It does depend on subject area. A masters degree is often required of most international students. In the arts and humanities it is more common for a Masters degree to be a requirement.

As far as we are aware Imperial College does not have a policy that all PhD students must have a masters degree. What subject area were you applying for?

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

Search Google for

"embedded systems" site:.ac.uk

you'll find more than you can handle.

You're doing the right thing. Your referees should be included on your CV.

None, universities can call their degrees pretty much what they like. Unless a Masters degree is a professional qualification such as an MPharm or LLM then one is pretty much the same as another.

Ditto. Under most grants there is no recrimination on the student if they fail or give up (although any money paid to the student in advance will have to be returned). It may however look bad on your CV and your reference may not be too good. It's a different case for the academic concerned. Drop out rates are a factor in calculating the future research council funding a department receives. Your particular supervisor may also be subsequently overlooked for internally funded or allocated studentships.

On a research council grant, if you leave in the first year the supervisor will be able to replace you with a new student and carry on the research project. If you leave after this they will have to start again from scratch and re-apply for funding.

Despite all this departments and supervisors are, in general, sympathetic to PhD students who decide to quit. They may not be so kind hearted if they knew you started out with the possibility in mind.

Most masters courses have three grades, Fail, Pass and Pass with distinction. Whilst a pass with distinction will be of more help when looking for funding, there should be no academic bar to getting a PhD place with an ordinary pass (particularly given the First in your Bachelors degree.)

Anon Anon - you can search older threads using keywords typed into a search facility, maybe we just need to use bigger writing.

The value of CASE or CAST awards does change depending on the research council involved and on the industrial partner (many industrial partners provide over the minimum that the scheme recommends).

We are looking at upgrading the postgraduate forum and would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

No this isn't a problem.

As long as you can complete your lab work within three years then you will probably be able to write up from your home country. It is perfectly possible to finish lab work in two and a half years and then to write up in three months. However you'll have to be very focussed to do this (and have a litle bit of luck).

A CASE studentship usually offers an extra 1 or 2 thousand pounds per year on top of the basic research council studentship.

Déjà Vu????

What would you like to know?