Download IIUM’s official Word template and check the page size. It is set to US Letter, not A4. Every margin you measure against the guideline will be wrong before you type a word.
This page sets out the IIUM thesis format requirements in force at International Islamic University Malaysia, read from the Centre for Postgraduate Studies (CPS)’s own documents rather than from a template passed between students. The margins below are drawn to scale, and the Word settings are listed so you can set them before you write another paragraph.
The IIUM thesis page, drawn to scale
Margins are where most format rejections start, because a wrong one is invisible on screen and obvious the moment someone measures it. Here is what a IIUM page actually looks like:
Standard 3.8 cm binding edge on the left — unless you are writing in Arabic, in which case the whole page mirrors: the 3.8 cm allowance moves to the right and the bottom margin grows to 3 cm.
Set this up in Word before you write another page
Changing margins on a finished thesis moves every table, figure and page break you have already positioned. Doing it first costs five minutes; doing it last can cost a weekend.
| Paper size | A4 — set this yourself, the template ships as US Letter |
| Top margin | 2.5 cm |
| Bottom margin | 2.5 cm |
| Left margin | 3.8 cm |
| Right margin | 2.5 cm |
| Footer from edge | 1.3 cm |
| Font | Times New Roman, 12 pt |
| Line spacing | 1.5, fully justified |
| Block quotations | 1.0 spacing, indented 1.2 cm both sides |
How long the thesis should be
These are word counts for the main chapters. References, appendices, tables and figures sit outside the count at every university on this list — which is worth knowing before you start cutting a chapter you did not need to cut.
The similarity limit
Cover and binding
What catches IIUM students out
The official template is US Letter, not A4
Check File → Page Setup before anything else. The guideline specifies A4; the template file does not.
“Thesis” and “dissertation” are not interchangeable
Thesis = research-only mode. Dissertation = coursework and research, or coursework only. The wrong word on your title page fails format check.
Page ii is the abstract page
The title page is counted but unnumbered, so the first printed number lands on the abstract.
Hard binding ended in March 2023
Final submission is softcopy — PDF and Word — to your Kulliyyah. Guides still circulating tell you to submit one or three hardbound copies. They are out of date.
The 24% cap is a Master’s submission requirement
For PhD candidates the originality report goes to the Viva unit beforehand instead. Same scrutiny, different checkpoint.
Writing in Arabic needs formal approval
Including an Arabic Placement Test band of at least 7.0, or an Arabic-medium first degree.
Before you submit
Read your own faculty’s supplementary notes as well as the university guideline. Several IIUM requirements are set at faculty level rather than centrally, and the faculty version wins. If anything on this page conflicts with what your supervisor or graduate office tells you, follow them — guidelines are revised more often than pages like this one are.
Source documents:
- CPS Guidelines for Thesis Format (TNR)
- Postgraduate Regulations (Revised 2022)
- Final Submission Thesis/Dissertation form, effective 22 March 2023
Related guides
- UiTM thesis format requirements
- UTAR thesis format requirements
- MMU thesis format requirements
- UNIMAS thesis format requirements