 1,000 per year. Prior to moving to an electronic thesis and dissertation submission program in 2008 UBC graduate students generated approximately 33,000 theses totalling over five million pages. The Library is undertaking a major project to digitize and provide access to this unique research carried out by UBC graduate students. To help commemorate the University’s 100th anniversary this resource was created to provide access to the first 100 theses written at the University.