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I am just reading your post for the first time, so I thought I would add a different perspective for you to think about. Dont take this as an attack on your phd or anything like that. Its just an attempt to look at your problem from a different angle.

Your supervisors could be thinking that at the 3rd year stage of your PhD you should pretty much know what your research question, results and contributions should be. All you need to do is write it up, and therefore, you dont need a lot of supervison. So by ticking the box which says I dont have enough supervision, you supervisors could have interpreted this as you saying: 'Help, I dont understand what I am doing'. Therefore, they decided to put you on probabtion until you have your PhD back on track.

Another point is that supervisors need students to complete within a certain time frame for the Research Excellent Framework (REF). If your put on probabtion, this may delay this time frame and allow you to complete within the required time.

Just a couple of ideas. I wouldnt give up your PhD over this though. :-)

[quote]Quote From phdstruck:

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[I am nearly 3 years into my PhD, all seemed OK with my supervisors until recently when it came to light that I have not had as much supervision as I ought to have had, in my recent progress report which they failed to comment on (because they were both not available to check their e-mails for some reason in the whole of the summer) before I submitted it to my dept. My sups have ticked me as ';unsatisfactory'; for the very first time, and asked that I resubmit my report. The second submission was accepted without amendment. Then I was asked to submit two chapters of my thesis (April will be the 3rd year of my registration). Instead of giving me feedback, my sups have asked that I be put on probation for 6 months starting from January 2012.

has anyone ever been in this sort of situation before? How does being on probation affect my progress?

Any suggestions/advice is most welcome!!
The background story...

In my university, PhD students are required to submit a yearly progress report (to monitor up to date PhD progress). In addition to the yearly report is a quarterly progress report where tasks are set by the sups for the student to achieve within a three to four month period. In my case, I had met all my targets which did not include the yearly report because it was not due in until 6 months after the last supervision I had.

However, nearing the due date of my yearly report, I sent a copy (via e-mail) to my sups in the summer so I could get their feedback and work on the report. they did not get back to me and I didn';t have any supervision for three months. So after submitting my yearly report to my dept (which would have been assessed by a PG tutor and a head of Dept. My main sup called for a supervision meeting where we would have to agree on the tasks for the next few months. In this form, I would have to state whether or not I had received ';enough supervision in the last three months';. I had ticked ';no'; because I hadn';t received any supervision in ';the last three months';. My sup had ticked ';unsatisfactory'; progress. He explained that I would have to resubmit my report to them (sups) instead of the dept. I did. Report was accepted without further amendment.

We had another supervision where he stated that I would have to submit two ';good'; chapters of my work by last week. I did. I went in today for supervision and feedback, but sups said they have to put me on probation starting Jan-Jun 2012. This is why I';m confused and want to hear from people who have been through this sort of situation. What does this mean? End of the road? I hope not!]

As of August 2012
Status Quo: Head down, chin up and all the amazing contributions from the forum have paid off!! All paper work changed when I pointed out the 3 month FT probation clause on the PhD handbook. Probation was reduced to 3 months. I also asked for clarifications as to the points listed on the probation and they altered them because they were already accomplished lists. There were lots of apologies from the PG dept regarding these unclear lists. Head still down and chin up I worked harder and submitted the required chapters in April, as fate will have it, sups did not make any comments (as usual) and did not respond to email asking for comments on drafts. After 3 months into probation and further 3 months of not hearing anything (not even A feedback from sups). I contacted PG Dept to confirm my status...

Discovery:
1. sups have not taken a look at submitted drafts.
2. second sup remains incommunicado (instigator of the probation)
3. Probation called off...
4. As of first week in August, only 7 pages of the first chapter (of 9 chapters) have been read...

Confusion: If th

What a cliffhanger! I am agog ... please give us the end of the instalment - hope it's good :p

Hi Pootle,

Yea, I'm still confused and somewhat angry, but I feel a sense of relief !! I have updated it on my latest post " A follow up from 'PhD probation'. I still am curious for answers though, that's if I'm ever going to get any!
:-)

Hi Pootle,

Yea, I'm still confused and somewhat angry, but I feel a sense of relief !! I have updated it on my latest post " A follow up from 'PhD probation'. I still am curious for answers though, that's if I'm ever going to get any!
:-)