Stu, the reply was given in the same spirit as Lewis made his comments. FindAPhD operates by allowing and encouraging universities not only to promote specific funded projects, but also projects which are in competition for funding (usually those who find the best student will get the money) and even those that are still looking for funding (those marked with two crosses). The reason we do it this way is because it is the way the universities themselves choose to promote their PhD opportunities on their own web sites - all we try to do is put all that information in one place. By using FindAPhD you get to see research opportunities that would never normally be advertised outside of the departments' own web site.

Inherent in the system we use is the possibility that some advertisers will not always keep their entries up to date. However, we don't think there's anything sarcastic in our saying we find it surprising that a university would continue to pay to promote a project that has been unavailable for 4 years. We do not automatically bill our customers, each year we ask them to review their entries on FindAPhD and select which should stay and which should go. All our advertisers have 24 hour access to be able to amend the details shown on FindAPhD.

Wow 2001 - FindAPhD wasn't even out of nappies in 2001 and this forum was just a twinkle in our overambitious eyes. Could you let us know which project it was so we can ask the University to update it.

We do try our best to make sure the information on FindAPhD is up to date. The universities that advertise with us are responsible for keeping the information accurate. As they pay us every year for the privilege of appearing on FindAPhD it is surprising that they would keep paying to promote a project that has been unavailable for 4 years.

Whilst there are other web sites, FindAPhD (this site) is the best place to look. Just click on the search link and get applying.

Yes

Visit www.cic.hull.ac.uk/sitemap.php

Explanation accepted. Like many equivalent research institutes in the UK that don't take undergraduates, MPI is less well known outside of research and academia than some of the more famous universities in the world.

Try visiting www.linguistlist.org

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information. Limited funding is available for EU students, but this usually just covers course fees. Search our database for studentships marked with an EU flag.

In business circles the MBA carries more weight. It is regarded more as a professional qualification than an academic one. MBA stands for Master of Business Administration, meaning they teach you how businesses work and how to run one. We are not aware of any MBA's in Software Engineering - Information Management would be the closest thing.

There is a big difference between an MA and an MBA. Appart from the fact that it costs much more to do an MBA (they are very expensive) you usually need a few years business experience in order to be accepted on the course.

The Max Plank Institute has research facilities throughout Germany. In general they are very highly regarded and would probably be rated 5/5* in the UK. Not sure what you mean by 'Cambridge Excellent' - a 5* department at Cambridge is only as good as a 5* somewhere else. Any 5* department is performing world class research and will contain some of the leaders in its field.

Look out for CASE or CAST awards. These are usually only available only to UK students, but they do pay a bit more than an ordinary studentship.

Thanks for that Tiger - we've corrected our original answer.

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information. If you are an international student you should look for funding before you apply (or only apply for studentships which are open to you).

You don't pay any income tax and keep your full tax allowance (meaning any income you earn up to your tax allowance will also be tax free). You will be exempt from council tax. If you share a house with somebody who is not a full time student (or is not exempt for other reasons), they will be able to claim a single occupancy discount (25%).