These initial student dissertations (6)

I believe the answer is:

theses

'dissertations' is the definition.
('thesis' can be a synonym of 'dissertation')

'these initial student' is the wordplay.
'initial' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'student' is 's'.
'these'+'s'='THESES'

(Other definitions for theses that I've seen before include "Essays on a theme" , "Degree dissertations" , "Premises" , "Academic dissertations" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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