Piled Higher and Deeper

I know that this is no real excuse for not having written anything yet, but I was as busy as I was lazy. So I'm starting to tell you something about doing a PhD in the UK as far I have found out yet. This is really different from the German way, but compare it yourself.

The first thing about it is being a student. As such you have to pay quite high tuition fees (Home Fee for UK/EU currently £3.320 = 4.468 €, four times as much for everybody else) or you need a scholarship for that. I actually have another one for me, my food and my rent. There are no obligations in teaching for me, though it is appreciated if you sign up for "demonstrator duties" that are, however, separately paid.

The PhD program is quite tightly organised, at least the regulations are. I have exactly three years, i.e. until 31st December 2011. At the end of the first year I have to submit a transmission report – if this is nothing sensible, I'm getting an MPhil and may leave.

On the other hand, there is a lot of great help. I have a supervisor and a co-supervisor I talk to about my topic, an advisor I talk to about more general things and then there a student mentors. I had to attend a two-day workshop "Introduction to Reseatch (Speed PhD)" where we were told about all the formalities and what else there is to watch out for.

Being in a research postgraduate, I have no courses except a two-hour seminar on "Academic Writing". Partly helpful and entertaining: you get told stuff in anecdotes, e.g. how paper writing works. Who is first author, who is author at all, how to find a matching conference or journal, how to write a review. Thus it is not jumping in cold water when you actually have to do something like this.

The end is interesting as well. You write your thesis which is assessed by two people who are not your supervisors. One of them is at the faculty, the other is external, e.g. from another university. They are only reading the thesis and you have to defend it in an oral exam called "viva" in front of only the two of them.

It seems like there are no traditions except for a glass of champagne after the viva. No graduate hats or getting pulled around campus on a cart – this is where the Germans are better organised. If all of this is much better or worse, I'll still have to find out. Anyways, you have a lot of freedom and apart from the mentioned obligations I'm free to do what and how I like it.

Overall, it is not at all PhD-Comics-like, without annoyances and quite interesting. I like it, but I do have a place here to let you know about any frustration.

Next time I will certainly tell you some things about strange English people.