yeah, the eligibility criteria for RC funding are tied to residency. however, if you are abroad currently, it depends lots on your reasons for being abroad and the length of your stay abroad. particularly within the EU, if you can claim "temporary stay abroad due to job or education", you are still fine - you still count as a UK resident. also, i think if you are abroad due to you or your partner being in the armed forces, you still count as UK resident. so that's worth looking into.

Thanks again everyone!

Shani your plan sounds exciting, can I just wander onto a campus where I am not a student and ask to join their library? It sounds a very good idea, as a way back into academia, even if I go the OU route in the end.

Bilbo and Rick thank you for the info on the OU - at first I thought OU was my only real option, until my husband suggested Munich, and I had a look on the LMU website and saw that there are several current Doctorate candidates in English literature, writing in English.

We are in Germany because of my husband's job, plus he is German originally. When I am ready to start a PhD it will be 3 years since I lived in the UK, which I assume changes my funding status. Our intention is to stay here pretty much permanently.

I will look into the funding ideas - we currently live on my husband's salary anyway, but paying fees would make things tight. Does anyone have a very rough idea what fees might be, say for OU?

Many thanks again

Hilary

OU part-time PhD fees used to be really low compared to other universities - fair given the distance-learning aspect - but they've shot up to be comparable in recent years. The online prospectus at http://www.open.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/index.php gives the 2008/9 fees for part-timers as 1620 pounds.

Thanks Bilbo, that was a quick response!

I will read through the prospectus before asking any other questions!

I have just read elsewhere that practically all doctoral programmes in Germany are tuition-free, which I must say sounds good, but will have to investigate further of course.

I do instinctively like the idea of my supervision being UK based, but the advantages of a Southern German university would not only probably be financial, but also access to libraries etc. I have a lot more research to do before I am near to making a decision on where to apply to, aside from the reading I need to do to feel ready to apply - it's a good job I have plenty of time before I need to put an application in!

Hilary

yes, if you have a BFPO address then it counts the same as a UK address. i should know

i looked into a (linguistics) phd at LMU and there were no tuition fees. also, a lot of the programs were in english. you would just have to make sure your supervisors are comfortable with english and then you'd be fine, there are bound to be tons of non-germans at LMU because its very international.

at my home university in germany you can get a library membership for free as a non-student, it's just not advertised that much as the uni doesn't want the library to become flooded with non-academics (very likely...).

LMU has a very good reputation, munich is a great city and life/studying in germany is a lot cheaper in the uk. you could check out the LMU kindergarten too, get your kids put on the waiting list. getting a PhD in germany is a very good idea, it would boost your salary later on...

My daughter is very nearly 3 and was born at the end of my second year. Then I took 2 years out and now I'm in my final year. Sounds like you have a good plan. I've heard good things about OU - but then again it's goood to have local connections and interaction too, espeically if you are going to stay in Germany permenently.

Be careful with any German university - they tend to have very strict rules about prior qualifications and it can be difficult to get them to accept foreign ones as equivalent to German degrees. Look for the Promotionsordnung for Literature (probably the Dr.Phil one) and check you aren't going to have any problems or if they can be resolved by perhaps taking the odd course before starting. As far as I know in LMU they still demand that you are examined in your Hauptfach (literature) and a Nebenfach so you also need to check that you have a good knowledge of a second subject on their list (I suspect that as business would be a different faculty, it may not be one of them).