An 'integrated' PhD is a new type of UK PhD which follows a 4 year programme and involves a significant taught element alongside the research project.

You will require lab experience to get most lab based post-doc positions. How much and what experience you need will depend on the job.

There is a series of books known as Current Research in Britain (CRIB) which was published by a company called 'Cartermill International'. This is probably what you are looking for. CD Rom versions are available in most university libraries. From what we can gather however there have been no new editions for a number of years (the 13th edition is the most recent). Unfortunately we can't put a date to this as 'Cartermill International' (a subsidiary of the Financial Times) appears to no longer exist. The most recent editions we could find on Amazon are from 1998 and would probably be of little use to you.

There's lots of opinions on interviews on this forum - search for interview for more information than you could possibly need.

Most PhD 'interviews' are quite informal, but do require you to come across as interested and capable of completing the project. In your case, you already have a PhD offer and the supervisor has asked to meet you. This should mean that it is definitely not an interview, he probably wants to give you some initial reading material and discuss start dates and what your working relationship will be. PhD students tend to start at the same time as undergraduates and this can mean that supervisors are very busy in the first few weeks. By seeing you before you start he is making sure you'll be able to get started even if he's busy.

Many masters course start in January and a few start in the spring. What subject do you want to study?

If the work you carried out during your PhD was of suffiecient quality it will not matter at all who funded the work.

Funding the work yourself should give you the option to work in some of the best research groups and that is probably the more important factor.

Do you want an academic career and/or do you have a research area that you want to pursue. If not then you would be better advised taking a Masters degree that would help you with your current career.

It would seem that the university you wish to attend does not think being without an undergraduate degree is a problem for the Masters program you are applying to join - however they naturally want to check that you will be good enough to pass the course and have therefore asked for some written work to prove it. This would seem a great way of saving three years study.

If you're unsuccessful then ask the people running the courses you are applying for what they'd recommend.

As a student it is your grant that is exempt from tax, not you, although in most cases it's the same thing. What it means is you don't pay any tax on your grant. After this you can earn a further £4895 per year (your personal tax allowance) before you have to pay any income tax.

Sadly Alex it's all of the things you say. When you have an offer like yours (in the same city and in leading departments) then you need to decide which supervisor you will get on better with, which research group had the best atmosphere and all of the many small things that will effect how you perform in your PhD.

We would recommend going for the project you like most in the lab you liked the most. If you want to work in the place with the best reputation then look at the publication record of your potential supervisors. Ask Italian academics if they've heard of your potential supervisors. You could try asking each academic what have previous PhD students gone on to achieve during and after there time in the research group.

Fees for UK students are fixed at a low level by the government. They then pay an additional fee to the university for each UK student. EU law means that this same system must also be made available to residents of other EU states. The additional subsidy that the university is paid by the government is usually not enough to cover the actual costs of tuition. Consequently universities charge students from outside the EU fees which are usually at a higher rate than the actual cost of tuition in order to further subsidise home students.

The system is one that is created by governments, not the individual universities. There is considerable pressure from some universities on the government to allow them to charge UK and EU students more money for their courses. Naturally this is a sensitive political issue within the UK and lower fees for international students are unlikely to occur in the near future.

Other countries such as the USA or Singapore charge home and international students at the same rate. They later gain economic benefits from these highly educated students who often stay on to work in the host country for a few years after graduation.

If you are fortunate, hard working, intelligent, very good at research and a bit more fortunate, it might be possible to finish work for your PhD in two years. It is however quite unlikely that the university would let you finish - it gives a bad impression if universities give out PhDs for only two years work (and they'll be keen to get a third year of fees from you). Also no matter how well you've done or hard you've worked you'll still only have 2 years research experience instead of three. In practice therefore you would spend the third year pretending to still be working and handing your already finished thesis to your supervisor 1 chapter at a time (as if they're only just completed). In the mean time you could have a cheap off season self catering holiday in Malta for 6 months or get some work to pay off your debts.

In reality most students do not submit their thesis within three years, let alone two. By all means make it an aim, but don't plan your finances around it.

Alex - The Guardian tables you are referring to is aimed at undergraduate teaching and doesn't take research into account. In the last research assessment exercise UCL Mechanical Engineering scored 5 and Imperial College Mechanical Engineering Scored 5* (the top mark). However at this level it is the research reputation of your individual supervisor and your interest in the project which are most important.

anon - please could you let us know the details of the out of date projects you have found.

Jobs.ac places one off time limited ads - they disappear whether or not the project has been filled. FindAPhD is a subscription system which allows advertisers to log in and use it all year around. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages.

Not really - had you already taken a postgraduate Masters course then starting an MSc might look like you were just trying to collect qualifications. As that isn't the case, the MSc might be worthwhile. However, in our opinion, it would only be a better option to the MPhil if:

a. It is very unlikely your MPhil registration being changed to a PhD
b. You don't want to do a PhD
c. You want to do a PhD, but in a different lab/department/university

Bear in mind that we don't know very much about your specific situation, canvas as much opinion as you can.